Alternator Overhaul

It's nice when things work out the way you planned, isn't it?

You prolly saved a few hundred bucks over taking it to a dealer for an alternator replacement.

Jeff (Who wishes he didn't remember how little auto parts cost in the '50s.)

(...)

You left out the part where you smelted the copper from ore. :)

But seriously though. Good Man, Jason!

--Winston

It's now probably better than new.

One caution... emery cloth/paper is conductive, and really shouldn't be used on slip rings, commutators, contacts or around electrical equipment in general.

Erik

Most excellent, sir. Kudos.

-- Accept the pain, cherish the joys, resolve the regrets; then can come the best of benedictions - 'If I had my life to live over, I'd do it all the same.' -- Joan McIntosh

You bet. The Parts Departments of Honda and Toyota both seem to think that the minimum price on any one item should never be less than $400.00. Go figure.

-- Accept the pain, cherish the joys, resolve the regrets; then can come the best of benedictions - 'If I had my life to live over, I'd do it all the same.' -- Joan McIntosh

I doubt you'll get a reading right off the cloth/paper, it's the grit left behind thats conductive.

As I recall from A&P school, microscopic emery 'inclusions' also end up embedded in soft materials like copper that can raise hell with brushes, and promote arcing.

They said sand paper only... and if you were using it to seat generator/starter/motor brushes, to be absolutely sure no sand particles were left under a brush, stuck between commutator segments or generally loose where they could blow into wherever.

Erik

Sheesh! Back only a decade or so, I could get a rebuilt Chrysler alternator for about fifteen bucks! Of course, that counts the core allowance for the old one I traded in.

Thanks, Rich

Some years ago I had a couple of "brush seating sticks" to be used after installing new brushes.

They were white, a few inches long, and about 1/4" x3/8" cross section.

You'd press them against the commutator next to a brush while it was spinning and the white stuff ground the contacting surface of the brushe to become a good mate with the commutator.

Guess they're still around:

Jeff

Hmmm, first I've ever heard of this!

Looks like it's mostly silica sand:

Erik

I used to use those large gray ink erasers to polish the armature. I was rebuilding vacuum cleaner motors as a side business. A lot only needed new brushes and to clean the armature. They ran fine on a variable DC power supply, which made it easy & safe to polish them while running.

I use them quite often. They come in different sizes and grits. On the little tach generators I just use an eraser on the back of a pencil since they usually just get a coating on them.

John

Use aluminum oxide, (sold as commutator paper in rolls) or for fine polishing, crucus cloth. NEVER Emery.

Emery is a mix of magnetite and corundum, if I remember correctly. Magnetite is an iron oxide (Fe3O4) and IS conductive.

I use these at work on large dc motors to clean up a worn commutator. A bit pricier, with fine mediun and course grades depending on the wear on the commutator. If its really bad then turning on a lathe is required. The white sticks are used to seat the new brushs to the commutator.