Friday, September 11, 2020

A damaged E6 motor

Vintage items bought online nearly always arrive well packed in boxes with lots of padding, some are very well packed indeed. Unfortunately this particular vintage item was merely put in a plastic envelope with two small, loose bits of foam-pad. It did not end well.

This is (or was) a Meccano E6 reversing 6 Volts electric motor. It's very sturdy, but also very heavy and got a nasty knock...  This bent and broke the switch-assembly and knocked the pillars out of shape, making the armature foul the stator. The seller was very good about the unfortunate event (he had completely run out of boxes that week), however leaves the question: what-to-do with this ~80 year old item.

As with every niche-subject, there is an astounding amount of information on the internet on Meccano and Meccano motors. From various detail features this specimen can be identified as an E6 manufactured in 1933. Originally it would have had bright brass and the paint would've been red.

The red & gold decal still looks fair, although the originally-red paint has faded to an almost-orange. It must've spent decades sitting on a shelf in a shed in the sun.


These motors are not exactly precision-built instruments, these are to a fairly 'rough' design originally dating back to around 1916. This means it should be 'forgiving' and practicable to attempt a re-build - seems a shame to have to discard (or dismantle for parts) this 87 year old toy motor. 

Will be having a 'tinker' to see what can be done.  :)

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