People more better at electronics than me; I have a sneaking suspicion this circuit is either simpler or more complicated than I’m making it out to be. The input, being labeled OSC, almost makes it seem like it’s counting clock cycles, and perhaps the pot varies the speed of an oscillator? But I don’t see anything that would create an oscillation (though I am certainly no expert). I’ve put a link to the datasheet in the description if you want to dive a little deeper.
I know very little about electronics, but I had thought that toasters were all analog with no digital circuitry unless they were expensive ones. After all, they give the outward appearance of it, and I thought that computer chips hated the kind of temperatures found inside of toasters. Well, what do you know?
5:20 You basically show whole schematic and how it function on bottom of page. The 4 heater elements act for purpose of circuit as voltage divider cut the mains to 1/4. Then diode for rectify AC to DC and small electrolytic capacitor act as power supply for electromagnet. Then R1 C2 and zenner diode Z1 to cut and stabilize voltage to 3V to power the IC. The IC its just a counter, it count impulses generated at OSC pin, if it reach some value it changes state at OUT pin and turn off electromagnet. Now the OSC pin is oscillating with some frequency selected by resistor and potentiometer and capacitor C3. Maximum frequency (minimum time) is setup with value of R3, and minimum frequency (max time) by adding value of R3 and potentiometer W1. The oscilator probably works in this way: The capacitor is charging with current limited by R3 and W1. When voltage exceed threshold the OSC pin discharges capacitor and start over.
6:07 The other-other clever part of modern toasters, is that the yellow wire is connected part-way along the heating element, which reduces the voltage to say 12 Volts. The diode then rectifies that to power the circuit, a bit like a tap on a transformer. ;) (obviously it's not isolated from the mains, but it doesn't matter as long as the outside controls are insulated.)
OMG, a celebrity appearance in the comments! I loved your performance in "Yesterday's Breakfast," and can't wait for the sequel, "Tomorrow's Sunday Brunch!"
Fun fact: Tom Scott has a section on his website, for when he discovers errors in older videos of his. He made a mistake in a video about toasters, and the correction links to this video.
That line made my day: A single purpose receptacle in which you place sliced carbohydrate media to be partially burned for your enjoyment. Never have I heard a toaster described that way. You sir are a wordsmith. Keep up the awesome videos.
The smile at 2:19 is *Glorious*. But the jokes in the script and the synchronization with the toaster itself makes a f*cking video about toasters into the most entertaining thing I have seen all week.
TC, there is no such thing as a "terrible" pun, unless it is "terribly" clever, which yours usually are. Keep up the great work. I am a big fan of learning and laughing helping each other. Your videos are great examples of the power of humor. Love them all.
I like the "timing" of the toast popping. First thought: "Wow, how many takes did that require?" Second thought: "Oh yeah, power switch on floor. Removing power pops the toaster because electromagnet." Then bloopers happened? You actually just reshot to get the timing?! Or was that just for the funnies?
I'm a tricky trickster, aren't I? I mean, I _probably_ used a split-screen and layering to achieve the desired effect. But then again, why bother reciting lines when it will pop up at any unknown time? You'll never know for sure!
That yellow wire goes to a low voltage tap on the heating element, which acts as a voltage divider, suppling a low voltage to power the timing circuit and electromagnet. The voltage divider output, probably around 12 VAC, then goes thru the diode for half wave rectification. This is an inexpensive (yet vastly inefficient, which doesn't matter in this case, since the primary function is to generate heat) method of converting mains to a low DC voltage to power the circuit without the need for a bulky transformer or complicated SMPS.
Looks like one of the electrolytics provides a "smoothing" function, which would be more than adequate seeing the low power demand of the control system. You've got to wonder why they didn't go for an equally compact (and comparatively similar cost) modular full bridge (hat tip to Electroboom!), and design the pcb accordingly. Probably shaving a few cents on the design (which for a bulk manufactured item will translate to hundreds or thousands of dollars extra profit).
