T-1000 Questions (have been answered)

[sirendude2012]

The Thunderbolt has been fixed. After the bearings free up, it'll run like it is supposed to, with a wind-up a second or two longer than usual. Thanks to various members for answering my questions about it.

[Jim Z]

Questions in order:

-The Thunderbolt gets its airflow/air pressure from the blower, so it's sound output doesn't vary so much with the voltage to the chopper. if you just have the cap/stator, chopper, and motor, there's no realistic way to compare it to the other sirens you mention. The Thunderbolt was meant to be force-fed.
-no idea.
-No. Don't eat chips of the paint, or inhale dust made from sandblasting it. You're not going to grow a third arm or become sterile just because you touched it. I come from a generation where we were constantly around cars which burned gasoline containing tetraethyl lead, and we all turnwd oit fign. En fakc, eogrcv ir sdowmv erfrkg. ^ ! uh, seriously, you don't want to ingest it, but no need to panic. If it's from the '50s to the '70s, yellow paint is almost assuredly colored with lead chromate pigments. it's actually doubly bad, because it contains both lead (a toxic heavy metal) and hexavalent chromium (a carcinogen.) But- like asbestos- if you leave it the hell alone, it won't hurt anyone. It's not dangerous so long as it stays outside the body. If you want it stripped, take it to a professional. if the paint is flaking off, then at the very least make sure to keep it away from small children. But honestly, if it is flaking off, I'd strongly suggest taking it to a pro and having it stripped and repainted.
-no idea.
-if you tape the stator cap slot shut, it can't make any sound at all.
-it depends on how crabby your neighbors are.
-a cardboard horn would be as effective as the steel one provided it was the same shape and size.

[holler]

It's not very loud at all on 120 without the horn. Your neighbors will probably hear it but it's not going to be earthshaking OMG loud.

The number on the chopper cap is just the mold number it was cast from. It's on all of them.

On 240 it pulls about 12 amps. On 120 it's even less. I haven't put the amprobe on one yet to see exactly what it draws.

The lead paint won't hurt you as long as you don't try and grind it off or lick it. If you want to be safer just spray over the lead paint with modern lead free paint. It will encapsulate it.

I've seated brushes in a 1000T chopper motor with the ports taped up in Bryan's apartment during my first trip to Texas, so that tells you they aren't that loud. The 1000 will be bassier and on the borderline of needing earplugs, depending on how sensitive your ears are. I've spent my entire life around heavy machinery with blown out mufflers so they don't seem that loud to me.

If you tape the outlet up it pretty much silences it.

[sirendude2012]

Thank you guys. I found out a couple things about my Thunderbolt, which are good and bad. The thing has probably been repainted several times, so any Lead-based paint is covered by Oil-based. The bad info is that this particular chopper takes nearly 30 seconds to peak on 120V, sometimes taking 20 more seconds to start turning. It's like windings are weird or something. It'll start spinning instantly in spots, and others it'll just sing 60hz to me and I need to pulse power to it to start it spinning. I found that out when I did a 120V run-up in my basement.

I found out that tape can completely deaden it, which is a good thing. I can adjust exactly how loud I want it by leaving a little bit of the slot open too. A couple more questions arise.

Is it supposed to take its sweet time to get going and peak on 120? I know that 120 is Chopper Level 1 in a cabinet.
Is the motor supposed to have a carbon-y smell to it whilst/after running it?
Are tiny sparks supposed to be continuously seen between the brushes and the armature whilst running?
What would cause the motor to not hold a steady pitch very well? While I ran it, I could notice its pitch was fluctuating. The varying pitch was slightly greater than the varying a 2001-130 produces.

[holler]

Remove the brushes and ohm out your two power leads. Sounds like the field could be open. Report back with your finding.

BTW post some pictures.

[Jim Z]

Are tiny sparks supposed to be continuously seen between the brushes and the armature whilst running?

minor arcs are normal on brushed motors. you don't want big sparks, and you especially don't want to see a lot of green flashes.

[sirendude2012]

I have no pictures, but I do have a video demonstrating what the motor sounds like and how slowly it winds up. For this video, it spins right up, but often it sings 60hz and doesn't budge the rotor at all. The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpAy3ELS ... e=youtu.be

Also, I am a mere 14 years of age, I do not know how to do this testing that you recommend, Holler.

The sparks are blue in color, and very small.

[Jim Z]

Also, I am a mere 14 years of age, I do not know how to do this testing that you recommend, Holler.

Age has nothing to do with it. holler was using a bit of jargon, to "ohm out" something is to measure its resistance with a multimeter. He's telling you to remove the graphite brushes and use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the wire leads connecting to them. If the resistance is too low, a winding is shorted somewhere.

[sirendude2012]

I'll "ohm it out" tomorrow. As for the motor, I noticed that the entire thing was very dirty. Dirt, as one may know, conducts electricity. So, knowing that dirt may be causing a short in the windings, I cleaned the motor to the best of my ability without rewinding it myself. I cleaned the armature/commutator, brushes, magnets, coils, and wires inside. I found a few peculiar things, like how one coil has a silvery bit at the top and the other has one but of lesser size, and how three bars on the armature are darn-near corrosion free while the others are corroded in some shape or form. Overall, I cleaned the thing, hoping that the dirt was the thing creating shorts in the motor. I will test it again tomorrow and hope for the best.

[Westgate Thunderbolt]

It sounds like the motor alignment is out if wack. It has a noticeable dragging sound in it at start up as if the armature is rubbing on the field or chopper is rubbing on the stator cap. This could also explain the motor stalls at start up and slow start ups.

These motors are supposed to be mounted in a chopper housing with four screws/bolts. These same four screws/bolts keep the motor from falling apart. When I shipped it I put two screws in it to hold the motor together. Things may have gotten a little jarred during shipping. Also check that the taper pins didn't fall out and are not loose. The taper pins keep the motor aligned.

Another side note: If you remove the brushes, make sure they go in the same holder and in the same direction. The brushes will seat themselves to a particular position in relation to the position of each brush holder to the commutator. Once seated and you turn them backwards they may have a clicking sound as they go across the bars. That clicking is the brush jumping in and out of the groves between the bars. The brushes are also not making full face contact to the commutator. This can cause damaging arcing under full load. If the brushes do get swapped it is advisable to run the motor under lesser power until the brushes are fully reseated.