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Post by ckfan on Sept 3, 2017 15:58:13 GMT
Congrats on this score! It sounds like it may have some life in it yet! You strapped your DRA in just like I did. It sits quite well in the front seat strapped in lol. I'm glad it made the trip unscathed. Now go warm it up and see if she chooches!
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Post by birkie on Sept 3, 2017 16:48:19 GMT
You strapped your DRA in just like I did. It sits quite well in the front seat strapped in lol. Ha, yes. It was your post that gave me the idea to do that! It worked really well, and probably saved it from a dent (or worse) when all the cars on the beltway started swerving all over the place and slamming their brakes in panic at the clothes in the road. |
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Post by birkie on Sept 4, 2017 2:42:35 GMT
It's in the garage now, waiting for its heater to do its thing. Then we'll run it for a while to see if the float is OK. We used the engine hoist to get it out of the car, set it on its cabinet, then rolled it into place on casters. I took a quick look inside the control. The contacts were a bit discolored, but not worn down or pitted. The starting resistor has a blue coating that is brittle and flaking off. Measuring resistances confirmed that the heater worked, and the winding were good: Start - Common: 5.1 Start - Run: 8.0 Common - Run: 3.9 Windings to shell: 4.5 M Heater drew 13W. Photos are at: goo.gl/photos/WcX3pWC8Baj7RFT98 |
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Post by birkie on Sept 5, 2017 23:32:01 GMT
Update: It works, and the float isn't even stuck! I fired up the DRA2 in the morning, after spending a day and a half warming up in the garage. After an initial rattle and harder start than usual, it quieted down. What struck me is that, quite the opposite of my CK, it was quietest immediately after starting after sitting unused. Once it pulled down to temp and started cycling, it was typically louder. photos.app.goo.gl/QwxNlB6jLd7c7QLq1The initial pull-down was a bit of a production. A few minutes in, it started to periodically rattle, which got worse with time: photos.app.goo.gl/vJg2wuTZTi866JEp1On a hunch, I jacked up control-side of the machine. The rattle almost instantly disappeared! What was left was a slight cyclical "vibrating burr" sound. photos.app.goo.gl/gRFzH3BuEoQ138aF3If I lowered the control end during pulldown, it would get an angry rattle, so I left it up. After a bit over an hour, it started cycling. It sounded good, so I cautiously lowered the jack so that it was level. It was happy now! The videos make it sound louder than it is. photos.app.goo.gl/SfH1ErkQyiLCooZW2My guess is that the sump had cooled a bit during the night, and the rapidly warming air (in the mid to upper 70s) made the coils comparatively warmer, thus making it easier for refrigerant to condense in the sump. Anyway, it was in the lower 80s in the garage all day. Watts were a little bit lower than expected, given the somewhat warm ambient temperatures. It starts in the low 160s, rapidly drops to the upper 150s, then stops at about 149-150. Cycle times were about 30mins on, 30 mins off. It'll probably be a while before the high-thermal mass cabinet stabilizes. At its warmest setting, the cabinet was about 37 Fahrenheit. |
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Post by timeswelding on Sept 6, 2017 0:08:23 GMT
Congrats on having a working DRA2. That is great news. The little guys have interesting personalities, eh?
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Post by birkie on Sept 6, 2017 2:13:57 GMT
Congrats on having a working DRA2. That is great news. The little guys have interesting personalities, eh? Ha, yes. I'm glad that personality happened to be agreeable. Now it gets to have a cabinet restoration, blasting & painting, and (fingers crossed, but it's looking good) an R124 transfusion. |
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Post by coldspaces on Sept 6, 2017 2:44:47 GMT
Glad to hear your new family member is of good behavior. You never know when adopting.
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Post by ckfan on Sept 6, 2017 3:26:39 GMT
That's fantastic. That's also the first time I've heard of anyone using the tipping trick that is in the DR manual. I'm very happy it works for you.
