Can anyone identify this?

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m3a1
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Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by m3a1 » January 2nd, 2019, 9:11 pm

Ok guys, here we go. I know what this is. It's an electric hot patch machine (for vulcanizing patches to tires and tubes) but beyond that, there is no information that I can find on the internet. I found a picture of only one other but the person posting it said it was "unbranded".

Image

Chiefly what I'm looking for is a brand or manufacturer and specific era. It may have originally been painted orange or I'm looking at a very faded red. On the front right corner are the remains of a yellow sticker with directions, which are no longer legible. Any additional information you might be able to provide would be welcome.

I believe the switch that is on the front of the base to be original. It's missing an indicator light and lens. Wiring from the base to the heating element had a cloth outer coating. An asbestos pad still exists in the bottom of the casting below the hot plate. Square-headed bolts attach the casting that holds the mast to the casting that forms the base.

All through high school (late 1970s) I worked at a gas station and garage but never saw anything like this in our shop. My assumption is this predates that time period by a lot because even then, our shop had a lot of old kit. By the, patches were applied using a solvent, an adhesive and then helped to adhere by use of a roller.

What will I do with it? First I have to see if the heating element still works. If that doesn't work, perhaps I will repurpose it into a useful clamp, lamp or some other dumb, wholly wasteful thing.

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by kmam » January 2nd, 2019, 10:04 pm

Don't know if this helps, but when I was young the vulcanising patches were clamped to the tube and then a flammable portion was scratched to make it easier to ignite. Once the flammable portion had burnt out the patch was complete - just let it cool and then undo the clamp.
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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by rickf » January 2nd, 2019, 10:08 pm

The vulcanized patches I put on were held in place with a clamp and spreader bar and had their own heat source which you lit with a match and it burned in a metal cup . The actual patch was on the other side of the cup. It worked quite well, stunk up the entire shop. I probably still have some of those patches in my storage container.

ANNNND here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ennV0BVFZVw
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by m3a1 » January 5th, 2019, 12:43 pm

That youtuber makes an interesting point. So much of this stuff, like a kid patching a bicycle tire, or moving the lawn, or shoveling snow, or even prepping wood for the winter's fireplace has been taken over by adults who, somehow, are now making a living at it. I once bought a house in Ohio (I live in Texas) and thought I might employ some kid to keep the grass mowed and the sidewalk free of snow while I was away. I was stunned to find that only certain service providers (i.e. adults running a business) could be counted on to do it. Where did all the kids go? They're all off playing video games, I suppose. How very sad.

Everyone seems to have traded their time for making an income elsewhere so as to be able to pay some other guy to deliver the firewood, remove the snow, mow the lawns and yes, even patch the bicycle inner tubes. I dare say some people have no appreciation for the value of time away from the workplace and the satisfaction that goes with rolling up one's sleeves and doing a job with one's own two hands.

Well, enough about that and back to the show. Why am I posting about this on a site for M151 enthusiasts? Well, we all have different levels of skill and this post is going to be about Method. This is illustrative of a problem one might encounter with work to be found on a former military vehicle. So, here we go.

Obviously this little honey of a tool was a commercial unit and not something a even a DIY-er would have back in the day. But, it fell out of use and ended up unemployed and collecting dust...and rust. Why did I bring this useless artifact home? I wanted a little project. Nothing more. I have no hopes or aspirations for this at the moment. It may end up right back on a shelf. It may become one of those fantasy industrial lamps. It may become the world's heaviest coffee cup warmer but where we are going with this is not important at the moment. It's how we're getting there that is important.

After a little grumbling and a LOT of PB Blaster, a liberal application of heat and a few old tricks, I now have it nearly all apart and I am happy to say that the screw for the press is now not only free, but can be given a spin by hand whereupon it spins almost half of its travel before coming to a stop. From frozen solid, to spinning like a top.

So, how did I achieve that? First, it is beneficial to know what kind of trouble one is facing. The threads on the screw are coarse thread so over the years they conducted moisture over the entire length of the screw, particularly within the threaded hole, where the moisture remained, promoting a rust-bond which extended the full length of the threaded hole. Such is the nature of coarse threads. One of the obvious benefits of fine threads is that rust bonding is usually limited to the first one or two turns of the thread. So this screw was absolutely locked up tighter than a...well, you know...and this is a family oriented website.

For this part of the project I used a MAPP gas torch, PB Blaster, a heavy hammer, a copper mallet, a pipe wrench, a vise and most important, patience.

I applied heat to the casting containing the threaded hole using a MAPP gas torch (fabulous for these small jobs and is cheap, hotter than propane and highly portable) and alternately, I applied PB Blaster after cooling. Obviously, there is no point in spraying PB Blaster on hot metal only to have it disappear in a puff of smoke.

