Yesterday, Timothy and I went in to Zeist and picked up two new carbon brushes for the washing machine. Fortunately, the bloke at "Wasmachine Reparatie Service" had plenty of experience / knowledge of washing machines because the model numbers I supplied weren't enough (I should have brought in the old brush, but hey, I fixed that, so it was still in use).
His inventory was inside his van, parked on the pavement outside his "shop" (just like on this street-view) (by the looks of the shop, he obviously hasn't had a course in sales-patter (hurrah!)).
This man understood washing machines because he returned with a small selection of brushes and after asking some more details (and by the looks of the brushes), I chose the ones below .. with an element of doubt as it turned out that that the brushes (and thus the motor) are generic, i.e. used by several manufacturers. (The bag containing them states that they're for a Bauknecht, see below):
With the assurance that I could change them if they were the wrong brushes (.. the man in the shop was pretty sure though..), I gave him a mere EUR 23 for the two (I was expecting more as I thought he would take a margin, but no).
So today, I once again took the washing machine apart (I'm becoming quick) and found out that they are the same brushes .. except for one small detail (!!) .. the slope of the carbon contact area was opposite to that of the original brushes. (I.e. instead of a slope like " \ " (looking at the top of the brush, where carbon is top, contact is bottom, i.e. -45 degrees), the slope was like " / " (45 degrees)).
Fortunately the motor (MCC 52/64 - 148/AC1, dated October 2007) allowed for either slope of the brush, so I had to mount the brushes in other (unused) holes. But .. before I did this .. I made sure the surface of the commutator was as pristine as possible. Using a bit of very fine grade sandpaper and a knife sharpening stone, I polished the commutator so the contact area looked clean and flat:
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After making the commutator really shine (more so than in the above photo), I put it all back together again, tested it satisfactorily .. and now I declare the washing machine repaired (hurrah!).
(And after a sunny morning and early afternoon, it started raining, so time to blog).
