Thread: Start motor reco

Originally Posted by jatt

Lucas........brings back bad memories.
My actions on finding a defective Lucas in a car was to replace with Bosch.

All true I swear.
The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
Lucas denies having invented darkness. But they still claim "sudden, unexpected darkness"
Lucas--inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas--inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF.
The other three switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.
Lucas dip-switch positions: LOW and BLOW
The original anti-theft devices--Lucas Electric products.
"I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never experienced any prob...
If Lucas made guns, wars would not start either.
Did you hear about the Lucas powered torpedo? It sank.
It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament to repeal Ohm's Law. They withdrew their efforts when they met too much resistance.
Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a Land Rover and asked the owner "How can you tell one switch from another at night, since they all look the same?" "He replied, it doesn't matter which one you use, nothing happens!"
Back in the '70s Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which didn't suck.
Quality Assurance phoned and advised the Lucas engineering guy that they had trouble with his design shorting out. So he made the wires longer.
Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas made the refrigerators, too.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone. Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit.
Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: check the position of the stars, kill a chicken and walk three times sunwise around your car chanting: "Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant."
Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
How to make AIDS disappear? Give it a Lucas parts number.
Recently, Lucas won out over Bosch to supply the electrical for the new Volkswagens. So, now the cars from the Black Forest will come with electrics supplied by the Lord of Darkness -- how appropriate!
Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices.

Ha Ha Ha. My brother had an early british built Cortina. I cannot deny any of these claims about Lucas electrics. Around that time as I was getting into cars myself I developed a definite dislike for Lucas. An auto electrician told me to avoid them at all costs, as he threw my alternator in the bin and proceded to install a Bosch one.

Dean

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Ha Ha Ha. My brother had an early british built Cortina. I cannot deny any of these claims about Lucas electrics. Around that time as I was getting into cars myself I developed a definite dislike for Lucas. An auto electrician told me to avoid them at all costs, as he threw my alternator in the bin and proceded to install a Bosch one.

Dean

There's that dirty word - Cortina. I wish I could get my hands on the person that designed the electrical system - every fuse 8 amps and they just grouped functions together until they reached 8 Amps per circuit.

I have a vertical sheer tool somewhere but the finish off HSS is pretty damn good.

I had some nasty words to say about Lucas today myself. After getting the center within 1/2 a tho, I ground up a tool planning to use the lathe as a slotter. As I only have the one to do ATM I figured I would just line the slots up with one of my scopes. It was all working well until I actually started cutting. Seems the slots aren't parallel to the centerline of the rotor. After having a hissy fit, stamping my feet and coming inside for the night, I've had the thought that maybe its not a parallel problem, maybe its self feeding into the cut, so tomorrow I'm give it another go.

Failing that, its out with the hacksaw

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

I have a vertical sheer tool somewhere but the finish off HSS is pretty damn good.

I had some nasty words to say about Lucas today myself. After getting the center within 1/2 a tho, I ground up a tool planning to use the lathe as a slotter. As I only have the one to do ATM I figured I would just line the slots up with one of my scopes. It was all working well until I actually started cutting. Seems the slots aren't parallel to the centerline of the rotor. After having a hissy fit, stamping my feet and coming inside for the night, I've had the thought that maybe its not a parallel problem, maybe its self feeding into the cut, so tomorrow I'm give it another go.

Failing that, its out with the hacksaw

Stuart

Hi Stuart,
You should be cutting away from the windings ! That second picture looks like the cutter has pulled down. Possibly the cutting edge isn't quite square.

Originally Posted by BaronJ

You should be cutting away from the windings !

Why? I dont really see much difference.
But as it happens I have turned it around.

Originally Posted by BaronJ

That second picture looks like the cutter has pulled down.

Sadly no. Well it was a little, but mostly its alignment, as is always the way I picked the worse one of the 37 to test on, most os the rest are much better, some are even spot on. I realised last night I'm not dealing with something made from a copper ring and accurately machined. It's just a bunch of copper wires held pretty much in place and glued there. I'm glad I didnt go to the trouble of setting up the rotary table.

Its pretty much done now........ and now a break while I wait for the brushes and bushes to arrive.

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Why? I dont really see much difference.
But as it happens I have turned it around.

