Re: SER1 Horn Bracket

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Hi Martin,

I have fiddled with a few starters and alternators, I've noticed a few
things
with each that let you down but are real simple to fix...only yesterday
I pulled the alternator out of our discovery....bearings shagged....so I
pulled it apart, machined the slip rings, then pressed on new bearings...
voila.....I've never proven this but when an alternator bearing (s) loose
tolerance it seems the brushes might begin to "float" and loose the surface
pressure required for the rotor current.....caused by engine vibration,
rotor speed and shagged bearings...like I've said I have no data to support
this but having placed new bearings, machined the slip rings, and re
bedded the bushes......14.4 volts and bags of current...last night
drove to Sydney for a party and back...550 km's round trip no problems...
in the past I have tried just replacing the brushes...no effect....same
problem.....so bearings seem critical..in alternators....

Starters....I've been lucky with starter motors....never had any real
trouble but as an apprentice I was incarcerated in an auto electrical shop
for 3 months...again bearings critically important as the loads applied
during cranking are
obviously quite high, having clean commutator with proper undercutting was
critical as was correct brush pressure on the commutator....as we are
talking
hundreds of amps through the solenoid contacts and rest of the series
circuit
its easy to see how a bad contact with slow the whole show up.....

Shops.....yesterday I called to see if the local bearing shop had what I
wanted,
they did so I drove the 30 km's to pick up the parts waiting on the counter
and
sure enough the "kid" had picked the wrong bearing from stock....just as
well I
checked and re checked....only cost me $10 for both.....the point I guess
I'm making is it seems people just don't give a damn, can't read, are
technically
incompetent at what their doing, businesses employ kids < 20 years old as
they
are cheap....the fact they can't count, read or speak English is not a
factor.....
so I guess unfortunately the "local" family business in your case Martin was
working
against your actual problem.....glad you fixed it...them....

Cheers
Bruce




> Hi Bruce
>
> Yes, you are right. But I didn't have the time or the tools. My problem
> motor was on a 110. I replaced the solenoid, but I just think it had
become
> a "lazy" Starter Motor.
> I took it to a local family long established firm. It came back and they
> said nothing was wrong. I found the lad had not bench tested it under
load.
> It then returned with another new solenoid. I returned it again and the
next
> occasion it was given back to me with a new armature as well and still
gave
> problems at which point I gave up and obtained a new one somewhere else
and
> got my money back. I must have been unlucky because these people were auto
> electricians, big plant maintenance, agents for Bosch and everything else.
I
> had no further trouble with my new one afterwards though.
> I got quite adept at removing and refitting it in 5 mins.
>
> Happy Easter
>
> Martin
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Bruce Stewart" <Bruce.Stewart1@xxxxxxx.xxx>
> To: <series1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 9:42 PM
> Subject: Re: SER1 Horn Bracket
>
>
> > Martin,
> >
> > anyone can rebuild a starter motor, generator, alternator....there isn't
> > any rocket science in any of them....yes you do have to have some tools
> > and machines to do it properly but its not difficult by any means.
> >


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