Two important reasons for the way toasters are designed this way that were glossed over: 1. The dual contacts aren't really anything to do with reverse polarity, but rather to provide a safety margin in case one contact welds itself together (which is definitely a thing). This makes sure the heater turns off when it is supposed to, and the next cycle of the lever could unstick the first welded contact. 2. The electromagnet is also a safety feature because if there is a power outage, it will prevent the toaster from automatically coming back on when power is restored.
I won't argue against the redundancy they provide, but I still think they protect against a reverse-wired outlet. If the only break was on the hot side, and the plug were wired backwards, then sticking a knife down the toaster would potentially touch the wires which are now electrically live no matter if the toaster is on or off. With a break on the neutral side too, there's no risk of that possibility.
Many countries use non polarized plugs, and miswired outlets are awfully common everywhere. Also, some power systems doesn't use a neutral at all, they use 2 active phases instead A single contact would be very dangerous in all this cases, especially with this kind of heating elements, very easy to touch This is why it's to mandatory (mostly everywhere in the world) to have dual contact for main power switch. PS: In French safety regulations, the neutral is considered as an "active" conductor, requring the same precautions as a phase wire.
@@TechnologyConnections As a kid, we would light a piece of paper off the toaster to ignite the gas stove. I regularly used foil backed paper from the likes of soup packets and one day I found myself thrown to the ground. I asked my brother who was buttering his toast at the time why he kicked me. He gave me an odd look and slowly it dawned on me what had happened. Sure enough I had shorted the nichrome wire against the frame and got a boot
My Mom refused to replace our toaster until I was a teenager, because it was a wedding gift (and they got married 7 years before I was born, so you can imagine how old that thing was). It would "click" about half a minute before popping up, and popping it up manually could get you "medium" toast. The knob completely cranked to "light" was "dark" toast. After we finally convinced my Mom to give that thing up, I got an extension cord and put it outside on "dark". Smoke filled the backyard. I decided to eat it anyway, and my Dad took a picture (film at the time, of course) of me with carbon around my mouth. I'm going to ask my Mom if she can find that picture. Excellent and very interesting video (as always)!!!!
The interesting part is why we never take stuff apart to see what actually happens. Makes me wonder IF I really want to know or have curiosity because just waiting someone else to do it for me will take time - that is, if that even happen.
What's amazing is that the part that holds the lever down is not merely an electrical magnet, but a transformer which lowers voltage for the logic board. Instead of having a transformer and an electrical magnet, they split the transformer core, to make it serve a double purpose.
With so many viewers, chances are one of us would have been working on their broken toaster, Well that was me, turned out to be a crumb on the magnet stopping it from latching.
@@dabbstermcdabberton2126 Yes, that's for real. I repair things (for fun for free for other people) at something called "repair cafe" every few weeks. A crumb of bread being stuck to the magnet or metal strip is one of the very frequent failure modes of a toaster.
"One of my favorite things in life is when I discover an unexpected piece of technology in everyday household items!" One could say you enjoy discovering... technology connections.
This is great. You're great! I couldn't believe that a technical toaster-related video would be the funniest video of the day - until it hit me _why_ (i.e. through the magic of 'you').
I've only watched 3 of your videos, but I am amazed at what you do and how you say / explain things so that all ages could follow you. Thanks for the good hard work that you are doing.
Actually, after looking at the goofs & outtakes at the end of the video, I think he was trying to get through a long set of talking, with the toast in the toaster in the down & on position, before it popped up. But, because the toaster was so warm after each “take,” it would be too warm and would shorten the timing cycle, because of that advanced technology in the toaster’s timing circuit, causing it to “pre-maturely” “ejectulate” his toast. In other words, he was trying to lengthen the cycle to “keep it from popping up,” rather than trying to shorten the cycle or pick an “earlier time to pop up the toast,” before the toaster was actually ready to pop up.
I worked in the electrical trade for most of my life. It was interesting watching the development of toasters over the years. The first automatic toasters had bimetallic strip that handled the timing but if you toasted toast slice after slice they were not very accurate simply because the strip became hot and was not reliable. Then toasters came out with a 555 timers and electromagnets. Personally I just use a Dualit toaster that does little apart from heat bread to make toast. The timer is mechanical and the toast does not pop up. It's brilliant how technology goes backward and the timer is mechanical.