Heat is applied to the casting so as to cause it to expand, loosening its grip on the screw. I did not heat the screw because I didn't want that to expand as well. Proper application of heat can expand the part as much as a thousandth of an inch. Doesn't sound like much but that is sometimes all it takes. I did this three or four times over two days allowing full cooling in between times, working to free the rust bond.

The final time I heated it, I had it held securely in a vise. I took a heavy hammer and a large copper mallet, laid the hammer against the part of the casting where the screw passed through and struck the other side of the casting with the mallet, shocking it. One or two good, solid blows is all. Shocking does magical things when two pieces of metal don't want to move against one another, rusted or otherwise (such as removing ball joints or tie rod ends). Having the hammer on the other side serves to maximize the blow from the mallet but it also allows for a certain amount of give. This process is far better than laying the piece against some immovable object unless it is one's goal to ruin the piece by hammering it out of shape. While it is true that it is highly unlikely I could ever deform this particular casting with a copper mallet, this is one of those 'best practice' things.

Finally, I put a pipe wrench on the collar of the knob and applied pressure until it started to turn a little. This moment is critical and it is not the point where brute force should be used. This is not the moment where one should forge ahead or put a breaker bar on the pipe wrench or stupidly hope for the best. If it had not moved, I would have simply gone back to the process of heating, lubing, shocking. In this case, patience paid off. It did move and at that point, I applied more PB Blaster and turned it the opposite way....apply lube, turn opposite, apply lube, turn opposite, apply lube, turn opposite...back and forth until things were really feeling like they were on the move. There is always the potential for the piece to bind up again in the middle of the process which is something to be be prepared for. If it had, I would have cleaned up the threads on what was exposed. lubed it thoroughly and then turned it out the other way. In this case, I simply unscrewed it until the whole rusted area was out of the casting. Happily, this was quality steel and there was no pitting. Apparently, once it had rusted up firmly, it choked off the oxygen and the rust was pretty much done for. Of course this is not always the case.

So, I had great success with this and I had some fun doing it. What was the most important part of this process? Patience. Learning to make the process happen with grace and a finesse is part of becoming skillful. Anybody can be a brute. Had this particular process not lead to success, I simply would have tried another process, and the same again until I achieved my goal. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. Many of our readers are old hands at this and to them, it may seem that I wrote a lot about very little. Too true. But I am hoping that some of our readers will find this helpful. Now, get back to wrenching!

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by raymond » January 5th, 2019, 1:59 pm

My favorite way to clean all the rust off such items is a liberal application of naval jelly. Followed by a coating of chemical rust converter such as POR15, Corroseal, Rustoleum Rust Reform, et.al
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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by m3a1 » January 5th, 2019, 2:31 pm

All good methods.

Actually, this forgotten tool was to be a candidate for my first attempt at rust removal using electrolysis. Since our weather has been in the toilet for the last few days I've been watching others doing it on youtube and I was very impressed with their results. One guy I really enjoy watching is a fellow named Keith Rucker of vintage machinery.org . He gets into all sorts of interesting things. He goes through the process of electrolysis in great detail here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKZv14-K71g

I'm also happy to report that my local Walmart stocks the stuff one needs to add to the water to make it conductive. BONUS!

One of the things he points out is the conversion process in electrolysis and how it changes rust from active to inactive by changing it at a molecular level. It's fascinating to watch. I realized some time ago that I really didn't know enough about rust to fill a little tin cup and it's one of those subjects we all tend to fast forward over in our haste to beat it. I used to be terrified of having to deal with it. Because of my ignorance, I walked away from some things I really should have gotten into....and failed to acquire a few things that would have paid huge dividends had I simply put some sweat equity into them. Now, dealing with rust is just another process. Sometimes you remove it. Sometimes you stop it in its tracks and occasionally, you simply let it do its thing.

More on electrolysis later. Watch for it!

Cheers,
TJ

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by rickf » January 5th, 2019, 8:43 pm

You realize you can also get rid of rust with ordinary vinegar, much cheaper than all the other methods albeit a bit slower. It does work though.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by m3a1 » January 5th, 2019, 9:47 pm

I wanna watch the bubbles.. :wink:

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by raymond » January 5th, 2019, 9:52 pm

Just be careful. With electrolysis, in addition to removing rust, you are also generating hydrogen gas. Keep voltage at a safe low level.
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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by m3a1 » January 6th, 2019, 8:06 pm

.....with good connections....and in an open-air area. :P

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Re: Can anyone identify this?

Unread post by raymond » January 6th, 2019, 9:47 pm

Good to hear. Keep an eye on things. Don't "set it and forget it". Also, don't crank the voltage to speed up the process. Doing either can cause electrostatic (galvanic) erosion of good metal once the rust is gone.
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