Submit to the 906

[mickeyd]

Bought the Ephemera for this machine Saturday, and was stunned by the first cycle, Delicate, whose wash is only 3 minutes long and in a full tub of water, no less!

 

All the cycles are interesting, and locked with no cancel button. You lock and load, then Maytag is in full command, and there's nothing you can do about it. This is a humbling exercise if you are a habitual cycle manipulator.

 

They say if you make a mistake, selecting the wrong cycle, immediately press the one you want.

 

This machine looks perfect. The first two buttons and the last two, all have one word cycles. Such Symmetry. All two-worders are in the middle. Again, so cool and logical that the first cycle is delicate: slow, short, and easy.

 

Big Ted once said that when people came into his studio, they all first noticed and admired his 900, the earlier version.

 

Wondering if any of you use the illustrious 906, and if it is the pride of your fleet. And have you tried to trick it in any way, like getting a partial fill for a Delicate cycle, by somehow outsmarting the buttons?

 

Lit up and spray rinsing, a real dream machine for me. I will submit to the 906.

[this post was last edited: 12/10/2012-20:36]

 

[d-jones]

What, no pictures? I'm still working on a DG906 that I got a while back. I'm kind of persnickety so it's taking a while. Still, I'd love to see photos of your washer.

 

[mickeyd]

Hi Dave,

Don't I wish I had one here and working. It's a dream machine I hope to have one day. Could I see pix of yours?

 

[bajaespuma]

I'm pretty much done collecting Maytags but if a 906 pair ever came along, I'd grab it so fast. I've always been curious to see how those machines worked.

 

[d-jones]

Sorry Mike. I misunderstood your post.

I thought you were saying you'd downloaded information for a machine you already had. Here's a photo of the control panel for my parents dryer. It's in really nice shape for the most part, but I'm getting myself bogged down in replating and hardware replacement. I can be a bit of a perfectionist and that just adds to the headaches, but I want this thing to be as close to new as possible when it's finished. I had posted some photos of the tear-down and the work that followed in an earlier thread(see the link) but I'll wait to post the rest of the photos until it's finished. I hope you like it.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?41426

 

[mickeyd]

Beautiful, Doug

and gas, my favorite. Showering after I posted, realized that DG means gas dryer. But thanks anyway. Psyched to see some washers, and hear about their curious operation.

 

How do you cancel a cycle? If you pull the plug, then plug the machine back in, would that cancel the cycle, or would it resume. The Ephemera says that if your next load or washday starts with the same cycle you last used, you just press it in hard. In other words, the button does not pop out after the cycle completes. Interesting.

 

[danemodsandy]

I Have Often ....

....Said I would do anything legal or moral to obtain a set of 906s.

As the years go by without a pair turning up, I am beginning to feel my standards slipping....

 

[toploader55]

Just Smacked me in the back of My Head

Just Looking at that beautiful dryer, I just Locked in on it, out of nowhere, It's so Clean, Futuristic, Old Fasioned, Gorgious,and Built so Soundly, as machines were back then.

I just have to take a deep breath , Savor, and Sigh... That this was the end of an era, which no one will ever will see again. Thanks to all of you, we all want to Preserve and Treasure these Beauties.

 

[appnut]

"Canceling" cycle on Dx906 dryer

If the dryer is empty you can push the damp dri button and if the sensors are actinbg properly will "sense" dry and turn off in a matter of seconds.  Otherwise, air fluff has about a 7 or 15 minute cycle and shuts off. 

 

[mickeyd]

Agreed, Gentlemen: The Lock On Indeed ~

So sleek, so elegant, so simple, so boss. "We are 906. We will assimilate you. Resistance is futile." The Borg from Star Trek.

 

Even the text of the doctrine is elevated in style and diction. I'll copy some later.

 

[appnut]

"Cancelling" a cycle on a 906 washer

I've never really played with one.  I personally don't like their inflexibiloity.  Only the cottons cycle has water level options of partial or full.  "Washing for Dummies".  Not sure if their might be some sort of "stem" on the backside of the control panel to manipulate the timer.  the only thing positive I can say about the 900 series is that it was the only Maytag model with a "cooldown" phase--on the Wash'n'Wear cycle long before Maytag added a Permanent Press cycle on the 06 line, what in 1968, 1969. 

 

As far ass "cancelling" a cycle, hitting "Spin Dri" is about the only option to let it spin drain and finish that final spin cycle. 

 

[kenmore71]

There is a cancel button on the back of the panel. You have to hold it in until the light goes out. It rapid advances the timer to the next "off" position.

Also, as noted above, pushing the "Spin Dri" button would stop any cycle, drain and spin the tub for about 5 minutes.

 

[qsd-dan]

Maybe the earlier 906's had the cancel switch, but my 1972 doesn't.

Kinda annoying when I show it off and have to select "Spin Dry" and let it finish the cycle in order to reset the timer to shut the machine off.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Awwww, poor Dan!

If that 906 washer is giving you such a bad time, I'll reluctantly take it off your hands. It won't match colors with my CDE906 but I'll suffer it for you...

RCD

 

[mickeyd]

Oh you wonderful man, Mark ~

revealing the wizard behind the curtain. Nowhere in the ephemera is this mentioned. That. Is. Awesome. What fun one could have with that switch. Thinking it through, you get a partial fill from button 4, hit the cancel button. Then hit Delicate. Uh-oh, it will continue to fill. Oh rats! Hmmmmm......how can I manipulate those switches to get a partial fill?

