Model A Ford - Horn Breakdown and Assembly
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2024
- In this video, I take a Sparton horn apart (partly) and put a Stewart-Warner horn together, along with some comments on how to clean and test horns and the differences between Model A horn suppliers.
Update: After making this video, I put the S-W horn on the car and had trouble getting the ahooga to sound correctly. I ended up swapping the reproduction adjustment screw back to the original (just the screw, not the whole assembly). The original screw was longer, which let me put less tension on the ratchet. Like I say in the video: keep your original parts!
Great tip regarding the felt washer.
My horn has always been kind of anemic, despite performing well on the workbench.
I tried cleaning the horn switch - to no avail, unfortunately. My next attempt will be fitting a relais in between.
Not "Henry's way", but seeing that a new Horn Rod would cost me 120 quid and a relais is more like 1.20, I reckon it's worth a try.
Btw: The metal thing that makes the magnetic field is called a core :)
In a standard wiring harness, the horn connects to yellow and blue wires. Yellow is supposed to be 6V live current from the cutout, while blue is supposed to route back to the horn rod and, when the button is pushed, to ground. If you have any general-purpose test leads in your toolkit, you can substitute or interpose them in this circuit, in various combinations, to isolate the problem. For example, starter switch to horn, terminal box to horn, horn ground to chassis, horn ground to battery ground.
The Sparton horn in the video was quite "anemic" a couple months ago, and I isolated the problem to the wiring. Replaced some worn-out parts of the harness and it perked right up.
@@alexiskai Good idea - so far I just held the Volt-Meter to the horn to see how many Volts arrived (only about 4... meh),
but luckily, I've currently got plenty of time to go wire-hunting.
@@AstraWerke yes, I saw you’ve got some forced downtime. I strongly encourage you to test the wiring - I had the same 4V when the horn was running, and now it’s all fixed.
@@alexiskai Whelp, it turned out to be the wire in the horn rod, so the relais was my cheapest option.
I managed to tuck it away in the framerail, using the hood latch mounting screws - no one will ever know ;P
@@AstraWerke Your secret is safe here
These were made by Sparton, in Jackson, Michigan. I jumped the fence of the shut-down factory and walked through the place when we lived in Jackson. ... a very spooky poured cement round pillar three-story building.
Strange question today, new horn installed, sounds perfect when parked. While going down the road sometimes we get no sound. Will still see amp drop on ammeter tho. But then a minute later it will work again. Any ideas?
Bad wiring or the friction bar that rides on the serrated drum [best as I can describe it] needs adjustment. So take the can off and have a helper push the horn button while you sit there and watch the armature spin. Ohhhhhh ~!~! Before I forget. Making that screw that holds the can on too tight makes it too long and that shorts out the the motor ... Poke around in there with your finger to watch what's going on. ~~ Now, I take a bamboo skewers and gently drag it between the windings to clean out any copper derris left from the brushes. And I drop a few drops of Crosman AIR gun oil [not fire arm gun oil.] on to the felts and lastly finish up with some newspaper and alcohol over the brass where the brushes ride to shine those up. ~~That's the MINIMUM basics to good horn health. Now, I don't know how to fix your problem other than the cure would be obvious once it becomes apparent. Remember your only pushing 6-volts so there is not a lot of oomph spinning that electric motor.
Thanx for a great Video!! I have one of those harnesses that you explained in the last few minutes of your video that the wire connector end's won't reach to the side of the place where they should go!! Luckily they were thick enough that they snap into place from the bottom like you described..
Sounds good, just be careful, as they can work loose over time. Also be mindful of the position of the connectors relative to the motor cover - if they're too close to the cover, you can get a short circuit when you tighten it down.
Great video, clear and great audio
Great video, having horn troubles with mine right now! Going to try taking it apart to see if I can repair it! Wish me luck!🤞🏻
Good luck! Let me know how it turns out.
@@alexiskai Will do. Might make a video on it if it’s not too bad. I’ll tag this video of yours if that’s okay with you? Thanks!👊🏻
@@32modelbford39 sure thing. It would be great to have a video on a ‘32 horn so people could see how they’re different from a Model A horn.