Nope. Dualit still make toasters that don't pop up. Have a look at the Dualit classic toaster, they have been making pretty much the same toaster in the UK since the 40's. You press a lever down, it pushes the ejector fingers up and you can get your toast. It's quite handy as you can push the lever down to pop the bread up to see how toasted you bread while the toaster it still on. Take the toast if you happy with it, or pull the lever up to carry on toasting.
@@Edrim_Glebe we bought one of these because the Adeiaide museum curator (??) is from the UK and in an interview in the paper he replied that he brought his with him. That was enough recommendation for us. Bringing your toaster half way across the world... must be good
2:25 "Through the magic of buying two of them." Reminds me of craft shows, cooking shows and the like that used the magic of T.V. or pre-preping stuff to make the show go along smoothly.
1986 era VHS blank cassette box. They made several variants of this design... As VHS was dying out the design, the quality of packaging and the tape itself also went downhill.
Speaking of which, we don't seem to have a proper name for it. *Slider* is not quite it, it rather implies that only the position along the course is important. *Button* would be technically right, but we just don't think of them having that kind of course. *Handle* would be the "how", not the "what". *Slider-trigger* would best describe it, but that is precisely a description, not a name. *Lever* does imply the mechanical work plus action triggering, despite there not being an actual leverage.
I have owned toasters with mechanical latches (and a latch release button) which will latch when unpowered, but a magnet doing the work does seem like an obvious solution. Nice vid
I'm playing with an old Proctor Silex. This video showed that there is a second contact than the one I had been twiddling with. I gave the buried one I tweak and the magnet mechanism works again-- for now. Thanks for your dedication to fixing things rather than pitching them out.
It's funny that he explained all those details on how cutting the power to the electromagnet would end the cycle, but what he missed was an easy way to time the toast to pop on cue by just turning off the power strip that the toaster was plugged in to. By the looks of the extro, I got the impression that timing was something that took some time to get right. Although he might have taken the difficult road, it did appear like he took the fun road. LOL... awesome video!
I am glad you mentioned the Sunbeam toasters. I would really like to see a follow up video on them. I'm really curious about why, when the patent has long run out, and the technology is proven (my own toaster has lasted for ages), that Sunbeam or others have not made any more toasters with this technology.
I grew up with one of those Sunbeam toasters. My Das was actually a repairman for Sunbeam. We had all the best appliances. The electric skillet my parents got for a wedding present in 1963 is still cooking and better than any one I could find now new.
Dude I just discovered your channel & you're hilarious, I love the subtle humor & I absolutely love your content! You've easily become one of my top favorites on youtube.
No toasts were harmed during making this video! BTW - can anyone (native speaker perhaps) explain for me, why there are no movies but frenchiese's(I'm not even sure of the spelling)?
Dude i remember when you just had a list of like 20 patrons. Now you probably couldn't fit them on the same screen if you did it that way. Thats so dope dude I'm incredibly happy for you. Your videos are always enjoyable and they keep getting better and better 👍
The ad at 1:03 and 3:35 for the innovative leverless Sunbeam toaster with the automatic lowering and raising of the bread/toast (which worked at a slow, dignified pace) is pure nostalgia for me. In the 60's my family got one and we felt that we owned yet another item that was one of the technological wonders of the time, like color TV.
This video was surprisingly funny. I've watched nearly all of your videos, and this caught me off guard, but in a good way! Loved the alliteration, and especially the datasheet! :D
I love my sun beam toasters. I have rebuilt a bunch of them. The way they get the toast to lower is ingenious they have leaf springs that when heated loose there spring and the weight of the bread will take it down. Then when it's done it cools off and back up it goes. What other mechanical device could work on a daily basis for a hundred years and still make perfect toast. However my favorite toaster is the toast-o-laser the toast walks through a heating element. And it has a window for your enjoyment!
