Vintage Toastmaster Toaster Repair?

[michaelman2]

Hi to all,

My daily driver Toastmaster toaster stopped heating this morning and then when I tried a different outlet it began to spark out of the cord ( where the cord meets the plug). Anyone know of a repair shop or service where I may take or send this little gem to revive? I searched here on the site and didn’t find anything specifically for small appliances? I may have overlooked something. Suggestions welcomed!

 

[rp2813]

It sounds to me like the cord is the culprit for the non-heating issue because these toasters are difficult to kill.

 

Long ago I took apart my parents' 1949 Toastmaster (I don't even remember what was wrong with it), which is the same as yours except for the bakelite parts.  It was fussy, but I did get it back together again, and the trickiest part of removing the shell was extracting the small screw that held the shading control knob, which had been fused into place presumably from heat. 

 

Ideally, you should replace the whole cord, but considering that wires around screws are how the cord attaches to the toaster, you could try keeping the same cord and replacing its plug with a new one that either has screws for the wires or has barbs that penetrate the cord and simply snaps onto the cut end without any need to strip the wires.  Just be sure that the replacement plug is rated for the wattage of the toaster.

 

Here's a picture of the sturdy replacement plug I got at ACE to put on the end of my vintage Waring "rocket ship" blender's cord.

[this post was last edited: 11/6/2022-15:47]

 

[ea56]

I agree with Ralph that its probably the cord. In photo #4 it appears that the cord is bulging slightly just above the plug. I think that if you just cut off the plug about 3 to 4 inches above the plug to assure that any damaged wires are removed and then put on a new properly rated plug on the original cord, that should do the trick. Its pretty easy to do.

I personally would avoid a cord piercing plug and go for an old fashioned type of replacement plug that you wrap the wires around the screws to attach it. That way you’d be assured of good contact.

Good Luck! Thats a nice Toastmaster toaster and it should give you many more years of service.

Eddie

 

[michaelman2]

Thank you

Ralph and Eddie… thank you both. I plan to head over to Ace Hardware for the wrap type replacement plug tomorrow. Thanks for the tip and also Eddie thank you for your keen eye on the slight bulge on the cord, I’ll remove that portion. Will let you guys know the outcome. Again, thanks!

Mike

 

[rp2813]

I failed to mention that I have this exact toaster in great shape stored away for the day I get fed up with my KitchenAid Pro-Line toaster that has stopped providing even shading on both sides of the bread slices. 

 

Interestingly, the rubber cord has obviously been replaced on mine because it's brown instead of black.  The previous iterations of this toaster (with brown bakelite parts) used brown woven cords, so maybe after Toastmaster updated the look with the black bakelite components and black rubber cords, there were some issues.  It seems unlikely, but you never know.

 

Whether that deformity that Eddie spotted had been there already or was caused by the sparking, the plug is -- dare I say it -- toast.  I'm betting a new plug will solve the problem.

 

[vacerator]

That was my parents

wedding gift toaster. They used it until the 80's.

 

[michaelman2]

Elated! Thank You!

Eddie and Ralph, took your advice and I have my toaster back! The thought of me repairing anything is a scary thought. Especially something electrical. You both were spot on, when I cut the cord about six inches above the plug the wires were clean. Curiosity made me take the section I had cut and cut it closer to the cord ( close to the bulge Eddie identified and it was a mess. I will no longer leave appliances plugged in to the outlet. It was a lazy habit that I believe caught up to me.

Anyway, thank you guys again for the triage, assistance, guidance, suggestions and recommendations.

Vacerator, this was my grandmother’s toaster and I am unsure of the year purchased, I just remember it being in her kitchen when I was a child. So sometime AD. Lol.

 

[ea56]

Mike,

I’m so happy that this worked out for you! And thanks for acknowledging the advice that Ralph and I gave you about replacing the plug. Its pretty easy to do isn’t it?

When I was growing up we had a Toastmaster toaster that my parents received as a wedding gift in 1948. The original plug had been replaced by the time I was 8 years old. And the replacement plug would sometimes need to have the wires retightened around the screws because us kids would carelessly yank the plug out of the socket. I learned then how to reattach a plug.

These old Toastmasters are excellent toasters. When I moved out on my own in 1970 my first toaster was a Toastmaster from about 1955 that I paid $3.00 for at The Salvation Army. I used that toaster for 15 years, until I bought a GE toaster oven and I gave the $3.00 Toastmaster to my sister and she used it for another 10 years, which made it about 40 years old when Mary got rid of it.

I’m glad I was able to help you out.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/18/2022-16:17]

 

[rp2813]

Congratulations!

Nice work Mike!

 

I'm glad that Eddie and I were both right about the source of the problem and the easy fix for it.  The new plug looks perfect on the trimmed cord!

 

As I stated above, your toaster isn't any different from the postwar models except for the restyled bakelite parts.  I would say its vintage is ~1955.

 

And Eddie, I remember thrift stores being overrun with the postwar Toastmasters from the mid-to-late '60s through all of the '70s.  I'd wager that better than 90% of them still worked fine and were victims of kitchen updates or remodels.