Cutting away from the windings is so that you don't catch them with the tool that you use. Also the hand tools are quite flexible and if you broke one by pushing there would be the risk of injury. Recall that most of my armature repair work was on motors used in domestic appliances. So quite small, one or one and a half horse power would probably the biggest I would see. From your pictures that armature looks to be quite beefy and has a very large shoulder. Anyway it looks like you have done a fine job on that one.

Sadly no. Well it was a little, but mostly its alignment, as is always the way I picked the worse one of the 37 to test on, most of the rest are much better, some are even spot on. I realised last night I'm not dealing with something made from a copper ring and accurately machined. It's just a bunch of copper wires held pretty much in place and glued there. I'm glad I didnt go to the trouble of setting up the rotary table.

Its pretty much done now........ and now a break while I wait for the brushes and bushes to arrive.

Stuart

I do recall a motor that had the commutator bars laid at an angle of about 20 degrees or so. It also had two pairs of brushes. I've no idea why it was like that or what it came from. I never actually worked on it, so I never saw it running. But it was much bigger than a 3 HP induction motor.

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Ha Ha Ha. My brother had an early british built Cortina. I cannot deny any of these claims about Lucas electrics. Around that time as I was getting into cars myself I developed a definite dislike for Lucas. An auto electrician told me to avoid them at all costs, as he threw my alternator in the bin and proceded to install a Bosch one.

Dean

Not all Lucas stuff was bad. I remember the 1979-83 Toyota Corona XT130 which was fitted with the GM "Starfire 4" 1.9 litre engine, known in the trade as the "Misfire 4". In the Toyota, the starter was a very unreliable Bosch unit which had a habit of burning out the armature windings with great regularity. The only permanent fix was to obtain the equivalent Lucas starter as fitted to the same engine from a VC Holden Commodore or Holden Sunbird; problems solved. They became very hard to get and expensive because of this.

Chas.

Bargain for $20 I think.
Not even sure the bushes need replacing, but since I have them and its apart anyway I'll do them.
I assume these are an oil filled bush?(see I know as much about bushes as I do about bearings)

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Bargain for $20 I think.
Not even sure the bushes need replacing, but since I have them and its apart anyway I'll do them.
I assume these are an oil filled bush?(see I know as much about bushes as I do about bearings)

Stuart

Hi Stuart,
I would check to make sure that they don't come dry ! If they do they will need boiling in oil and left to cool or soak them overnight. The last bronze bushes that I bought had to be lubricated before use.

Originally Posted by Chas

Not all Lucas stuff was bad.

Yeah, Lucas isn't always the villain it's portrayed to be. Gotta say though, the jokes are hilarious (yawn).
I sometimes hear owners of Italian vehicles tease Lucas owners. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

Jordan

Originally Posted by BaronJ

I would check to make sure that they don't come dry

Check how? with the seller you mean?

Well I knocked up an bush puller/inserter today. I think needless accuracy may bite me in the ass when I insert the new bush it just might grab hold of my puller .

Now off for a week on a beach somewhere

Stuart

only took me 9 days to notice I left the "er" off starter lol

Most of these bushes arrive dry. Will only be an oiled one if it comes in a sealed plastic wrap that looks visibly oily. The auto recon shops keep a selection of the common ones sitting in a tray of oil and just pull them out and wipe them prior to fitting.
Usual means of extracting from a blind hole is to thread a suitable coarse tap into the bush till it bottoms out and jacks the bush out of the hole. Can also use the tap to remove open ended bushes, just thread it in for a good grip then drive the tap through to shift the bush.
Combustor.

Hi Stuart,

Combustor, got there first. Yes these bushes usually come dry. However you can test for yourself by heating the bush gently and seeing if oil weeps out, though I must admit I tend to do the same as Combustor said and dump them in a tin can and cover then with suitable oil. Or as I suggested boil them in oil for a while and let them cool before using.

Combustor, I like your suggestion of using a suitable tap to extract the old bush. It's so obvious that I would never have thought about doing that in a million years. So thanks for the tip. Another one to store away in the old grey matter.

Originally Posted by BaronJ

suitable oil.

I have a choice of two
Loma 32 (hydraulic oil used in my lathe headstock)
DTE Heavy (used in the jig grinder gearboxes)
For this use does it really matter?

Stuart