Only once in a blue moon do I click a "recommended video", by someone I've never heard of, subscribe, and binge watch all their videos... Love your work!
there's a reason why it is made like that, which you don't seem to mention, imagine an electricity break during the device is in use, you forget about it and come home later to find your house on fire...
The motor in our car, a Nissan sentra 1981, was using a bimetallic handle to close the choke --- automatically, not human intervention. The physical motion of the bending rod was used directly. It was not an electrical switch which would activate a motor or electromagnet. This allowed to keep the choke for a longer time period when the motor was really cold. The gas pedal was disengaging the choke even when the bimetal thing still didn't feel warm enough to do its job. When you were starting the car in winter, going back inside the house to warm up, you could hear after a few minutes the motor idling at a mad speed, probably 2500 RPM. We had to rush in the car at tap to throttle to finally hear the motor slowing to a more safe RPM of 900. This interlock was another ingenious improvement over older motors.
I've always wondered how that switching method worked, btw I've still got my grandads Morphy Richards toaster from the 1950's. Works perfectly, built to last!
Fun fact about the word "toast": the 1984 film _Ghostbusters_ contains the first recorded instance of a slang usage of the word meaning "something that will be no more; something subject to impending destruction, harm or injury". "This chick is *toast!"*
It says so much about your videos that I immediately click like as soon as I start the video. No need to wait until the end before I decide if I'll give it a like. I already know I'll like it. Your videos are absolutely great every time
I must REALLY thank you for making this video. I’m doing a project for technology class where I have to write about how toasters work. But I read some articles and didn’t understand any of the since oga boga or whatever. And so I couldn’t write anything about something I didn’t understand. Until I found this video!
My somewhat pretentious Cuisinart 4 slice toaster stopped (had it for years) working...toast/bagels would not 'stay down.' I bought a cheap one at Walmart and found it would not let me push the lever down for a little longer cook time if toast/bagel was not toasted enough. So I bought a newer, fancier one on Amazon (a Cuisinart !) only to realize that I had neglected to notice the "cancel" button on both my other toasters. Now I am stuck with the 2 newer toasters plus my old Cuisinart. So this video helped me greatly, since I plan to dissect my old Cuisinart and see if I can 'fix it.' ...that is clean up the worn/ sticky spring and contacts mechanism and see if that does it. Most likely it will be a waste of time, but I am retired and need stuff to do !
Would save you from cold toast when the eggs get burned and need to be redone. Make it a smart toaster too, then you can just say, "well shit, Alexa pause toast!"
I want that shirt. Jurassic Park was taped off of one of those babies my folks had lying around. Some wedding stickers got pulled off the tab real quick!
Wow... how much bread did you waste in the making of this video? I mean if you don't like toast and with all those out takes I can't imagine you ate it all. Also, this is the second time you've reminded me of Red Dwarf.
I would guess that he reused the same toasts, as it would probably take to long to wait for each set of toasts to grill just to make this video. Since he knows well how it works, it is (somewhat from what we saw haha) easy to control when it pops 🙂 anyway, only he can confirm how he did it 😉 PS: sorry if I made mistakes, english is not my first language
This was common yes. Light bulbs were the first widespread electric appliances, so their sockets were the de-facto plug standard. A bit like cigar lighter is for car appliances now. There were things like "strips" you could plug extensions AND a bulb in, yikes !
