Today's bad news is that the 308 is definitely out of service for the foreseeable future. With some work, I was able to rotate the motor to where the flashover occurred, and it's quite a hole. You have to see it in person to appreciate just what a 600V DC arc can do. I suppose that's why they only let you play with 120V AC at home, kids. But we have spare motors, and at some point they can be rebuilt for continued service, though with significant trouble and expense.
Apart from this explosive news, things went pretty well. Work continues on the Multi-Purpose Building. One of its purposes is to keep the rain off, so the workmen are now installing the roof.
And let's not forget that Thomas™ will be here this weekend, so IRM is getting ready. Here's a big tent near the entrance already set up. And there's more to come. We can always use more help, by the way.
In the picture above, you'll notice a tour bus. We had a large group from Milwaukee visiting today. The two-car 4000 train was brought out to carry the crowd, and they had guided tours. Fred, Derek, and Shelby were providing the necessary services.
Meanwhile, in the car shop, Tim had an assembly line set up for the clerestory windows.
And I continued working on the 451. Among other things, I attached the handrails. Most of them have not yet been painted, were not labeled, and they'll all need touchup, but at least I was able to bolt them in place, so they can be identified when we take them off for repainting. Actually, I could only find seven of the the eight, but I haven't yet got down to the floor everywhere, so I imagine the last one will eventually appear. And of course there's lots more to do.
And as if that isn't enough, wait, there's more!!!
On 308 that is not a flash over, that is a failure of the mica vee ring that insulates the commutator bars from cast iron support. I hope IRM has a regular program to clean and paint the string banding and to replace the string banding when required to reduce this type of failure. To repair this a motor shop will probably want to put on a new commutator. As old as this motor is, the insulation on the armature coil leads is probably brittle as glass, so to replace the commutator it will also probably require rewinding the armature. My guess is this is probably an $18,000 to $22,000 repair. I would encourage you to repair this armature rather than replace it. The day is coming when finding a shop to making this kind of repair will probably not be possible. This armature should be repaired now while it can still be done. I will watch for a fund raising campaign to repair this motor. David Johnston.
ReplyDeleteDavid: I admit I was using the word "flashover" too loosely. There's no doubt the repair will be expensive. We had two of these motors completely rebuilt about 17 years ago and that cost about $43,000, just about what you estimated. As for fund-raising, right now we're still trying to buy and move the 453, so that may have to wait a little. In any case, thanks!!
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