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Post by birkie on Sept 6, 2017 11:28:07 GMT
That's fantastic. That's also the first time I've heard of anyone using the tipping trick that is in the DR manual. I'm very happy it works for you. Yes! I've read that manual so many times, but now it's really starting to burn in. Now I have to do that for the lovely 1930 product manual Travis sent. |
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Post by birkie on Sept 11, 2017 2:11:54 GMT
Anyway, quick update: The little DRA2 been happy running in the garage. The biggest disappointment so far is that the evaporator is a bit too short for fla-vor-ice freezie pops. Need to find a brand that is 9" long...
At its coldest setting, it has been averaging 31 with ambient temps averaging around 70, varying from 28-34 as temps varied between the upper 50s and lower 80s.
The inside of the evaporator is entirely frosted, the outside is frosted about halfway up.
Average power consumption has been about 56W, or a little over 1.3 kWh per day. Heater draws 13.7W.
The paint over the porcelain cabinet seems to be oil-based, and will scrape off using a soft material like wood or plastic. Underneath, the porcelain is quite nice so far. I'm chipping a away at it slowly whenever I have a few minutes to spare.
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Post by ckfan on Sept 11, 2017 3:54:34 GMT
Good, I'm glad that the paint is coming off. Makes you wonder why anyone painted it in the first place. I bet they were trying to cover up some damage.
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Post by birkie on Feb 22, 2018 4:11:29 GMT
I fired the DRA2 up today, after sitting for the winter. Unlike the DR1, its float didn't have any problems. It did still require jacking up a side of it to avoid rattle during pulldown, and for a few hours afterwards until the condensed SO2 from pulldown was driven from the sump. Here's a video of how sensitive it was to leveling a couple hours after pulldown: youtu.be/2C8ZQQwFOIkIt sounds louder on the video than it did in person (except for the rattle, which sounded louder in person than on the video). It'll be fascinating to see how the pulldown dance changes once it's on R124. |
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Post by coldspaces on Feb 22, 2018 5:12:14 GMT
Birkie I love the amount of knowledge you have acquired on these old machines. You seam to remember so many details about them. I got to say you need more of them though, so you don't over analyze each one lol I just let them rattle till they warm up, no tilling used. Will be watching for the conversion!
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Post by birkie on Feb 22, 2018 11:56:18 GMT
I got to say you need more of them though, so you don't over analyze each one lol LOL, so true. sheeplady would also prefer that I get them mechanically and cosmetically done, rather than poking at them with my child-like curiosity  |
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Post by Travis on Feb 22, 2018 20:19:36 GMT
It's very interesting to see the small group of members here discuss the small details about these units. I remember being very thrilled to get my first monitor top in 1996, a stalled CA2B. I never got it running. The only resource back then was Mike Arnold. If he told you to give up on something you pretty much did. I later moved onto a CK2B.
I suspect that Mike never really did major work to many units because easier projects were available. Servicing vintage appliances was his livelihood, not his hobby.
I've learned so much in the past few years. I never thought I would see a DR opened up. Years ago, I never thought I could rewire a CA or CK as easily as I do now. I am most happiest that r124 (thanks Aaron)is proving to be a substitute for so2. I can't tell you how much time I spent trying to figure out how to obtain and handle so2 back before this group started. Now you can buy door decals courtesy of work by Rob, Kevin and Raymond. You can buy a new cabinet light plug courtesy of work by Zach, Herb and Kevin.
I can't thank Gill enough for all the experimenting and hands on work that he has done to try various things.
I suspect we'll have a reproduction backplate for a Type C control soon, a female plug for a Type E control, and maybe even a repro blue knob for the FEA.
Also, the work and advice from Doug Times has been invaluable. It's much better to have the advice of a machinist and metal worker before tackling a project than to seek it when putting the pieces together after a failed experiment.
I never would have thought we would know so much more in within the past ten years (when Mike passed).
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