I have a prewar Toastmaster 1B9 toaster, the granddaddy of modern popup toasters, which has a fascinating mechanical timing mechanism. On its face, just winding a spring to toast toast doesn't sound too interesting, but it's actually more complicated than that; for one, the mainspring in the movement is a bimetal. This means that at lower temperatures, the spring winds less tightly than at higher temperatures, so a hot toaster shuts off more quickly than a cold toaster. Adjusting for lightness and darkness also adjusts the winding on the spring. Second, instead of an electromagnet, the unit uses an entirely mechanical device to switch on and off. A regular magnet is attached to a flexible piece of metal. Pushing the lever down makes the magnet snap into place over two contacts to complete the circuit, while simultaneously winding the watch mechanism, pushing down the floor in the toaster to lower the bread, and locking the floor down. Once the magnet snaps in, the the toaster turns on. (It takes quite a bit of force to push down the lever on this model.) The lever slowly rises as the clock ticks away, and after a certain point, it will rise enough to pull the magnet away from the contacts. When it does this, the contact will be lost and the toasting is done. When the magnet lets go, it causes the lever to fully travel back up, which hits a switch to unlock the bread floor, causing the toast to pop up. The fact that engineers poured so much time into making such a complicated mechanism, just to toast bread, is fascinating to me. This is a device with some of the most interesting mechanicals I've ever seen, hooked up to a literal swiss watch movement, and it's sole function is to burn bread in a controlled way. It's also interesting to see how in later years they were able to accomplish the exact same thing with a significantly simpler mechanism (though I maintain that this toaster has done the best job at perfectly toasting bread of any toaster I've ever owned.) The unit was something like $450 adjusted for inflation, and a new toaster can be had for less than $10.
After watching this and getting a good look at the electromagnets and how they worked, I was able to figure out that the reason my toaster wouldn't stay down was because there was some burned on toast crud keeping them from making contact properly, so with a bamboo skewer and the flashlight from my phone I was able to scrape it off through the lever slot and fixed it without even having to disassemble it. Thanks!
For taking mine apart for repair, I realized the yellow lead you have should be connected at roughly 10% from the end or begining of your heating element, thus providing 10% of the voltage for the low voltage side of the circuit to operate (voltage divider). Another genius way to get things done without a transformer or switching power supply!!
It’s been a while, but I was in a vintage toaster, the ones I remember had an electromagnet as the release. The temperature setting adjusted contacts on a bimetallic thing, when it flexed far enough to make contact it would send power to the coil, and then pop the release. But I want to say some also used the bimetallic strip to break contact on a magnet like this too. I’ve only been in older toasters with the all mechanical temperature control, never a circuit board model.
People more better at electronics than me;
I have a sneaking suspicion this circuit is either simpler or more complicated than I’m making it out to be. The input, being labeled OSC, almost makes it seem like it’s counting clock cycles, and perhaps the pot varies the speed of an oscillator? But I don’t see anything that would create an oscillation (though I am certainly no expert). I’ve put a link to the datasheet in the description if you want to dive a little deeper.
I know very little about electronics, but I had thought that toasters were all analog with no digital circuitry unless they were expensive ones. After all, they give the outward appearance of it, and I thought that computer chips hated the kind of temperatures found inside of toasters. Well, what do you know?
I really want to know how the advanced (bagel) processing works, and why modern x86-based CPUs don't support (bagel) instruction sets.
5:20 You basically show whole schematic and how it function on bottom of page. The 4 heater elements act for purpose of circuit as voltage divider cut the mains to 1/4. Then diode for rectify AC to DC and small electrolytic capacitor act as power supply for electromagnet. Then R1 C2 and zenner diode Z1 to cut and stabilize voltage to 3V to power the IC. The IC its just a counter, it count impulses generated at OSC pin, if it reach some value it changes state at OUT pin and turn off electromagnet. Now the OSC pin is oscillating with some frequency selected by resistor and potentiometer and capacitor C3. Maximum frequency (minimum time) is setup with value of R3, and minimum frequency (max time) by adding value of R3 and potentiometer W1. The oscilator probably works in this way: The capacitor is charging with current limited by R3 and W1. When voltage exceed threshold the OSC pin discharges capacitor and start over.
6:07
The other-other clever part of modern toasters, is that the yellow wire is connected part-way along the heating element, which reduces the voltage to say 12 Volts.
The diode then rectifies that to power the circuit, a bit like a tap on a transformer. ;)
(obviously it's not isolated from the mains, but it doesn't matter as long as the outside controls are insulated.)
@ElectronAsh OHHH that's so neat! Never thought of that possibility!
Doesn't like toast - now owns THREE toasters.
That's dedication.
Know thine enemy. ;)
He loves English Muffins though!
to be fair he /did/ abuse one of them
@@PongoXBongo yeah we must fight those fracking toasters. So say we all ! ;)
Probably reassemble the one and returned them both to the store.
