I'm a really old timer so here it goes to you young folk. I loved seeing you rescue a usable piece of equipment from the land fill, great work! Although my methods would of been different. First a history..... the fans in the old old days used a fiber wick. If possible the wick was located over the shaft. The wick was easy to remove and we would simply apply a few drops of 3M oil to the wick and replace it. You do this once or twice a season and the fan would last forever. Gravity would insure the shaft was lubricated. I still have some of my fans from the 1950's and they run whisper quiet. I'm sure someone already told you below but I'll just say that the stuff you think is dried up grease or glazing is a material sometimes called permawick (the company name), It's purpose is to hold lubricant to keep that shaft lubricated. It's supposed to be there and you picking at it made me cringe. If I saw things correctly on the video you did not oil that permawick material before you replaced the bearing. At this point the oil you put on the shaft will last only a short while and you'll be back to square one soon. You need to add a few drops of 3M 1/4 HP oil to the permawick and you should be good to go for awhile. Speaking of the shaft, I would not of used a wire wheel on that shaft. That shaft is already experiencing issues and I would not add to them. You just introduced 1000's of micro scratches to it. I would of opted to use another method to clean it up. I would of tried elbow grease, oil and a rag first then perhaps an fine or ultra-fine grit sandpaper as a last resort. Never go to the wheel first. Take your time.
really lucky to have you here and relay that story and all the tips therein. That was a treasure trove of information from a time gone by that still applies this very day . my interest in fans has been out of a necessity as I haven't had Air conditioning in about 5 years now , and south Texas gets pretty brutal. being short of cash forces one to hone the imagination and creative skills to make things do or from scratch entirely.. Ive bought several fans form the big box stores and they Peter out within a year growing slower and more lethargic, irritated with todays LACK OF QUALITY I HAVE resorted to other means and machines to which I apply the fan blades from the junk ones. a perfect standby is applying a fan blade to the shaft of a washing machine motor. its thermally protected and is continuous duty, and turns an RPM of about 1025 to 1075. and typically will already have a capacitor. they work great and blow plenty of air , I must say though my best build has been from a small SHANG YI motor about as big as my fist. that had in storage and for the life of me dont know what it come off of, so I put a small fan blaDE ON that thing and at 3300 rpms it moves a room. fearful to have my head chopped off I made sure I built a cage for the thing, and I love it. it was nice to hear from you and relay your advice. stay sharp and keep your powder dry, and again, thankyuou
My old fan gave out recently will see if it needs oil on the permawick. I did that for our 1940s rotaery kenmore sewing machine a decade ago before it was rehomed worked like a top.
Cool! I do this all the time! As someone who collects antique and vintage fans,I just want to let you know that the "Spray foam" stuff is actually dried oil wick. What you do is soak it in 3 in 1 blue can oil in addition to lubing the shaft like you did and it will help keep it oiled for longer. What you did is fine,but is more of a temporary fix. If you soak those wicks, it will last for much longer. Just never grease these bearings. It might work for a bit, but they aren't meant o be greased and it will eventually seize up again. Those Lakewoods are actually pretty decent, one of the last brands that made their fans in the USA.
Me too, I have picked up numerous Antique fans over the years, they make for good videos especially to those of us who like the better built things, all the new plastic fans are more of a fire Hazzard then the steal ones
I had a lakewood desk fan that only kicked the bucket recently after almost 18 years so almost as old as me, my parents felt it a lost cause cus when it was turned on it didn't even make any sound or any attempt to move, and it was working earlier that day
Sometimes when I’m yelling at the screen, I can’t get your attention. Actually the yellow fiber IS for holding oil. The yellow material is an injectable oil impregnated cellulose, and the sleeve bushings are oilite type. It looks like they didn’t put enough of the yellow fiber material to keep the bushings wet.(probably on purpose to kill the fan in a couple years so a new one will be purchased). Adding some cotton wick and soaking with light oil will keep that fan running a long time.
Exactly. And if you're not going to run that, you should coat it all, shaft and bushing with PTFE. That'll last a couple years, but eventually it will wear away. The oil and wick lasts longer, but if you can't fix it because you don't have a wick PTFE spray is a nice fix because it also doesn't attract any dirt and it will be slippery for a while. What he did there, will probably last a few months but when he takes it out from the winter time it might stall again.
This video couldn't have been timed any better! I have a fan of a similar variety (3 speed floor fan, clamshell motor) that's been in regular service for 15 years and the other day it wouldn't chooch. Unwilling to give up on it, I used this video as a tutorial, cracked the case open, cleared the dust out and applied copious amounts of skateboard bearing fluid to both ends of the rotor. Now it chooches like new! You've saved me tossing something that needed a bit of intermediate service and hopefully it'll last for another 15 years! Thanks!
I’ve got three of these (2 are monsters like that) out in the shop I picked last fall. One is a penguin 10” personal fan, (a mini clone of that one) one monster on a high stand and the other is the floor monster one like that. Same basic maintenance including adding a knob to the stand one which luckily I had a set screw knob for. I’ve been hosing fans off forever making neighbors scratch their heads even saying they’d be afraid to plug it in again. My response is “how else am I gonna dry it off? ” lol Never had one pop on me yet. In this throw away world it’s never tough pickens if you have any basic knowledge of how things work. Amazes me the stuff people give up on OR will pay another to do... stay handy my friends! Thanks for the midweek peek Mustie!
So, i have this EXACT fan. it's been sitting in my room for like 10 years because i didn't wanna throw it out because of it's all metal construction and it has the same issues. at least i know what to expect now and what i'll need when i tackle this project. Thank you.
wish i kept my honeywell.... loved that fan. i kept it clean but i didn't know about oiling it. had it for a long time. i also think i was scared to completely take it apart because i did that to an old metal box fan when i was around 11 or 12 and got electrocuted.
Nice ! In a throw away society I love seeing videos like yours Mustie1. Now I feel all warm and fuzzy as well as motivated to go out and fix some old stuff of my own. Sweeeeet!
Thank you for posting these type of midweek videos. You have given me so much confidence to get off my couch and not rely on others. So far I fixed my craftsman weed trimmer. Clutch was rusted on. But I got it. I fixed my stove, and water hose. And looking for another small project to tackle. thank you again. ✌☮
I appreciate that your videos do not contain politics, current events, nor opinions. It’s refreshing to enjoy some wrenching, problem solving, and some New England country side. Keep up the good work.
