Thursday, July 7, 2012
A Small Repair on A Hoge Fire Chief Car
or
I get a Little Help From My Friend
(Thank you The Beatles for the Loan of Your Title)
I've met a few helpful people at Dunkin Donuts. One of them is Paul Maddox, a retired electrician, who's been all over the world. He's been to South America and the Middle East and off the Canadian seacoast off of Newfoundland, on the oil rigs. In those places, he's been responsible for the electricity in tasks such as maintaining the generators to supply power to the oil rigs and platforms.
I wrote about the Hoge Fire Chief car yesterday. It has a battery compartment that takes 2 size D batteries. They provide the power for the 2 headlights, which were not working yesterday. So this morning, I brought the Hoge car to Dunkin Donuts, and Paul had a look at it.
I got a mini-lesson in electricity, and learned or relearned such terms as voltage, resistance, circuit, and so forth. HAving looked at the toy, Paul provided me with 2 solutions to the problem , which I'll describe below.
A Repainted 1930's Hoge Fire Chief's Car
The original colours are red and black.
The Battery Compartment as it Looked Yesterday
The Battery Compartment Today
I used several different grades of steel wool to remove the rough rust.
I then used my high-speed Dremel tool to remove more rust.
Finally, I use grade 400 automotive sandpaper to provide a smooth finish to the metal.
The Battery Compartment with the On/Off at the top left
(the amber-coloured square with yellow paint on it)
Notice that the wires have had their outer protective rubber coating fall off.
I'll ask Paul if I should cover them with electrical tape.
A Closer View of the Battery Compartment with the On/Off Switch
A Close-up of the On/Off Switch
It's oily, so what I did is use a lacquer thinner (I didn't have paint thinner handy)
and degreased the surface.
At least I know that oil on an electrical surface can create resistance and impede the flow of electrical current.
A Cleaner On/Off Switch Plate
A Diagram of the On/Off Switch
Hidden at the tip of the switch is a small metal bump.
I assume that is the lesser resistance, so more light is produced by the headlights.
The metal rectangle with the hole is the bigger resistance, and so less current goes to the headlights. Thus you have 2 intensities of light - high and low output.
The "resistance wire" is curled around the switch providing a circuit to provide high or low power.
Voila!
Thanks to my friend Paul, the Hoge car now has electricity.
So thanks to everyone for visiting,
and as always have a great day or night, wherever you may be.