Thank you for making a video relevant to my interests
I could never get to that level.
Hot
ok
Lol
OMG, a celebrity appearance in the comments! I loved your performance in "Yesterday's Breakfast," and can't wait for the sequel, "Tomorrow's Sunday Brunch!"
Fun fact: Tom Scott has a section on his website, for when he discovers errors in older videos of his. He made a mistake in a video about toasters, and the correction links to this video.
You beat me here by a short 6 hours. I quite curious what Technology Connections thoughts are on this.
I came here from Tom Scott 🙂
@@rachelknapp7271 same
That was actually two minutes.
I came from Tom Scott’s video also
When dealing with live electricity I always pens.
P - Hightech
E - Insulated
N - Poking
S - Devices
theblackboyjoe you coulda gone for Poking Energy Neutralizing Styluses ya know
Potential Electricity Nullifying Stick
What if you said that PENS stood for
Poking
Electricity (with)
No
Shock
(using pens of course)
Poking Electricity with Neutral-Insulated Sticks.
Rena Kunisaki PENIS
I really enjoyed this one, the script was tight and the tongue twisters were great. And that timing with the toaster lol
That line made my day: A single purpose receptacle in which you place sliced carbohydrate media to be partially burned for your enjoyment.
Never have I heard a toaster described that way. You sir are a wordsmith. Keep up the awesome videos.
Perhaps we shall discuss this over seared mammal flesh
*rawr*
Hey, don't be making light of the Maillard reaction. It's the most delicious bit of chemistry in food science.
Sounds like something from the movie Coneheads.
TOASTERVISION: how RCA put video on sliced carbohydrate media
This is why I don't have cable. Who needs the Science Channel when you have funny, innovative, and informative channels like this one!
Very true, and cable is overpriced. Make sure you still have some way of getting emergency broadcast messages.
How do you power your toaster without a cable?
@@chrisbalfour466 I think cell phones (at least here in the US) can receive emergency messages
@@ps3master72 Same here in canada, in fact I'd never heard about emergency messages over cable until i heard americans mention it
Same here, I hardly ever watch TV anymore. I go days without watching!
Loved the humor in this one. Had me chuckling a number of times. 👍
The smile at 2:19 is *Glorious*. But the jokes in the script and the synchronization with the toaster itself makes a f*cking video about toasters into the most entertaining thing I have seen all week.
This video is genius. "I'd like to reaise a toast" *pop* .. :D
i stopped the video half way thru, not in the mood for him today
TC, there is no such thing as a "terrible" pun, unless it is "terribly" clever, which yours usually are. Keep up the great work. I am a big fan of learning and laughing helping each other. Your videos are great examples of the power of humor. Love them all.
x2 hahaha
"I'd like to raise a toast..."
*toasted bread pops up*
My body was not ready for this 😆
I laughed so hard I cried
That was how I felt when he showed the old timey toaster and said “good grief that’s terrifying”
Ha ha!
i died of laughter first at the pun, than at the toast that was brilliant
@@mormonboy25 also same here
"Through the magic of buying two of them," That made me laugh... OOOH Magical!
I like the "timing" of the toast popping.
First thought: "Wow, how many takes did that require?"
Second thought: "Oh yeah, power switch on floor. Removing power pops the toaster because electromagnet."
Then bloopers happened? You actually just reshot to get the timing?! Or was that just for the funnies?
I'm a tricky trickster, aren't I? I mean, I _probably_ used a split-screen and layering to achieve the desired effect. But then again, why bother reciting lines when it will pop up at any unknown time?
You'll never know for sure!
@@TechnologyConnections Not to take the wind out of your sails, but you have an error in your split-screen at 9:40
No, that was just a glitch in the matrix
@@TechnologyConnections And here I was, thinking that you were just killing the power to the toasters with your feet :(
@@TechnologyConnections Do you now know Kung Fu?
Loved the callback to an ancient Tom Scott video
Which video?
@@Eidolon2003 This video: ua-cam.com/video/gN_PK5pXmIY/v-deo.html A video from 2014.