I had a similar thing with the electric windows on my Vauxhall Cavalier, after 30-odd years the original grease Bosch packed the motors with had turned into something like half dry snot. Cleaning that out and adding fresh grease fixed it like a charm.
Thank you again! Tractor stalled out I replaced the fuel line and filter. Runs great now. Never a thought in my mind to attempt that before watching your channel!
Have a newer model, came on YT just to see somebody disassemble to before I did to make sure I wasn't going to make it worse. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for the inspiration! I thought my dehumidifier was dead until I saw your video. Took that fan out, cleaned it out similar to what you did here, and it's back in action with maybe 15 minutes of work. I was already pricing new ones, so you saved me at least $200. Thanks.
I had the same problem with a smaller motor. I removed the motor, disassembled it and soaked both bearings in transmission oil for a couple of days. Put it back together and it's still running. That was about two years ago. You did the correct repair.
Thanks for posting this video. I had an oscillating fan that had pretty much stopped spinning--but the oscillating function still worked. I was afraid it was the "startup capacitor", which was going to be hard to track down to replace (man, do I miss those Radio Shack stores, and their bins full of discrete electronic components!), but after checking everything with a multimeter, all the electricals seemed fine. I disassembled the motor, cleaned everything very well, and liberally re-lubed the journals with 3-in-1 (this fan had similar wicking in the journals) and tried it out before fully reassembling and it worked great. Much quieter too. This fan was probably 10 years old--but I saved it from the landfill, and got it back to nearly-new condition in an afternoon on my day off! Added bonus, my wife and father-in-law had their belief that I can fix just about anything, reinforced once again...
It's called "permawick" - an oil reservoir for shaft lubrication in a sawdust type medium, frequently used instead of felt. It is NOT grease. I have used this product many times in electric motors with bronze/brass bearings/bushings.
years ago yes, then they went to perma-lies of cheap yellow foam rubber, which the oil conveniently breaks down into a gelatinous goop....... don't ask what year, I don't know, they all kind of rolled into doing it at different times. ;)
I found an almost identical fan in the trash. As long it hums (whether it turns or not) it is just a matter of cleaning and lubing. Resaturate the felts surrounding the sintered bearings with #10 oil. If it doesn’t hum, the thermal fuse imbedded in the windings likely has melted due to slow RPMs, in which case you can replace it or at least short it out. (It is not needed to prevent fire IF you always keep the fan lubed, but those inheriting it won’t know that.) The hardest part was removing the six 2 mm machine screws holding the grille halves together. Three were immovable and had to be drilled out. All in all, no fan can’t be revived, and will last forever if kept lubed. Lucky for me that I know this, because I have found four fans this summer alone.
That foam you where picking at is the sponge for the bearing oil. Your suppose to saturate the foam with oil also so that it stays lubed for a while until it dries out again. Oil soaks through the bronze cintered bearing.
i found the same fan when i was doing curbside pickup,works great, just had to tighten the two nuts that make it pivot.use it in me garage to move air around!! i have kept the same fan running behind me wood stove for 25 years by cleaning it like U did. once a year i would take it apart oil and clean the bearings!!! good catch!!!
Great fix Mustie. That's exactly what i do. Many fans come with a bronze or copper bearing and a felt washer with some lube from the factory. After many revolutions, the felt becomes dry and causes the shaft and the bearing to overheat and basically seize. I swear they do that on purpose so you end up buying a new one every so often. Sometimes you can just saturate the felt with some oil and ptfe, others, you have to sand/polish the shaft as well and they can operate again, for a while. Some models can be fitted with a suitable sealed ball bearing which is how the old-timer fans were made and those literally lasted forever. Another freaking item to add to the already long list of household maintenance items; 'Oil the fans monthly'. LOL
I take my house fans out about once a year and hose all the dust and dirt out of them. motor included. let it dry and put them back to work. I must be doing it right cause I've had the same fans for so long the stores I bought them from are long out of business. hmmm, just realized I put those stores out of business by not buying new fans.
I found a similar Hawaiian Breezeway fan at my local transfer station, brought it home, cleaned it up everywhere except for the majority of the insides of the electric motor. Thank you for this video. It has the exact same thing wrong with it, it just won’t spin at all because of how gummed up the bearings are. I hope that you are doing well.
@@alwaysopen7970 that type of set screw is often about the same hardness as the allen key! I've broken both before, it's a gamble that is if your not smart enough to just torch blast the hub real fast, in case of thread-locking compound, which many did. flame wrench = mans second best friend :) (bark-bark)
Helpful video to troubleshoot my floor fan.. and Thanks for your efforts to help all of us searching TH-cam (at lower resolution, of course) find out what 1 or more problems might be around/inside the fan. Today I was FREE of yard work, sooooo... I love to tinker and clean things... now my floor fan has been "renewed" to spin freely in place and attempt to keep the humidity here at bay another day or more... Thanks Again!!!💖
I have two vintage fans, one from the '20's the other from the '50's that both have oil cups on each end of the motor. I rewired both of them and they have run fine for years.
I will never look at another fan again the same way, as now my mind will think back to this video and I will say to myself, wait a minute bub, this can be fixed real easy like, lol. Thanks for another great video buddy! The FREE education you provide is priceless and well worth the time to review!
I have a white Honeywell that ive had since I was very young, the ones they still sell today (black now) I've had to take it apart 3 times now. Lubed it with used motor oil and its been good for a year now lol. Runs all night every night. That fan has had lots of use. I'll use it til I can't anymore.
I don’t know if you’ll read this but I really appreciate videos like this one and the one where you fix the “hot pot”. We are a throwaway culture and it’s horrible the things people just ditch instead of putting a little work and research into. You’re the man Mustie! Hope to meet you in person someday. If you’re ever on your way to FL and happen to find yourself in East Tennessee look me up!
10:20 and 15:50 You should carefully "back off" the screws by hand to make sure they're "seated" (i.e., turn them counter-clockwise to feel for them to "drop" so that the threads aren't gonna cross) before you screw them in, especially under power.
People dont try too fix anything anymore im glad theirs dudes like you reminds me of my papaw he threw nothing away if he coud not save it he saved every bolt screw and part possible
Funny, I have the same exact Fan (Bought it new years ago), and I just got it out today because here in NY,..it's in the high 90's. Works like a Tornado,..blew my papers all over the room, lol. Those are great fans.