Excellent
Good advice “never discard any part”. Put the (bolt?) nut back on. Have you tested the more (increased thickness) paint less resonance theory? PePop brackets are not the same quality as original. Salvage if possible. Re-coat commutator with Dielectric varnish, McMaster Carr. Was helpful. 31 45B
I haven't tested the resonance issue myself, but if you look at horn troubleshooting guides from past decades, one of the things they say to check, if your horn doesn't sound right, is whether you put too much paint on your diaphragm. I would not put insulating varnish on the commutator because that's where you actually need the brushes to make contact with the metal, but you certainly could apply it to the field coils and armature. I think varnish has to be baked on and that was more involved than I really wanted to get for this video.
Very interesting, Mine spins but not very powerful, will barely spin when adjusted to make noise. Thoughts?
Are you testing it in the car or on the bench?
What oil is recommended and where should it be applied, and what did you make the gaskets out of?
The two diaphragm gaskets are the usual cork/neoprene material and can be purchased from any Model A vendor for about $2. The oil is 3-in-1 oil, but this is such a light-duty application that honestly you could use anything. Oil should be applied at the felt pads where the motor shaft rotates.
@alexiskai do you know where I can buy the gaskets from one of these model a vendors? Not sure if ebay or where I can get them.
@@khriscamacho1212 Sure, whereabouts do you live? There’s probably one close to you.
@@alexiskai los angeles, in Southern California.
@@khriscamacho1212 Sacramento Vintage Ford is pretty close to you www.vintageford.com/sect_search.cfm?LineName=Model%20A&Line=Model%20A&Category=Horn&StartRow=21&PageNum=2
Curious about your digital power supply - what is it?
Wanptek DC power supply from Amazon. They make different variants, get one that does 10A. Not just useful for generating 6V power, you can also put variable amps through an ammeter on the bench to test its accuracy and see how much resistance (heat) is generated. www.amazon.com/stores/Wanptek/%E4%B8%BB%E9%A1%B5/page/5D244B99-B3EC-417B-876F-85907F678E2E
Hi alexi, i just got one of these horns that was not working, i re wire the field poles with new wires, but motor still doesnt work. When i connect it to the power supply it makes a litte waving, rotates 1 or 2 degrees and stops. Have any idea? thank you
I assume it rotates freely if you turn it by hand?
@@alexiskai yes!
@@gastjjs In that case I'm really not sure, it might be a wiring problem, which I'm not experienced with. Try searching for other horn rebuild videos, I think there's one or two that talk about the wiring.
Would it be possible to list the name/manufacturer of the digital power supply? Thanks
It's a Wanptek APS3010H. Retails for $80-100 on Amazon. Goes on sale frequently. There are a lot of similar designs manufactured in China, this one had pretty good build quality for the price. Make sure you get a unit that will handle at least 10A.
@alexiskai0 Thank you very much. Order placed should be here in a day or two. BTW if you link products you use on Amazon you can make a little when someone buys.
@@Lolo-mx4sc Haha no worries, I’m not in this for the money.
My horn is has no 'ah' or 'gah'. It just goes straight to 'oooo'. If that makes sense. It only produces one tone. It's loud and seems to spin full speed with no lead up or run down. Any ideas anyone? I hope I'm describing it well.
What troubleshooting steps have you already tried?
@@alexiskai I had previously oiled the oiling felt and tried to adjust it. SInce I posted this, I filed the stud to a point (it was rounded) and that made a big difference. It's much better but not quite perfect, but I could probably get a better point if I filed it a bit more. Seems like I'm on the right track. What do you think?
@@beattyinc If filing the stud down (which I wouldn't recommend anyone else do) improved the situation, my guess is that your root problem is that the armature shaft is being pressed too hard against the ratchet tension spring. This will prevent the armature from gaining speed, which is why your ah-oo-ga is more of a single tone. I had the same problem on the horn in the video - if you look in the video notes, you'll see that I ended up reverting to the original adjusting screw because the new one was putting too much pressure on the shaft. It sounded just like you describe.
So my first suggestion would be to make sure the ends of the shaft are properly greased, as seen in the video. Next, back the adjusting screw off and see if the tone improves. There may only be a narrow window between your flat tone and no tone, but the full ah-oo-ga should be hiding in there. Let me know how it goes.