Quote from a Citation Needed video "Toast, for if you want your bread to be harder".
@@Sicarine I think it was a Gary quote
@@gummihu That was Cello Scrotum wasn't it? And I don't think we ever did find out why Chris Joel was called Toast on the original Tech Diff
"Aaand I'll just cut power to pin one-"
I don't know why, but it reminded me by the falling whale in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 😅
"High tech insulated poking devices" uses a couple of yellow housed bic pens
They make great poky things in School when throwing them I to the foam like ceiling
Pens =
Poking
Electricity (with)
No
Shock
That yellow wire goes to a low voltage tap on the heating element, which acts as a voltage divider, suppling a low voltage to power the timing circuit and electromagnet. The voltage divider output, probably around 12 VAC, then goes thru the diode for half wave rectification. This is an inexpensive (yet vastly inefficient, which doesn't matter in this case, since the primary function is to generate heat) method of converting mains to a low DC voltage to power the circuit without the need for a bulky transformer or complicated SMPS.
Interesting! Thanks
Looks like one of the electrolytics provides a "smoothing" function, which would be more than adequate seeing the low power demand of the control system. You've got to wonder why they didn't go for an equally compact (and comparatively similar cost) modular full bridge (hat tip to Electroboom!), and design the pcb accordingly. Probably shaving a few cents on the design (which for a bulk manufactured item will translate to hundreds or thousands of dollars extra profit).
why i watch these videos:
20% they are interesting
40% the puns/humour
40% the music at the end :P
I come for the puns, but stay for the alliterations
@David Brackin he could make a toaster interesting... oh wait :P
I come to watch this queen SLAY!
Two important reasons for the way toasters are designed this way that were glossed over:
1. The dual contacts aren't really anything to do with reverse polarity, but rather to provide a safety margin in case one contact welds itself together (which is definitely a thing). This makes sure the heater turns off when it is supposed to, and the next cycle of the lever could unstick the first welded contact.
2. The electromagnet is also a safety feature because if there is a power outage, it will prevent the toaster from automatically coming back on when power is restored.
I won't argue against the redundancy they provide, but I still think they protect against a reverse-wired outlet. If the only break was on the hot side, and the plug were wired backwards, then sticking a knife down the toaster would potentially touch the wires which are now electrically live no matter if the toaster is on or off. With a break on the neutral side too, there's no risk of that possibility.
Many countries use non polarized plugs, and miswired outlets are awfully common everywhere. Also, some power systems doesn't use a neutral at all, they use 2 active phases instead
A single contact would be very dangerous in all this cases, especially with this kind of heating elements, very easy to touch
This is why it's to mandatory (mostly everywhere in the world) to have dual contact for main power switch.
PS: In French safety regulations, the neutral is considered as an "active" conductor, requring the same precautions as a phase wire.
I believe all parties here are correct.
@@TechnologyConnections Good point, the nichrome is certainly conductive.
@@TechnologyConnections As a kid, we would light a piece of paper off the toaster to ignite the gas stove. I regularly used foil backed paper from the likes of soup packets and one day I found myself thrown to the ground. I asked my brother who was buttering his toast at the time why he kicked me. He gave me an odd look and slowly it dawned on me what had happened. Sure enough I had shorted the nichrome wire against the frame and got a boot
8:16 "todays totally technical temperature tied toaster technology" LOL 😂
1:10 "tantalizing territory of toaster technology"
My Mom refused to replace our toaster until I was a teenager, because it was a wedding gift (and they got married 7 years before I was born, so you can imagine how old that thing was). It would "click" about half a minute before popping up, and popping it up manually could get you "medium" toast. The knob completely cranked to "light" was "dark" toast. After we finally convinced my Mom to give that thing up, I got an extension cord and put it outside on "dark". Smoke filled the backyard. I decided to eat it anyway, and my Dad took a picture (film at the time, of course) of me with carbon around my mouth. I'm going to ask my Mom if she can find that picture. Excellent and very interesting video (as always)!!!!