Good job, I approve. I haven't purchased a box fan in years, I find them in dumpsters, usually quite dirty (yours was so clean!) and generally the motor is gunked up. I don't bother opening the motor, just put some oil (3-in-one or sometimes light motor oil) on the spindle and spin it to get the oil to migrate down the shaft. Sometimes the controls won't work (blown fuse?) and it isn't worth my time to deal with that. The last one I found was very clean but had a blade broken off (someone had dropped some dominoes into the cage). But because they are so common (e.g. Lasko), I just put on a compound blade from another fan. Works perfectly with no other changes
Mustie- I stumbled across one of your videos at the start of lockdown here in the UK while I was looking into how to fix a chainsaw. I’ve been hooked ever since- this is a fabulous channel. Earlier todayI watched the New Garage video and was delighted that this TH-cam stuff has brought you to this point. I’ve learnt so much and you’ve inspired me to pick up the spanners again. Thank you and well done.
I watched because my fan is acting up, thank you for your video. I'm jealous if you live near Motif #1, my favorite scenery. I live in Western MA, and as soon as you started panning the scenery, I knew right away it was my most loved scenic spot!! Lucky you!!
9:47 you can use a felt battery post protector to create a felt donut to put around the bushing to hold oil. That's generally how those sintered bronze bushings in fans were designed.
I just found this channel about a month ago. Has gone up 3000 subscribers in that time. Way to go well deserved, great teaching experience and also very entertaining.
On some old electric motors they had a packing material that held oil, when the bushing heated up it lubed the bushing by warming the material and the packing would give up the oil stored with in. You had it right when you did your description of old electric motors. Good fix by the way. The oil that was used was non detergent 10 or 20 weight.
I just rebuilt a very similar fan, might even be the same one. You have to add more oil. I find it amazing how little dust it takes to substantially lower the effectiveness of a fan. You basically have to clean them at least once a week. As the effectiveness goes down, the cooling of the motor goes way down and they start going through oil.
You have the best "curb finds" every. I need to come that way and do some trash mining myself. No one around here ever throws anything away like you find.
I've had the same issue with a fan I've found on the side of the road. It's good for a couple of hours with oil, then the problem reappears. I've removed all the old grease and put wheel bearing grease. Way better! That recessed thing is packed with grease, but after getting hot for years, it starts to loose it's property and dries. If you would like to do the best job, I would suggest you scrape all that old grease and repack it good with bearing grease. Then it will last for years!
Greetings: Those are sintered (aka oilite) bearings. They are designed to store oil for the life of the bearing. I would be inclined to wash out all of the excess died lubricant then relube with oil for the bearing; and I tend to use moly grease on anything. The action of the air-flow pushes the rotor rearward toward the rear bearing. I would lube any rubbing surfaces.
Thanks, used this to save a Lasko floor fan I've had for a couple years. Found the rear bearing/bearing surface stuck together, but some cleaning and light oiling completely restored the fan.
1/4" knobs of all descriptions are available on line and I think even Lowe's and other hdwr stores keep some around. The 1/4" shaft has been common on radio equipment since the 1920's.
Synthetic ATF has worked great for breathing life back into old electric fans like this. I used both Amsoil universal synthetic ATF and full synthetic Dexron VI because I had both laying around, but might be expensive to buy a whole bottle just to squirt a few millilitres into a fan (I use a syringe).
My old neighbor lou gave me a ge box fan .. it was ancient...shorted wiring...pain in the arse to get to bearing... all rusty.... wow bearing is a solid 3 inch bronze ir more... clean shaft dye 2k grit sandpaper polish shaft...clean all parts. Lube my mixture of oil and tufoil..soak bearing plug one side fill with oil..soak packing... reassemble works fantastic... a solid main bearing not 2 piecees... repainted it gonna use it once again...50 years or more old.. leave rear cover loose so easy to yearly lube.. use foam to hold in place..
Another item with the most liked price tag on it = for free. 😁 Very well done, Sir. This big fan is a really nice machine. Congrats. I always wonder how much good stuff people throw away. I hope that you grabbed at least the case with all the electric tools in it (shown at the end of the video). I would love to find something like that. But over here in Germany everyone wants money even for defect stuff... sigh. Thanks a lot for making teaching recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health.
That particular fan is my favorite. Mine is stone cold dead. I haven't tried to resurrect it yet. Hopefully it is just a fusible link sort of deal. They don't make that fan anymore and I don't think you can find a replacement motor for it anywhere.
I was given a nice Bissell bag-less vacuum with a light on the front by someone who sad it quit working good. It had two foam filters and a hepa filter at the exhaust. They foam filters were matted with dirt and hair, they had a long haired dog, and the hepa filter was full of dirt. The brush had so much dog hair wrapped around it that it was rubbing on the housing. I cleaned all of the filters, removed the brush and cut out the hair and put it back in with a new drive belt. I have been using it for over ten years now with no problems, just routine maintenance.
I have three fans which I have to check and clean out and hope I can get them working again so I don't have to throw them away. One fan just quit working recently and I would like to get them working before putting them away for the Winter. I am glad that you got that fan working and hope it gives you many Summers of use before it has to be cleaned again.
The bearing is called a fluid film bearing, the principle is the same as the engine's rod bearings, when two surfaces are moving with respect to each other with some sort of oil (or any viscose fluid) between them, the viscosity will cause the oil to create a small layer with high pressure which can endure some amount of thrust force depending on the amount of oil, viscosity and relative speed of the two surfaces. The bearings in small electrical motors like this one, normally don't need constant lubrication. They are made with a method called powder metallurgy and normally can absorb a certain amount of oil, the yellow material is probably an absorbent to store some excess oil for the bearing, so, i would replace it with cotton or wool or anything like that and add some oil to the bearing when the motor start to heat up again.
Mustie, I really enjoy your videos. They are well done. I thought I knew pretty much about fixing things, but I have learned so much from you. The Toyota transmission fix was a classic lesson on how to create-a-fix. I didn't realize it helps you if you get a thumbs up, so I have to go back over all the videos and do that. I thought the beaver overhaul was also awesome. Keep up the good work. I'd much rather watch your videos than the news.
