OT: any electric motor geniuses here? or at least bright guys? LOL: OT

RRP

 I have a GE electric motor from my grandmother which is at least 120 years old. It gets light duty in a special tool in my workshop. Recently it quit running. I pulled the brushes and one is about gone, though the other one is 3 times the length. The armature spins easily without much effort to manually turn it. I doubt I would ever find replacement brushes so I wonder - could I cut some of carbon from the long one and attach it someway to the shorter brush? The brushes are closely fitted in brass collars. Thanks for any ideas and experiences!!!

JohnInCarolina

RRP said:

 I have a GE electric motor from my grandmother which is at least 120 years old. 

Congrats on your grandmother reaching 120!  Not many people live to see that age. 

DoubleEgger

I'd check Helwig's website or give them a call. 

tarheelmatt

RRP said:

 I have a GE electric motor from my grandmother which is at least 120 years old. It gets light duty in a special tool in my workshop. Recently it quit running. I pulled the brushes and one is about gone, though the other one is 3 times the length. The armature spins easily without much effort to manually turn it. I doubt I would ever find replacement brushes so I wonder - could I cut some of carbon from the long one and attach it someway to the shorter brush? The brushes are closely fitted in brass collars. Thanks for any ideas and experiences!!!

Paging @johnmitchell for some possible help.  

tenpenny_05

there is a chance the long brush is the only one making contact, I wouldn't risk cutting it up!

Photo Egg

Can you swap the 2 brushes and get it to work?

fishlessman

im betting theres a bunch of rebuild shops in your area that have the parts or even used parts.  a place that rebuilds starters and alternators could steer you in the right direction

epcotisbest

Many, many years ago I worked in an alternator/starter shop and we had all kinds and sizes of brushes. Often people would bring in some old, obscure brush and we would take it and using a table mounted grinder, just take a current brush that was close in size and shape and grind it down to size using the old brush as a template. On smaller brushes, we could reshape them to size using sandpaper and patience.
Then, solder the old connector wire to the newly shaped brush. We did not charge much, considering it a service rather than a money maker. And, when you help someone like this, they are likely to be return customers. 
Might be worth a try if you have a shop like that local. You could even do the reshaping of the brush yourself, just buy a brush that is close in size. And sometimes there was a brush that matched in size. Nothing like finding a brush that is for a starter off a 1978 Ford truck that fits an attic fan motor from 1965. Replace the bearings and smooth out the armature while you have it apart.

epcotisbest

Forgot to mention, if the brush has the wire running through the brush spring, don't forget to route the wire through the spring before attaching the wire. I made that mistake more than once.

northGAcock

JohnInCarolina said:

RRP said:

 I have a GE electric motor from my grandmother which is at least 120 years old. 

Congrats on your grandmother reaching 120!  Not many people live to see that age. 

I hope Ron doesn't have here gens......Not sure we could put up with Ron for another 30 years......just bustin on you Ron.

Eggscuses

@RRP just a quick look on the interweb I found this, they might be able to help.
http://graphitestore.com/Carbon-Brushes/Brushes

DoubleEgger

If your grandmother had electricity before 1900, then we know where all of Ron's money came from. Only the elite had electricity prior to WWI.  

RRP

I inherited good genes, an old motor, but no money - sorry to disappoint you. 

lousubcap

@RRP congrats on 21k posts.  We all know who has your money

RRP

Nothing ventured - nothing gained!

Upon further inspection I discovered the hot wire which was hidden and connected to the base of the brass housing which retains the brush was burnt off. So I rewired that much, cleaned the plate and reversed the long and short brushes. AND the old motor started and ran like a stripped*ss monkey! I have always had to turn it by hand to get the motor to run, but not anymore! My guess is I will outlive these brushes let alone this motor.

Thanks for all the advice just the same!

epcotisbest

Congratulations on the fix. Sounds like a good bench top success story.