Believe me Jeff, I'm not lookin' to exchange any money here. I'm playing grave robber, like those body snatchers Burke and Hare in Edinburgh, I'm just looking for burned out cadavers. Seems like most of the old failed switches just get thrown away when the new one arrives from Jimmy Carter. I want to try making new contacts and wipers for them but I need some old ones to experiment or practice on. I’m hoping to be able to do the same thing with these the light switches also. Haven’t got the light switches completely figured out yet but I’m getting there. Here’s a taste of how I’m coming along with them;
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2440156710098611668AhSEYh I worked on winding new rheostat elements with Nichrome60 yesterday and have run into another brick wall in getting the eyelets. My small supply of eyelets has about run out and can’t find a supplier. Stimpson over in Bayport, NY is the only manufacturer in the game, they have a monopoly on the eyelet market and I have been unable to talk to anyone there by phone or email and I’ve been trying for two weeks. I was forewarned by a couple of other rivet companies about their independence, and am finding it true.
Tim, I’m not looking for cured phenolic, what I need is a few pounds of the raw black granules/powder. I can't find it anywhere, can't even find books on it. I want to make my molds, use my 50 ton press for pressure and apply heat to cure the thermoset. Not a high volume way of making components but I could turnout a few every night after supper like this. Injection molded thermoplastic has pretty much replaced the Bakelite in many applications because of the speed, cost of dies and other equipment. Some of the new plastics can even stand the hi-temps almost as well as the Bakelite.
I'm on a tight time schedule right now cuz all this bench work is gonna have to stop as soon as the weather breaks. Like the tulips, I start to bloom in the spring. So when it's warm enough that I don't have to wear the snowmobile gloves to work on the truck I shut things down in the basement and start working above ground, no more experimenting till next winter.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