For small electric motors with simple bushing bearings the best kind of lubricant is either a dry carbon powder (also called locksmith lubricant) or talcum powder. That way no dirt cakes to the bearings over time. Alternatively a silicone or lithium grease works well, but it's only suited for relatively small slow-turning electric motors (like a fan)
You could not be more wrong in that edited comment. Neither of those items work long term. Zoom spout High speed turbine oil/ non gumming stops gilding. All of that crud you stated does more damage to bearings. 1399 rpm is not slow. You give bad advice
I give advice according to my own experience and I never had trouble with the lubricants I used. Also, notice that I said "... like a fan". Perhaps I should have said "household fan", in that I stand corrected :) The greatest source of (bushing) bearing wear is debris, rust and assorted dirt particles; all of which "love" to cake together in oil... The best thing to do with any bearings, really, is to clean them regularly and keep them lubricated, of course. Yet, who does that, right? But, you're welcome to give your own advice to complete mine for which I thank you !
My fan doing same thing! Nice work. Aim the fan towards the ceiling when your air conditioner is on, pushes cold air up for more efficient cooling. Ya'll be cool
Great video. Had the same fan and same problem. The thing i did was pack the bushing with high temp bearing geese. Those bushing are self geese but they are junk. After a few weeks it will freeze up again until you pack it with geese.
Was that a self aligning bearing on the shaft end? I always match mark the end plates when disassembling. Lithium grease is very light. My Shop Fan (same style in black) was clogged with metallic dust etc . Cleaned it out and some lube and it works great.
Great job. I bought a Lasko 20 inch fan and extended the cord but I love the fact that yours has a disconnect on the back of the motor for the extension cord. Instead of being hardwired. Maybe I’ll try that modification on mine. Thanks for posting!
Dear T.D. 👍👌👏 LOL, that's a good one. 😁 Best regards, luck and health. Postscriptum: I'm definitely one of his biggest fans (~ 6 ft 3" with wide shoulders and big feet) 😁
Thanks for the video. I worked on my 30+ year old Patton High Velocity fan that no longer worked. Works like new after adding the packing material (cotton) and some 3 in 1 oil.
u'll cook the winding. it is an a.c. induction motor. when spinning there is a lot of back voltage in the coils or windings. when fan does not turn, there is hardly any backvoltage and the coils or windings can overheat.
I just put a squirrel cage blower in my shop for the summer. It has oil tubes. I've repaired dozens of those old fans like that. What you can do is repack the area around the shaft with some rags or cotton balls and reoil it. Sometimes I will sand down the bearing using a wooden dowel with a slot cut in it and very fine sanding paper chucked up in a drill.
Sometimes I am BLOWN away by the COOL things that can be found on the side of the road, that are a BREEZE to fix. Just some humor from a Mustie1 FAN! 😁👍 Edit: Oh and yes i have just found myself watching fan repair at 1:10am ... I'm sure someone reading this is too
Hey M-1 been watching you for years . I live in northern Calif. , we live by the same code , I fix things until it is scrap ! Love the vids , learned some things from you about carbs.,thanks ! Everyone gives me their busted crap and I give it life , It Lives ! Thanks for the local pics at the end , love it .
It amazes me how people just throw away nice stuff that can be fixed. It’s sad that we live in such a disposable society. Oh well what can you do. At least Mustie is doing a good job and fixing things. Thanks for the video. God bless.
Metal fan blades! The whole fan is metal! Those are THE best fans! I have two I did exactly what Mustie1 did. Mine are both running great after several years. Great project! Thanxz
I'm a really old timer so here it goes to you young folk. I loved seeing you rescue a usable piece of equipment from the land fill, great work! Although my methods would of been different.
First a history..... the fans in the old old days used a fiber wick. If possible the wick was located over the shaft. The wick was easy to remove and we would simply apply a few drops of 3M oil to the wick and replace it. You do this once or twice a season and the fan would last forever. Gravity would insure the shaft was lubricated.
I still have some of my fans from the 1950's and they run whisper quiet. I'm sure someone already told you below but I'll just say that the stuff you think is dried up grease or glazing is a material sometimes called permawick (the company name), It's purpose is to hold lubricant to keep that shaft lubricated. It's supposed to be there and you picking at it made me cringe. If I saw things correctly on the video you did not oil that permawick material before you replaced the bearing. At this point the oil you put on the shaft will last only a short while and you'll be back to square one soon. You need to add a few drops of 3M 1/4 HP oil to the permawick and you should be good to go for awhile.
Speaking of the shaft, I would not of used a wire wheel on that shaft. That shaft is already experiencing issues and I would not add to them. You just introduced 1000's of micro scratches to it. I would of opted to use another method to clean it up. I would of tried elbow grease, oil and a rag first then perhaps an fine or ultra-fine grit sandpaper as a last resort. Never go to the wheel first. Take your time.
really lucky to have you here and relay that story and all the tips therein. That was a treasure trove of information from a time gone by that still applies this very day . my interest in fans has been out of a necessity as I haven't had Air conditioning in about 5 years now , and south Texas gets pretty brutal. being short of cash forces one to hone the
imagination and creative skills to make things do or from scratch entirely.. Ive bought several fans form the big box stores and they Peter out within a year growing slower and more lethargic, irritated with todays LACK OF QUALITY I HAVE resorted to other means and machines to which I apply the fan blades from the junk ones. a perfect standby is applying a fan blade to the shaft of a washing machine motor. its thermally protected and is continuous duty, and turns an RPM of about 1025 to 1075. and typically will already have a capacitor. they work great and blow plenty of air , I must say though my best build has been from a small SHANG YI motor about as big as my fist. that had in storage and for the life of me dont know what it come off of, so I put a small fan blaDE ON that thing and at 3300 rpms it moves a room. fearful to have my head chopped off I made sure I built a cage for the thing, and I love it. it was nice to hear from you and relay your advice. stay sharp and keep your powder dry, and again, thankyuou
My old fan gave out recently will see if it needs oil on the permawick. I did that for our 1940s rotaery kenmore sewing machine a decade ago before it was rehomed worked like a top.
Mustie, I was a hoarder before you, now I’m a technical hoarder that collects and repairs all, Thank you !
Cool! I do this all the time! As someone who collects antique and vintage fans,I just want to let you know that the "Spray foam" stuff is actually dried oil wick. What you do is soak it in 3 in 1 blue can oil in addition to lubing the shaft like you did and it will help keep it oiled for longer. What you did is fine,but is more of a temporary fix. If you soak those wicks, it will last for much longer. Just never grease these bearings. It might work for a bit, but they aren't meant o be greased and it will eventually seize up again. Those Lakewoods are actually pretty decent, one of the last brands that made their fans in the USA.
