At the laundromat parking lot on Veterans Memorial Parkway,
a) removed brushes (the bottom one WILL punish you if you drop the little screw into the netherworlds of the pulley tins), and looked at the pitted commutator that was pitted because the brush spring had lost enough tension to allow arcing:
b) stuck a strip of 800 grit sandpaper around the 1 1/2" wide strip of Motel 6 room card, started the engine, and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y inserted the sanding strip on the t-r-a-i-l-i-n-g edge of the window so the commutator would not throw it back up at me (that would be the far right of the upper window, far left of lower window):
c) it is like a game, this remote surgery by mirror. See how nice and shiny that commutator looks? Remember that it is soft copper so clean it up quickly and lightly if you want a full lifespan out of the generator:
d) new brushes at the top, used brushes at the bottom. The brush on the right was my problem-child, always annoyed with oil vapors and a lousy tension spring:
e) although the picture below is primarily for the artsy aspect, I guess it is also the "clean the holder" picture. Clean the holders and the commutator after the sanding procedure of all graphite dust. I used, oh I dunno . . . GumOut carb spray on a paper towel?
This game will make you giddy with delight. You are trying to hold a slippery spring to the side with a little screwdriver........
........ as you insert a slippery brush upside down into a rectangular hole with a mirror balancing precariously as your lower back vertebrae all progressively play "pseudospondylolisthesis". Be sure to engage the spring end in the depression on the top of the brush! Remember! Left is right visually as you go right to make it appear to go left up is down and down is up. Ignore your back pain:
f) there's the new brush installed.
g) Now you have to remote-mirror direct the braided copper brush lead to its terminal. Do not let it un-twist as you turn it, it needs to turn towards tighter so that the contact between the strands assists in current-carrying duties. You also need to keep the edge of the rectangular screw hole end from touching anything. Like I said, this will make you @!*@ing giddy:
h) add taking a picture with a gravity-infected camera while getting the bottom brush lined up. Here's the tightening of the little upside down screw into the rectangular screw hole into the terminal with the braided brush lead rotated tighter (the real hand is at the top):
Here is the upper brush lead spring being delicately moved aside in preparation for tickling in the upper brush:
i) the upper brush lead here must be carefully positioned, there is a greater danger of contact with the generator body up here:
This job will take you about one extended wash cycle at the laundromat.
Made it all the way to North Carolina in Alexus before the vaunted luxury form-fitting seat and my pseudospondylolisthetic back got into an argument. By Scranton PA, I could barely crawl out of the car. Culture shock and thermal shock and collapsed vertebrae shock! Last night, I begged for ibuprofen and wine for dinner:
This morning, I wondered anew, like I frequently do, what am I doing in this snow and mist and dripping pine needles? Wasn't I in sunshine and 70* just 96 hours ago???
Colin
