Tappan wall ovens - Bloomfield Hills MI

[combo52]

1958 Tappan Electronic Oven

Very cool it looks exactly like the one we have and the interior looks to be in great shape.

I am guessing that these early Tappan MWs put out around 1000 watts of cooking power from reading some of the recipes that come with the oven. If this is true these ovens probably use 3 to 4 times as much power as new MW ovens, but it is still fun to have one of the first home MWs made.

Hope you can post a video of you cooking something in it.

 

[ovrphil]

Good photos, thanks Anthony! The tubes were "kaput" a long time ago, I bet - I wonder how long that unit sat, un-repaired? The cost to repair would be downpayment on a car, lol!

Keep breathing. We need to see the rest of the project, when done.

 

[mopar65]

Once the tubes get here It will be complete.

 

[mopar65]

 

[mopar65]

 

[tolivac]

Bridge rectifier no less-COOL!!Ovens made today have voltage doubler supplies.Stick with the orig tube type if you can-the mercury tubes preserve the charactor of this machine.You may want to replace the selenium diodes,though-age causes these to go bad.The supply in that thing makes me think of the power supplies in some older "Ham" radio linear RF power amps.Like the vacuum time delay relay in there-see those in some broadcast transmitters.

 

[robinsondm]

Wondering

Hey, am I the only one wondering why the seller told cadman the ovens were thrown out by contractors, when in reality they were sold to mopar65? Did the seller make up that story to reject an out-of-town buyer in favor of a local one?

 

Anyway, I'm glad the ovens weren't scrapped, and are being repaired.

[this post was last edited: 2/14/2014-04:08]

 

[mopar65]

Wondering

They were thrown out by contractors there was damage to them. But I think that's what they did. They we're pushing me out the door.

 

[ovrphil]

If they were all copper, they'd be long gone - shame the contractors didn't know these are not your every day used ovens

 

[xpanam]

WOW!!!Anthony!!!! Glad you were able to save these, and thanks for the pictures. Always wondered about the technology of these new ovens. When you get her up and running, can you surprise us with a video of it running? I am curious about how it compares to todays microwaves, like how long dose it take to boil a cup of water? Thanks Anthony. And please be careful HIGH VOLTAGE LOL! Rob.

 

[mopar65]

It's alive!!!

Works real good! I will post a video soon.

 

[mopar65]

It's alive

 

[mopar65]

Magnetron

I’m working on finding a replacement magnetron for it or fixing it. I was told by an old ham radio and radar guy that old magnetrons will arc out after siting for a long time unused and one way to stop this from happening is to step the voltage up slow. I did this with no improvement. So it’s back to what I originally was thinking bad RF seals. I think I may put modern guts in it and box up the original parts to preserve them in a working order.

 

[combo52]

Its Alive

Great work Anthony, I think you are the first person I know that has gotten one this old working again, this may inspire me to get my 1962 water cooled Tappan built Westinghouse working.

While I too have considered putting in a modern magnetron I am going to try to fix the orignal system first, although I am going to install ours in the museum where it will only be used occasionally, the museum kitchen will have about 30 MW ovens hooked up and most are some variety of combination micro-thermal units.

I will stay on the lookout for parts for your unit.

 

[mopar65]

John

Thank you for all your help! I hope you get the 62 working.

 

[ovrphil]

Success!

Excellent!

 

[moparguy]

That is so awesome to see that early microwave running! What a great accomplishment and find!

 

[mopar65]

Magnetron

Started taking it apart today to find out why it was arcing in the cooling fins and here it is.

 

[mopar65]

The bolts on the top plate had started to back out frying the RF seal. Any ideas on making a new one. It's brass.

 

[ovrphil]

!!! whoah - and part replacement might be a long search or maybe a custom shop will make? Here's where 3D printing would be nice.