Thank you for the education
Me too, I have picked up numerous Antique fans over the years, they make for good videos especially to those of us who like the better built things, all the new plastic fans are more of a fire Hazzard then the steal ones
Where does one find the wick material? Could you use a piece of polypropylene rope?
Oh, how about using sylglide grease?
I had a lakewood desk fan that only kicked the bucket recently after almost 18 years so almost as old as me, my parents felt it a lost cause cus when it was turned on it didn't even make any sound or any attempt to move, and it was working earlier that day
Sometimes when I’m yelling at the screen, I can’t get your attention. Actually the yellow fiber IS for holding oil. The yellow material is an injectable oil impregnated cellulose, and the sleeve bushings are oilite type. It looks like they didn’t put enough of the yellow fiber material to keep the bushings wet.(probably on purpose to kill the fan in a couple years so a new one will be purchased). Adding some cotton wick and soaking with light oil will keep that fan running a long time.
You beat me to it! Yeah, the manufacturer was sure stingy with yellow stuff.
Exactly. And if you're not going to run that, you should coat it all, shaft and bushing with PTFE. That'll last a couple years, but eventually it will wear away. The oil and wick lasts longer, but if you can't fix it because you don't have a wick PTFE spray is a nice fix because it also doesn't attract any dirt and it will be slippery for a while.
What he did there, will probably last a few months but when he takes it out from the winter time it might stall again.
You beat another subscriber. And that electric motor oil works really well with rejuvenating the bearing when soaked into the fiber wadding
@@TravisFabel that was literally what i was about to ask next, thx~
@@TravisFabel what's PTFE?
This video couldn't have been timed any better! I have a fan of a similar variety (3 speed floor fan, clamshell motor) that's been in regular service for 15 years and the other day it wouldn't chooch. Unwilling to give up on it, I used this video as a tutorial, cracked the case open, cleared the dust out and applied copious amounts of skateboard bearing fluid to both ends of the rotor. Now it chooches like new! You've saved me tossing something that needed a bit of intermediate service and hopefully it'll last for another 15 years! Thanks!
I love the fact that you're not just a mechanic with gas engines, but a general handyman who specializes in mechanics.
I’ve got three of these (2 are monsters like that) out in the shop I picked last fall. One is a penguin 10” personal fan, (a mini clone of that one) one monster on a high stand and the other is the floor monster one like that. Same basic maintenance including adding a knob to the stand one which luckily I had a set screw knob for. I’ve been hosing fans off forever making neighbors scratch their heads even saying they’d be afraid to plug it in again. My response is “how else am I gonna dry it off? ” lol Never had one pop on me yet. In this throw away world it’s never tough pickens if you have any basic knowledge of how things work. Amazes me the stuff people give up on OR will pay another to do... stay handy my friends! Thanks for the midweek peek Mustie!
So, i have this EXACT fan. it's been sitting in my room for like 10 years because i didn't wanna throw it out because of it's all metal construction and it has the same issues. at least i know what to expect now and what i'll need when i tackle this project. Thank you.
I scraped mine. 😥
wish i kept my honeywell.... loved that fan. i kept it clean but i didn't know about oiling it. had it for a long time. i also think i was scared to completely take it apart because i did that to an old metal box fan when i was around 11 or 12 and got electrocuted.
Nice ! In a throw away society I love seeing videos like yours Mustie1. Now I feel all warm and fuzzy as well as motivated to go out and fix some old stuff of my own. Sweeeeet!
Thank you for posting these type of midweek videos. You have given me so much confidence to get off my couch and not rely on others. So far I fixed my craftsman weed trimmer. Clutch was rusted on. But I got it. I fixed my stove, and water hose. And looking for another small project to tackle. thank you again. ✌☮
I appreciate that your videos do not contain politics, current events, nor opinions. It’s refreshing to enjoy some wrenching, problem solving, and some New England country side. Keep up the good work.
These are the best fans I have found for the money. Thanks for showing how to fix at least for a while. Stay safe and keep shopping.
I had a similar thing with the electric windows on my Vauxhall Cavalier, after 30-odd years the original grease Bosch packed the motors with had turned into something like half dry snot. Cleaning that out and adding fresh grease fixed it like a charm.
Thank you again! Tractor stalled out I replaced the fuel line and filter. Runs great now. Never a thought in my mind to attempt that before watching your channel!
Have a newer model, came on YT just to see somebody disassemble to before I did to make sure I wasn't going to make it worse. Thanks for the great video!
Thanks for the inspiration! I thought my dehumidifier was dead until I saw your video. Took that fan out, cleaned it out similar to what you did here, and it's back in action with maybe 15 minutes of work. I was already pricing new ones, so you saved me at least $200. Thanks.
I found a dyson bladeless fan in the bin worked fine just needed a clean on the inside now works good as new
People are throwing away stuff instead of just a bit of mainrenance. Or fix a broken wire. Ridiculous.
@@marcryvon As we say in Yorkshire more brass than sense
I think the saying is One mans trash is another mans treasure
@@loz11968 nope.......One mans trash is another mans trash....
I picked up a Dyson vacuum, just needed to be cleaned and a new drive belt. Better than $250 new.
I had the same problem with a smaller motor. I removed the motor, disassembled it and soaked both bearings in transmission oil for a couple of days. Put it back together and it's still running. That was about two years ago. You did the correct repair.
God bless you man my daughter fan just stopped working
Your daughter is a fan?
Thanks for posting this video. I had an oscillating fan that had pretty much stopped spinning--but the oscillating function still worked. I was afraid it was the "startup capacitor", which was going to be hard to track down to replace (man, do I miss those Radio Shack stores, and their bins full of discrete electronic components!), but after checking everything with a multimeter, all the electricals seemed fine.
I disassembled the motor, cleaned everything very well, and liberally re-lubed the journals with 3-in-1 (this fan had similar wicking in the journals) and tried it out before fully reassembling and it worked great. Much quieter too. This fan was probably 10 years old--but I saved it from the landfill, and got it back to nearly-new condition in an afternoon on my day off!
Added bonus, my wife and father-in-law had their belief that I can fix just about anything, reinforced once again...
