Question. I have a 1955 Westinghouse slant-front set as well as a few Duomatics and it seems that everyone who has these machines is in need of boots. They are getting harder and harder to find and to be honest the ones that are found aren’t in the best of condition. Even NOS parts are starting to show there age. I was just thinking if enough of us got together couldn't we find a small injection rubber company that would make a mold from an original boot and produce a small quantity to keep all our machines and future acquisitions running? I mean all we would need is someone on here to offer up an original so a mold could be made( I doubt the original would be harmed in any way) and enough of us to order the minimum quantity needed to make the endeavor financially viable. I am going to look into what it would take to do this so I am asking for a show of hands to see how many people would like such items made.
Who needs a Westinghouse or Philco Duomatic Boot???
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seamusuk
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Over here......
Hey Dave...
A lot of collectors over here have considered doing the same with the door boot of the sloped front Hoover Keymatic, but as yet the idea hasnt really got that far. The Keymatic boot is nothing like anything else because it has to have a large amount of slack in the centre section as the drum "drops" a considerable amount when full.
Defiantly worth attempting.......
Seamus
Hey Dave...
A lot of collectors over here have considered doing the same with the door boot of the sloped front Hoover Keymatic, but as yet the idea hasnt really got that far. The Keymatic boot is nothing like anything else because it has to have a large amount of slack in the centre section as the drum "drops" a considerable amount when full.
Defiantly worth attempting.......
Seamus
Jon (Jetcone) has a source or had a source for the door boots.
Yes I have many new boots to fit
1956 and later Duomatics and Gyramatics. $50.00 plus postage gets one to your door. And they are made of EPDM rubber now, bleach and oxygen resistant.
A mold will cost over $10,000 to make.
1956 and later Duomatics and Gyramatics. $50.00 plus postage gets one to your door. And they are made of EPDM rubber now, bleach and oxygen resistant.
A mold will cost over $10,000 to make.
Cool..........
Jetcone I will take you up on one of those for the Duomatic I just purchased. As for Westinghouse I found a company in Ohio that does small runs of rubber goods and I have contacted them to see how much we would be talking. As soon as I get some real numbers I will add them to the thread. But just to see how many people would want boots for their Westinghouse washers?
Jetcone I will take you up on one of those for the Duomatic I just purchased. As for Westinghouse I found a company in Ohio that does small runs of rubber goods and I have contacted them to see how much we would be talking. As soon as I get some real numbers I will add them to the thread. But just to see how many people would want boots for their Westinghouse washers?
austinado16
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I will donate a Westing house boot
I have 3 gorgeous, like new Westinghouse boots...one of which I installed in January. I have another one that's not suitable for use, but would be excellent to mold from. It's also NOS, in the box, but the glued seam where it attaches to itself has started to seperate. That's probably a good thing because these weren't molded round, they were an extrusion, and then cut and glued to become a circle.
We would also need the giant o-ring that is the garter ring which attaches them to the wash tub. I can loan one of those also.
I've asked for interest in this several times here over the years, and no one has stepped forward.
I can tell you that molds are very expensive to make. I had a small mold made for making a 3" long x 1/2" wide part for a vintage car. The mold was $75 and it costs me $45 to have 4 of those little parts made at a time (the mold only does one at a time). So I would imagine the mold to make these washer boots would be thousands. You may find it much cheaper via a source in China. Sad to admit that, but they can probably bang out a mold for a few hundred bucks and then you could spec the quality of the rubber used.
I have 3 gorgeous, like new Westinghouse boots...one of which I installed in January. I have another one that's not suitable for use, but would be excellent to mold from. It's also NOS, in the box, but the glued seam where it attaches to itself has started to seperate. That's probably a good thing because these weren't molded round, they were an extrusion, and then cut and glued to become a circle.
We would also need the giant o-ring that is the garter ring which attaches them to the wash tub. I can loan one of those also.
I've asked for interest in this several times here over the years, and no one has stepped forward.
