Pre War 1666 Problem

Is it put back together or does it sit and buzz with the shell off?

Steve

Bruce,  check that all the finger contacts are touching the drum contacts properly, also check for burn spots on the finger contacts.

Regards,

Joe Geiser

The shell is still off, the chassis sits and buzzes.  The fingers appear to be contacting and I don't see any burn marks.  Do I need to put the shell back on?

Bruce, could be the pawl is stuck, check to see if it drops down when you interrupt the power and that it grabs the drum and rotates it.

Regards

Joe Geiser

I always like to invent new words to describe myself when I put the drum in backwards. Luckily it is not often I do that. But the color commentary makes those rare occasions memorable.

Luke, been there, done that too,  I ran out of expletives too. Ever since I started using my E unit drum "stick" it always goes in right the first time. Check my thread for a pic and description of the "stick".   "cheap tools for an easier fix"  search topics.

regards,

Joe Geiser

If you got the wires back on the motor correctly I would guess one of the E unit contacts looks good, but is not making contact. Been there recently.

Rob

The drum is in correctly, pawl goes up and down and I never disconnected the wires, I left them on when I did the work. The chassis did try to move once on my test track but it just sits there and buzzes.  Cleaned brushes etc.  Very frustrating and profanity is becoming a second langueage for me lol

Bruce

Check the drum carefully.

I recently ran across a defective replacement drum. There should be a shoulder around the nib on each end. On this one, the shoulder was missing, which allowed the copper ring to touch the e-unit frame.

For that matter, almost any conductor touching the frame would prevent the engine from running.

Another occasional problem is plastic flash covering the contact surface of the drum.

You might also have broken one of the wires in the process. They are solid wires and not very flexible.  You can check with a meter, or use dad's favored method: pull gently on the wire; if the wire gets longer, you got a problem!

I would say that you bent one of the fingers so it is not in contact with the drum,  very easy to do and very difficult to get them bent back into the proper shape.  You may have also gotten lube on the brushes.  The book tells you to be careful of that.  Clean the brushes again and make sure no oil or lube is on the stator or the brushes.  

If the drum is cocked and the copper ring on the edge contacts the frame of the E unit it will short and not 'buzz' so I believe you may just have oil on the brushes. Hopefully it is not bent finger contacts on the e unit. 

quote:

If the drum is cocked and the copper ring on the edge contacts the frame of the E unit it will short and not 'buzz'

That is true if the hot copper ring touches the e-unit frame. If the other copper ring touches the frame, the motor may buzz because the armature will have current flowing through it, but the field coil will be bypassed (on most engines).

Or to see after the "repair". 

I betting on this - especially since you did not remove any wires to do the drum job.  It's a tough enough job for the casual repairman even with the e-unit on the bench completely separated from the chassis.