HELP: Champion Blower & Rheostat ???

[Phil Dwyer]

Hi Friends,

I sure hope some of you can help me sort out hooking up an old Champion blower with an old fashion rheostat. I just noticed the motor's tag says it's 220V. Dang, I didn't even know they did that on these old things. Is it possible to run it on 110V? There are two oil nipples that seem to have remnants of some sort fibrous material under their lids. Some sort of wick? It looks like there are two brush buttons on either side too. I'll put the photos of the rheostats in the next post.

Thanks, Phil

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Next, I do not understand how to wire the rheostats. The Omite one has three connectors, the Mac Lagan one only seems to have two leads. Any ideas? Can either of these work with the motor posted above? Thanks guys! --Phil

 

[sunshadow]

with 3 leads it is technically a potentiometer, your hot goes to the wiper, typically you attach your load to the lead that the wiper gets closer to when you turn clockwise, and cap the other one, the rheostat is basically a potentiometer with the other lead already capped off. If your motor is meant for 220 and you give it 110 with that type of motor you will only get half speed, which probably will still give you enough air for knives. both speed controls should work with that motor

-page

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I agree with Page, It should work. Try it and see what happens.

The simplest solution would be to add a step up transformer to convert the 110V to 220V. This is nothing but a two to one transformer. It should be easy to find in Hawaii, since many foreign tourists come there with 220V appliances. Current draw is low on those old blowers, so it doesn't need to be a big transform, but the ratings listed on those transformers are a bit misleading. Check ebay for " step up/ step down transformer". They run from $10 for a 100W ( too small) to $40 for 750W, which is probably the best unit for continuous running motors. The 300W-500W units should work, but you would only save about $10, so get the 750W.

 

[Handforged]

As to the "fibrous material" in the oilers, just google "oiler cotton wicks" and you'll learn more about them you ever wanted to know. Was used in older machines to hold the oil and let it onto the shafts at a fairly even rate.

 

[Phil Dwyer]

Thanks guys. Is this what you're talking about? I notice one of them is rated 50 ohms. Not sure about the other one. Threw a meter on it real quick and it looked like it was more like 2K ohms. Won't that mean one will let more power "through" than the other? And have more of a range on the dial?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Phil,
The center contact is the wiper - the wire from the blower goes there. The other two contacts are the winding. Use only one of these ( if you hooked the two wires to both it would be a short and burn up the rheostat). The difference on which one you use depends on whether you want the controlled device to increase or decrease as you move the knob from 0 to 100. If the wiper is near one end, that contact will read near 1 ohm, the other will read near 50 ohms. Move the wiper to the other end and the readings will reverse. If you want the dial to correspond to the speed of the blower, turn the knob to 100 and use the wiper and the contact that is closest to it for the two places to connect the wires. This will make the blower run fastest at 100 and slow down as you lower the setting.