Saturday, May 3, 2008

KDB Extraction




When I first got #12 Orange home, I hooked up the burnt smelling motor to a 12v battery. Dead as Stephen Harper's black little heart. I removed the armature to see the damage. The windings are black and toasty, but the bearings, brushes and commutator show almost no wear, feeding my theory that the owner cooked the motor very soon after buying the bike.

Motor removal was harder than I had hoped.  I tried gently tapping with a hammer and a wood block but it was stuck good so I quickly fabricated a puller which worked perfectly.  I cut up my thumb and forefinger on the metal bandsaw in a moment of unusual carelessness.  I think the thumb cut went right to the bone.  (shiver)  But I soldiered on and got the beast pulled out. Some of the black paint came off revealing a blue "hammerite" finish which must have been the colour of the motors as they came from the KDB factory. 

I then took the motor to Armature Electric who gave me a quote for $700 to rewind it but I have since decided to try to rewind it myself.  I Don't think it's really that difficult to do but I am looking for someone who can walk me through it. Any takers?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey. I just found an auranthetic charger barn find and any info and advice for restoration would be much appreciated. Thanks.