It's called "permawick" - an oil reservoir for shaft lubrication in a sawdust type medium, frequently used instead of felt. It is NOT grease. I have used this product many times in electric motors with bronze/brass bearings/bushings.
years ago yes, then they went to perma-lies of cheap yellow foam rubber, which the oil conveniently breaks down into a gelatinous goop.......
don't ask what year, I don't know, they all kind of rolled into doing it at different times. ;)
Where can one obtain a permawick spray or a new type of wick for a fan motor bearing?
reusing something and giving it a second life is always better than recycling or tossing it, glad you gave this fan some more life!
Mustie gets another fan lol 😆 So addictive watch junk work again from the master 🤣 Well done 👍🏻 cheers Stevie 😎🇬🇧
I found an almost identical fan in the trash. As long it hums (whether it turns or not) it is just a matter of cleaning and lubing. Resaturate the felts surrounding the sintered bearings with #10 oil. If it doesn’t hum, the thermal fuse imbedded in the windings likely has melted due to slow RPMs, in which case you can replace it or at least short it out. (It is not needed to prevent fire IF you always keep the fan lubed, but those inheriting it won’t know that.) The hardest part was removing the six 2 mm machine screws holding the grille halves together. Three were immovable and had to be drilled out. All in all, no fan can’t be revived, and will last forever if kept lubed. Lucky for me that I know this, because I have found four fans this summer alone.
I regreased a fan a few months back. I was happy I didn't have to just toss it out. Cheers
You remind me of me....I pick up stuff all the time and resurrect them. All it takes is a little knowledge and tools. Great stuff.
That foam you where picking at is the sponge for the bearing oil. Your suppose to saturate the foam with oil also so that it stays lubed for a while until it dries out again. Oil soaks through the bronze cintered bearing.
i found the same fan when i was doing curbside pickup,works great, just had to tighten the two nuts that make it pivot.use it in me garage to move air around!! i have kept the same fan running behind me wood stove for 25 years by cleaning it like U did. once a year i would take it apart oil and clean the bearings!!! good catch!!!
Great fix Mustie. That's exactly what i do. Many fans come with a bronze or copper bearing and a felt washer with some lube from the factory. After many revolutions, the felt becomes dry and causes the shaft and the bearing to overheat and basically seize. I swear they do that on purpose so you end up buying a new one every so often. Sometimes you can just saturate the felt with some oil and ptfe, others, you have to sand/polish the shaft as well and they can operate again, for a while. Some models can be fitted with a suitable sealed ball bearing which is how the old-timer fans were made and those literally lasted forever. Another freaking item to add to the already long list of household maintenance items; 'Oil the fans monthly'. LOL
That one was about my speed and I learned a thing or two. Nice Yankee ingenuity. Thanks Mustie!
I take my house fans out about once a year and hose all the dust and dirt out of them. motor included. let it dry and put them back to work. I must be doing it right cause I've had the same fans for so long the stores I bought them from are long out of business. hmmm, just realized I put those stores out of business by not buying new fans.
I found a similar Hawaiian Breezeway fan at my local transfer station, brought it home, cleaned it up everywhere except for the majority of the insides of the electric motor. Thank you for this video. It has the exact same thing wrong with it, it just won’t spin at all because of how gummed up the bearings are.
I hope that you are doing well.
1:59 That pause, checking to see if the set screw had loosened, or if the allen key had snapped. Been there...
haha i thought exactly same :D
It's happened to all of us.
when you knew you were overdoing it but didn't want to believe you were… then *crack*
Hex key is far harder than the screw on Rockwell scale.
@@alwaysopen7970 that type of set screw is often about the same hardness as the allen key! I've broken both before, it's a gamble
that is if your not smart enough to just torch blast the hub real fast, in case of thread-locking compound, which many did. flame wrench = mans second best friend :) (bark-bark)
Helpful video to troubleshoot my floor fan.. and Thanks for your efforts to help all of us searching TH-cam (at lower resolution, of course) find out what 1 or more problems might be around/inside the fan. Today I was FREE of yard work, sooooo... I love to tinker and clean things... now my floor fan has been "renewed" to spin freely in place and attempt to keep the humidity here at bay another day or more... Thanks Again!!!💖
I have two vintage fans, one from the '20's the other from the '50's that both have oil cups on each end of the motor. I rewired both of them and they have run fine for years.
I will never look at another fan again the same way, as now my mind will think back to this video and I will say to myself, wait a minute bub, this can be fixed real easy like, lol. Thanks for another great video buddy! The FREE education you provide is priceless and well worth the time to review!
I have a white Honeywell that ive had since I was very young, the ones they still sell today (black now) I've had to take it apart 3 times now. Lubed it with used motor oil and its been good for a year now lol. Runs all night every night. That fan has had lots of use. I'll use it til I can't anymore.
God bless old fans. I have tinnitus and always need one running in order to sleep. Thank you Mustie for saving this one.
I don’t know if you’ll read this but I really appreciate videos like this one and the one where you fix the “hot pot”. We are a throwaway culture and it’s horrible the things people just ditch instead of putting a little work and research into. You’re the man Mustie! Hope to meet you in person someday. If you’re ever on your way to FL and happen to find yourself in East Tennessee look me up!
I thought they was not chance of this working again. Well Mustie, you prove me wrong again. Great work once again. From the UK.
10:20 and 15:50 You should carefully "back off" the screws by hand to make sure they're "seated" (i.e., turn them counter-clockwise to feel for them to "drop" so that the threads aren't gonna cross) before you screw them in, especially under power.
People dont try too fix anything anymore im glad theirs dudes like you reminds me of my papaw he threw nothing away if he coud not save it he saved every bolt screw and part possible
Funny, I have the same exact Fan (Bought it new years ago), and I just got it out today because here in NY,..it's in the high 90's. Works like a Tornado,..blew my papers all over the room, lol. Those are great fans.
I have two in London - one's a hot spare.