I can tell you that molds are very expensive to make. I had a small mold made for making a 3" long x 1/2" wide part for a vintage car. The mold was $75 and it costs me $45 to have 4 of those little parts made at a time (the mold only does one at a time). So I would imagine the mold to make these washer boots would be thousands. You may find it much cheaper via a source in China. Sad to admit that, but they can probably bang out a mold for a few hundred bucks and then you could spec the quality of the rubber used.
I would definitely be interested in buying at least two 'new' run Westy door boots! My L5 and CLB-6 both are rigged up with non-standard door boots and they do leak a bit... Please count me in!!
austinado16
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That grey Westinghouse boot won't leak
That boot from the 60's era FL's didn't leak in my LB-6 Laundromat. But it only last about 10 years before it started to crack....and then it leaked. I continued to repair the cracked areas with stuff like E-6000, etc. and that would work for a while.
It didn't fit perfectly, so instead of being round, it was sort of pentagon shaped. It began cracking at the accute angles of the pentagon corners.
If you look at a Westinghouse boot closely, they are very complicated in how they are designed. I'm sure some of that intricate detail could be modded for a more simplistic molding process, but still, it's going to be expensive IMO.
That boot from the 60's era FL's didn't leak in my LB-6 Laundromat. But it only last about 10 years before it started to crack....and then it leaked. I continued to repair the cracked areas with stuff like E-6000, etc. and that would work for a while.
It didn't fit perfectly, so instead of being round, it was sort of pentagon shaped. It began cracking at the accute angles of the pentagon corners.
If you look at a Westinghouse boot closely, they are very complicated in how they are designed. I'm sure some of that intricate detail could be modded for a more simplistic molding process, but still, it's going to be expensive IMO.
Well.............
I agree that its probably not going to be cheap BUT if we don't all get together and do something then it won't be to long before all our Westinghouse slant fronts become ornamental because a lack of replacement boots.
I agree that its probably not going to be cheap BUT if we don't all get together and do something then it won't be to long before all our Westinghouse slant fronts become ornamental because a lack of replacement boots.
austinado16
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Well......
Check into it. Like I said, I'd be willing to donate a boot and garter ring.
I'm guessing the problem is that there are so few of us who have them, and fewer who actually use them. If this were the Vintage Westinghouse Laundromat website, and we had a couple hundred owners, we'd be in business.....but I'm guessing there aren't even a dozen of us who own them, and fewer who use them. Therefore, the molding and reproduction costs will be steep.
Check into it. Like I said, I'd be willing to donate a boot and garter ring.
I'm guessing the problem is that there are so few of us who have them, and fewer who actually use them. If this were the Vintage Westinghouse Laundromat website, and we had a couple hundred owners, we'd be in business.....but I'm guessing there aren't even a dozen of us who own them, and fewer who use them. Therefore, the molding and reproduction costs will be steep.
3beltwesty
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In Impellers for old washers
In Impellers for old old outboards there is a guy who machines them out on a CNC machine, he used your old one or another as the model.
In Impellers for old old outboards there is a guy who machines them out on a CNC machine, he used your old one or another as the model.
jeb
Well-known member
boot
I would be interested in a couple. I have a 53 set that needs restored.
I would be interested in a couple. I have a 53 set that needs restored.
Sudslock1
Send me an email with your address and I'll send you mine and send out the boot to you.
On the Westinghouse boots, an important distinction from Bendix, as I researched this earlier.
Those boots were "Extruded & Vulcanized" into round boots. It's a much simpler and cheaper process than direct molding from a mold, as all you need is a cut die to extrude through and then a vulcanizind step to join the two ends together as one boot.
So when you are looking into it be sure to tell them that, as it will save a lot of money down the road. I'll take 4!
Hopefully we can mold them white like the original ones.
Send me an email with your address and I'll send you mine and send out the boot to you.
On the Westinghouse boots, an important distinction from Bendix, as I researched this earlier.
Those boots were "Extruded & Vulcanized" into round boots. It's a much simpler and cheaper process than direct molding from a mold, as all you need is a cut die to extrude through and then a vulcanizind step to join the two ends together as one boot.
So when you are looking into it be sure to tell them that, as it will save a lot of money down the road. I'll take 4!
Hopefully we can mold them white like the original ones.
westingman123
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count me in!
I'll go in for a couple or three.
I'll go in for a couple or three.
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