 

Thank you, kindly for the secret switch all blown up and revealed. Who knew?

 

And Bob, before the switch appeared, the Spin Dry push is a thoughtful idea, and the only way out. Let the fun begin. What else can we get this <span style="font-size: medium;">King of Tag </span>to do?

 

[kenmore71]

So...they dispensed with the "cancel" button on the back panel in the 1969 timer revision?

 

[mickeyd]

Simluposting ~ -er composing.

<strong> DAN--treat us poor 906-starved beggars to a few hot shots.</strong>

 

[DADoES]

 
Dryer can be canceled by simply opening the door.  IIRC on mine, the selected button will pop-out after a brief delay.

My CA906 doesn't have the timer advance switch.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

CA906?

Could you please put up a picture or several of it so I can dream of how the matching washer to my CDE906 would look? Finding a 906 washer is hard enough but locating a coppertone 906 is proving to be near impossible...

RCD

 

[qsd-dan]

So...they dispensed with the "cancel" button on the back panel in the 1969 timer revision?

I guess so.

DAN--treat us poor 906-starved beggars to a few hot shots.

I won't be home until Saturday, but I'll try to do you one more and shoot a quick video. It's pretty much untouched since I got it, with the exception of a timer motor replacement, and it needs lots of attention.

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks Dan, the unparalleled spray rinse would make mint vid

Until then, if picture pilfering is allowed, I just went into the photo collections where Greg's is first one I saw. A spectacular Black and White of the control panel.
With your permission then, Gregory, here is Gansky's Black Onyx Ruby: (Just look at the majesty of that mechanical being.) And the symmetry of the controls is even better than I reported: 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 ~ Perfection

 

[gansky1]

The beautiful 906!

This is the set I found at my local Launderall dealer, Coffman Appliance, now long gone. They were in the shop window for couple of months and I finally stopped in and looked at them. Once I saw how nice they were, they had to come home. Fred now has them in Chicago. (this was also my laundry room in '00, things look quite different today!)

Since this set, I've never been without a Maytag pushbutton washer. I prefer the older models, but I have enough parts to make another set of '06 series if I ever get the urge.

Maytag actually changed these machines quite often during their production from the first A900, the A902 and then into the 906's. They did various different things with the off-balance load handling, including one disaster with cork dampers on the underside of the baseplate that the brake package would rub against to slow down the spin. That didn't last long, in use or in production.

The A900 through the first series of 906 washers had fairly complicated control system, a series of switches and motor attached to a rotisserie gearing advanced the timer when you made a selection. The two water levels are controlled with a solenoid lever to switch between them. Post 1969 906 washers used a more compact rapid-advance timer with the advance motor built in, much like a KDS-xx dishwasher and used two pressure switches for water level.

You can easily adjust the cycles - if you want a partial load fill of cold water, press the Bright Colors button, wait for the tub to fill to proper level and then push the partial load colors button. If you want to be a "dial pusher" you can cut short any washtime by pushing Spin to empty the tub and spin the load (no spray rinse) then the Rinse-Spin button, Want an extra warm rinse? Push the full or partial colors button, when the tub fills just push rinse-spin and you're back to automatic washday ease. LOL

These washers were a great example of engineers and designers dreaming up solutions for a problem that never existed. Most homemakers didn't find operating a washing machine terribly stressful or complicated.

 

[gansky1]

This my yellow A900 & DE700 set in use today. They came from Boulder, Colorado out of a woman's duplex. There were no washer & dryer hookups when she moved there to be closer to her daughter after her husband passed away in 1961'ish. They were put in the storage room and over the years, mom began to fill the house with newspapers and magazines, to the point that the machines were so buried in the house, they were surprised to find them while moving out the piles of paper. Paper makes a wonderful preservative - absorbs odor and moisture so the machines still looked almost new.

 

[gansky1]

These is the same 906 set in my first picture above, now at Fred's in Chicago. This is a repair guy from a local Maytag dealer that replaced the water valve. Fred and Terry just swooned when he came in the door - LOL

 

[chris74]

I like that pink front-loader best

What is it? A Westy?

 

[combo52]

Pushbutton MT automatics

Great pictures Greg, but you forgot about the PB MT that started them all, the A160 and the A160S with suds-saver introduced in the late 1950s I think 1959.

 

[cadman]

Did someone say A160? : )

 

[d-jones]

That looks like an aircraft wheel reflected in the control p

What's sitting in front of this machine?

 

[mickeyd]

The operation is fabulous. It's a SEMI-AUTOMATIC !!!

Select White Full, let it wash for 4,6,8 minutes as you wish, Okay, what do I want to do now? Select Spin and get a nice long 5 minute spin out of wash water. Hmmmm, now do I want a warm rinse today or a cold one. I would just absolutely love this.

 

.....Wait a minute, I think I want it to wash this load for another ten minutes; the socks were a little dirtier than usual. Pressssssss

 

How did I know you'd be an inveterate button pusher? Thinking through the possibilities, this is just crazy. Thank you for the enlightenment.

 

 

 

[mickeyd]

OH MY GOD, CORY

<span style="font-size: xx-large;">A Blue One--Spectacular !!! Thank you.</span>

 

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