Good job, I approve. I haven't purchased a box fan in years, I find them in dumpsters, usually quite dirty (yours was so clean!) and generally the motor is gunked up. I don't bother opening the motor, just put some oil (3-in-one or sometimes light motor oil) on the spindle and spin it to get the oil to migrate down the shaft. Sometimes the controls won't work (blown fuse?) and it isn't worth my time to deal with that. The last one I found was very clean but had a blade broken off (someone had dropped some dominoes into the cage). But because they are so common (e.g. Lasko), I just put on a compound blade from another fan. Works perfectly with no other changes
Mustie- I stumbled across one of your videos at the start of lockdown here in the UK while I was looking into how to fix a chainsaw. I’ve been hooked ever since- this is a fabulous channel. Earlier todayI watched the New Garage video and was delighted that this TH-cam stuff has brought you to this point. I’ve learnt so much and you’ve inspired me to pick up the spanners again. Thank you and well done.
Cool, thanks
I watched because my fan is acting up, thank you for your video. I'm jealous if you live near Motif #1, my favorite scenery. I live in Western MA, and as soon as you started panning the scenery, I knew right away it was my most loved scenic spot!! Lucky you!!
9:47 you can use a felt battery post protector to create a felt donut to put around the bushing to hold oil. That's generally how those sintered bronze bushings in fans were designed.
That’s an excellent idea.
You can also use felt sold at Joann fabrics or other places like that.
I just found this channel about a month ago. Has gone up 3000 subscribers in that time. Way to go well deserved, great teaching experience and also very entertaining.
On some old electric motors they had a packing material that held oil, when the bushing heated up it lubed the bushing by warming the material and the packing would give up the oil stored with in. You had it right when you did your description of old electric motors. Good fix by the way. The oil that was used was non detergent 10 or 20 weight.
I have an old furnace blower as a fan and it works better than any store bought fan that I've ever owned lol.
I just rebuilt a very similar fan, might even be the same one. You have to add more oil.
I find it amazing how little dust it takes to substantially lower the effectiveness of a fan. You basically have to clean them at least once a week. As the effectiveness goes down, the cooling of the motor goes way down and they start going through oil.
Love the b roll footage at the end. Thanks for the bonus video and knowledge. I'll never buy another plastic fan.
I've always used a few drops of bar and chain oil. Sticks to the metal, high RPM tolerant. Usually lasts the whole summer.
I found it was too sticky. Some straight W30 (non detergent for lawn mowers ect) lasts a good while too.
You have the best "curb finds" every. I need to come that way and do some trash mining myself. No one around here ever throws anything away like you find.
Mid-week Mustie1! Gonna be a good day.
I've had the same issue with a fan I've found on the side of the road. It's good for a couple of hours with oil, then the problem reappears. I've removed all the old grease and put wheel bearing grease. Way better! That recessed thing is packed with grease, but after getting hot for years, it starts to loose it's property and dries. If you would like to do the best job, I would suggest you scrape all that old grease and repack it good with bearing grease. Then it will last for years!
Greetings: Those are sintered (aka oilite) bearings. They are designed to store oil for the life of the bearing. I would be inclined to wash out all of the excess died lubricant then relube with oil for the bearing; and I tend to use moly grease on anything.
The action of the air-flow pushes the rotor rearward toward the rear bearing. I would lube any rubbing surfaces.
Thanks, used this to save a Lasko floor fan I've had for a couple years. Found the rear bearing/bearing surface stuck together, but some cleaning and light oiling completely restored the fan.
A 1/4" wing nut and a dab 9f JB Weld works perfect as a selector knob on those switches.
1/4" knobs of all descriptions are available on line and I think even Lowe's and other hdwr stores keep some around. The 1/4" shaft has been common on radio equipment since the 1920's.
That’s the large industrial fan, sold at BiMart. It’s shabby put together, but will last you for years. Nice repair job.
Synthetic ATF has worked great for breathing life back into old electric fans like this. I used both Amsoil universal synthetic ATF and full synthetic Dexron VI because I had both laying around, but might be expensive to buy a whole bottle just to squirt a few millilitres into a fan (I use a syringe).
My old neighbor lou gave me a ge box fan .. it was ancient...shorted wiring...pain in the arse to get to bearing... all rusty.... wow bearing is a solid 3 inch bronze ir more... clean shaft dye 2k grit sandpaper polish shaft...clean all parts. Lube my mixture of oil and tufoil..soak bearing plug one side fill with oil..soak packing... reassemble works fantastic... a solid main bearing not 2 piecees... repainted it gonna use it once again...50 years or more old.. leave rear cover loose so easy to yearly lube.. use foam to hold in place..
The ending got me right in the feels man.
I don't miss being a lobster fisherman but I miss the ocean, the wharf and my boat.
Ah, memories.
Reminds me of Greater Cranberry Island, ME.
Thanks Mustie. When I searched for videos several came up, but as soon as I yours I knew I'd found the one I wanted!!!
Another item with the most liked price tag on it = for free. 😁 Very well done, Sir. This big fan is a really nice machine. Congrats. I always wonder how much good stuff people throw away. I hope that you grabbed at least the case with all the electric tools in it (shown at the end of the video). I would love to find something like that. But over here in Germany everyone wants money even for defect stuff... sigh.
Thanks a lot for making teaching recording editing uploading and sharing.
Best regards luck and health.
I love finding these things thrown out. There is rarely anything major wrong with them and they are just so vastly superior to modern plastic fans.
I was JUST thinking I hope there's a Mustie video today. I don't know why. And there by the grace of God...
Think he's on vacation pre recorded ones set to drop with generic content recorded months ago
Those high velocity metal fans really move the air. That is a nice one because it has a nice serviceable motor on it.
That particular fan is my favorite. Mine is stone cold dead. I haven't tried to resurrect it yet. Hopefully it is just a fusible link sort of deal. They don't make that fan anymore and I don't think you can find a replacement motor for it anywhere.
I was given a nice Bissell bag-less vacuum with a light on the front by someone who sad it quit working good. It had two foam filters and a hepa filter at the exhaust. They foam filters were matted with dirt and hair, they had a long haired dog, and the hepa filter was full of dirt. The brush had so much dog hair wrapped around it that it was rubbing on the housing. I cleaned all of the filters, removed the brush and cut out the hair and put it back in with a new drive belt.
I have been using it for over ten years now with no problems, just routine maintenance.
People are helpless, totally. That's why we handy folk are happy!
When you showed the boats at the end. I expected you to pan the camera around and have the raft floating there that you found in the trash, lolol.
I have three fans which I have to check and clean out and hope I can get them working again so I don't have to throw them away. One fan just quit working recently and I would like to get them working before putting them away for the Winter. I am glad that you got that fan working and hope it gives you many Summers of use before it has to be cleaned again.
