Modernolette motor repair

[alang]

A friend asked me to fix his Modernolette portable he recently got. He was able to crank it up a bit, but then the spring would slip. I assumed a broken or disengaged spring. When I opened the spring barrels I found that one of the springs had apparently broken before and they had attempted to make the remaining part work. It just did not properly engage with the outer hook. No problem, I can either get a new spring (if available) or make the repair work. Then I started to clean the rest of the motor and found something that I'm not sure how it ever worked. What's wrong with this picture?

What the heck? Assuming that this is the original shaft and motor, did someone replace the gear and installed an incorrect gear? Or did someone just install a similar shaft with the wrong gear? The only reason it somehow worked was that the governor was installed with a veeery generous play. Of course, one of the weights was missing as well. No big deal that, but I really don't know what to do with the gear? I don't have the tools to press it off and install a correct one, if that's even available? Or would it make more sense to look for a whole new shaft or motor? The top says Okeh P5567, the bottom says P5569...

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Andreas

[alang]

Thinking more about it, maybe the governor has been replaced with one with the wrong spindle direction? Could that be the more logical explanation for some handyman's repair job? How difficult would it be to find a governor of the same size with the opposite spindle direction? I assume it would also have to fit the gear, or are they all the same? Sorry about the dumb questions.

Thanks
Andreas

[VictrolaGuy - Walt]

Thinking more about it, maybe the governor has been replaced with one with the wrong spindle direction? Could that be the more logical explanation for some handyman's repair job? How difficult would it be to find a governor of the same size with the opposite spindle direction? I assume it would also have to fit the gear, or are they all the same? Sorry about the dumb questions.

Thanks
Andreas

Everything is correct as shown. Consider the opposite side of the spiral worm as it meshes with the fiber drive gear and note that the angle of engagement is the same. Here is a blow up of your original so you can better visualize the surfaces.

GearMesh.jpg (273.25 KiB) Viewed 1848 times

[alang]

Everything is correct as shown. Consider the opposite side of the spiral worm as it meshes with the fiber drive gear and note that the angle of engagement is the same. Here is a blow up of your original so you can better visualize the surfaces.

Thank you Walt! I can now see what you mean. Wow, I could not visualize that before. How embarrassing.
I'm glad I asked before starting anything drastic.

Thanks again
Andreas

[Inigo]

Don't worry at all... Everyone of us has stayed there before, that's all!
(Wow! That answer arrived just in time....! )
This hobby gives us lots of fun, isn't it...
Another proof of the resistance and quality of many of our machines is that they have resisted our training periods...!

[VictrolaGuy - Walt]

I could not visualize that before.

I think it is called having a brain fart.


When I was still working in my white collar [electrical] engineering capacity we used to have what we called the "Prince Frederick Award" in our lab. (It was named after the son of the guy who invented, and first received, the award.) It was awarded to someone when they made an outrageous technical blunder by overlooking something simple. The recipient had to prominently display the award on their desk until the next guy or gal came along and did something suitably outrageous, after which it was transferred to them, and so on. At 23, and fresh out of academia, I received that award at least a few times. Now, had you actually attempted to "fix" that *problem* you could have been nominated. Oh so close!

Long live Prince Frederick!

[alang]

Yes, an embarrassing loud brain fart in a full elevator

Thanks again!
Sincerely
Prince Frederick