The bearing is called a fluid film bearing, the principle is the same as the engine's rod bearings, when two surfaces are moving with respect to each other with some sort of oil (or any viscose fluid) between them, the viscosity will cause the oil to create a small layer with high pressure which can endure some amount of thrust force depending on the amount of oil, viscosity and relative speed of the two surfaces. The bearings in small electrical motors like this one, normally don't need constant lubrication. They are made with a method called powder metallurgy and normally can absorb a certain amount of oil, the yellow material is probably an absorbent to store some excess oil for the bearing, so, i would replace it with cotton or wool or anything like that and add some oil to the bearing when the motor start to heat up again.
Mustie, I really enjoy your videos. They are well done. I thought I knew pretty much about fixing things, but I have learned so much from you. The Toyota transmission fix was a classic lesson on how to create-a-fix. I didn't realize it helps you if you get a thumbs up, so I have to go back over all the videos and do that. I thought the beaver overhaul was also awesome. Keep up the good work. I'd much rather watch your videos than the news.
For small electric motors with simple bushing bearings the best kind of lubricant is either a dry carbon powder (also called locksmith lubricant) or talcum powder. That way no dirt cakes to the bearings over time. Alternatively a silicone or lithium grease works well, but it's only suited for relatively small slow-turning electric motors (like a fan)
You could not be more wrong in that edited comment. Neither of those items work long term. Zoom spout High speed turbine oil/ non gumming stops gilding. All of that crud you stated does more damage to bearings. 1399 rpm is not slow. You give bad advice
I give advice according to my own experience and I never had trouble with the lubricants I used. Also, notice that I said "... like a fan". Perhaps I should have said "household fan", in that I stand corrected :) The greatest source of (bushing) bearing wear is debris, rust and assorted dirt particles; all of which "love" to cake together in oil... The best thing to do with any bearings, really, is to clean them regularly and keep them lubricated, of course. Yet, who does that, right?
But, you're welcome to give your own advice to complete mine for which I thank you !
My fan doing same thing! Nice work. Aim the fan towards the ceiling when your air conditioner is on, pushes cold air up for more efficient cooling. Ya'll be cool
The gooey stuff is the remnants of a spongy material that absorbs oil and keeps the bearings lubed.
That jumpstart thing worked perfectly. Thank God I didn't have to take it apart... and thank you.
3:10 "let's go poke at that with a stick..." More Mustie words to live by!
just avoid poking bee/wasp/hornet nests
Great video. Had the same fan and same problem. The thing i did was pack the bushing with high temp bearing geese. Those bushing are self geese but they are junk. After a few weeks it will freeze up again until you pack it with geese.
Classic example of: one man's trash, is another man's treasure.
Really enjoy all your videos Mustie1..and to top it off loving the picturesque slowmo of Rockport.
Was that a self aligning bearing on the shaft end? I always match mark the end plates when disassembling.
Lithium grease is very light. My Shop Fan (same style in black) was clogged with metallic dust etc . Cleaned it out and some lube and it works great.
Great job. I bought a Lasko 20 inch fan and extended the cord but I love the fact that yours has a disconnect on the back of the motor for the extension cord. Instead of being hardwired. Maybe I’ll try that modification on mine. Thanks for posting!
And all this time I thought I was your biggest fan Mustie Fixes all ! LOL
🤣
Let the "fan" puns begin...
Dear T.D.
👍👌👏 LOL, that's a good one. 😁
Best regards, luck and health.
Postscriptum: I'm definitely one of his biggest fans (~ 6 ft 3" with wide shoulders and big feet) 😁
@@n6vcw I know! This Mustie1 on a Wednesday is FANtastic! hahahahaha
If only @Mustie1 could fix me.
Thanks for the video. I worked on my 30+ year old Patton High Velocity fan that no longer worked. Works like new after adding the packing material (cotton) and some 3 in 1 oil.
u'll cook the winding. it is an a.c. induction motor. when spinning there is a lot of back
voltage in the coils or windings. when fan does not turn, there is hardly any backvoltage
and the coils or windings can overheat.
I just put a squirrel cage blower in my shop for the summer. It has oil tubes. I've repaired dozens of those old fans like that. What you can do is repack the area around the shaft with some rags or cotton balls and reoil it. Sometimes I will sand down the bearing using a wooden dowel with a slot cut in it and very fine sanding paper chucked up in a drill.
"Lets poke at it with a stick...…." Famous last words.
That's what we said as kids when we came across roadkill...
Robert Lane don’t forget also have some one hold your beer before poking ! LOL
Hey I'm starting to learn something. I would have attempted this repair the exact same way you did. That makes me happy. Bring on a Volkswagen Bus!!!!
Sometimes I am BLOWN away by the COOL things that can be found on the side of the road, that are a BREEZE to fix. Just some humor from a Mustie1 FAN!
😁👍
Edit: Oh and yes i have just found myself watching fan repair at 1:10am ... I'm sure someone reading this is too
Hey M-1 been watching you for years . I live in northern Calif. , we live by the same code , I fix things until it is scrap ! Love the vids , learned some things from you about carbs.,thanks ! Everyone gives me their busted crap and I give it life , It Lives ! Thanks for the local pics at the end , love it .
That special lubricant-impregnated bronze used to be called Oilite Bronze.
Yes. Invented by Chrysler Corporation.
It amazes me how people just throw away nice stuff that can be fixed. It’s sad that we live in such a disposable society. Oh well what can you do. At least Mustie is doing a good job and fixing things. Thanks for the video. God bless.
This is a treat ..thank you
Thanks for the video, I was able to fix my fan in half an hour. I'm so glad I didn't have to throw it away.
I had a very similar fan.... the grease dried out. Every year or so I need to re-grease the bushings.
Metal fan blades! The whole fan is metal! Those are THE best fans! I have two I did exactly what Mustie1 did. Mine are both running great after several years. Great project! Thanxz
How Mustie1 lost his fingerrs...
talk about a Cringe moment 😂
What
Use to prepare cold cuts.....
@@jackmehoff2961 I'm only half way in. I play piano and guitar so I already have nightmares about fingers. I'm scared to watch any further.
@@kthwkr lol
Mustie makes it through with all his fingers intact.
I've got 2-3 of those same fans off the curb and fixed them all up. All of them had the same issues as yours. Great shop fans.