I've spent years of my life wondering how the latch worked! Fascinating.
Jesse Donat wonder no more sir!
The interesting part is why we never take stuff apart to see what actually happens. Makes me wonder IF I really want to know or have curiosity because just waiting someone else to do it for me will take time - that is, if that even happen.
This is the technological bread and butter I subscribed for.
The upgrade is going to be a Betamax and Laserdisc subscription service that snailmails the videos to patrons 1 week before they're uploaded to UA-cam
Check out RFC1149, IP over Avian Carriers (IPoAC)
It's basically network over pidgeons.
What's amazing is that the part that holds the lever down is not merely an electrical magnet, but a transformer which lowers voltage for the logic board. Instead of having a transformer and an electrical magnet, they split the transformer core, to make it serve a double purpose.
Disclaimer: Dozen of bread slices were harmed during the filming of this video...
Don't be so dumb
With so many viewers, chances are one of us would have been working on their broken toaster, Well that was me, turned out to be a crumb on the magnet stopping it from latching.
Justin Richards lol for real?
I wonder how many toasters have been binned for that reason.
@@dabbstermcdabberton2126
Yes, that's for real. I repair things (for fun for free for other people) at something called "repair cafe" every few weeks. A crumb of bread being stuck to the magnet or metal strip is one of the very frequent failure modes of a toaster.
superdau that makes sense. Keep on being awesome!
Me too! Mine won't latch anymore and I was planning to look after it this weekend.
"One of my favorite things in life is when I discover an unexpected piece of technology in everyday household items!"
One could say you enjoy discovering... technology connections.
Ya, like isotopes and radioactive material in smoke alarms, that's alarming!
This is great. You're great! I couldn't believe that a technical toaster-related video would be the funniest video of the day - until it hit me _why_ (i.e. through the magic of 'you').
Toaster "master, what's by purpose?"
Me "You're here to burn bread"
Toaster "oh"
No my purpose it to be a death ray with a smaller power supply!
The way you can see how pleased with yourself are when you pull out the 2nd deconstructed toaster and the cheeky line is the best part of this video
2:14 sooo truth here and thx for the remind, trip down 5 mins ago memory lane ;]
Send this (and your toaster) to Big Clive. Right up his alley.
His cheesiness level is over 9000! It may be my favorite part of this channel.
Also, the subtitle easter eggs are very good.
I'm living for the alliteration, the shots timed to the toast popping up, and the fact that today's jazz outro is "toasty smooth jazz."
"...tantalizing territory of toaster technology..." love that alliteration!
I've only watched 3 of your videos, but I am amazed at what you do and how you say / explain things so that all ages could follow you.
Thanks for the good hard work that you are doing.
"Through the magic of buying two of them"...
You're a wizard, Harry!
Trial and error?! I had imagined you'd fitted a floor mounted switch so you could deactivate the toaster when you wanted it to pop.
Or just a switchable extension cord on the ground...
Actually, after looking at the goofs & outtakes at the end of the video, I think he was trying to get through a long set of talking, with the toast in the toaster in the down & on position, before it popped up. But, because the toaster was so warm after each “take,” it would be too warm and would shorten the timing cycle, because of that advanced technology in the toaster’s timing circuit, causing it to “pre-maturely” “ejectulate” his toast. In other words, he was trying to lengthen the cycle to “keep it from popping up,” rather than trying to shorten the cycle or pick an “earlier time to pop up the toast,” before the toaster was actually ready to pop up.
The secret is given away at 9:40 in the video. Look at the left side of the screen.
Kevin K Yep. Then he gave up and used special effects 😂
I worked in the electrical trade for most of my life. It was interesting watching the development of toasters over the years. The first automatic toasters had bimetallic strip that handled the timing but if you toasted toast slice after slice they were not very accurate simply because the strip became hot and was not reliable. Then toasters came out with a 555 timers and electromagnets. Personally I just use a Dualit toaster that does little apart from heat bread to make toast. The timer is mechanical and the toast does not pop up.
It's brilliant how technology goes backward and the timer is mechanical.
You prune all modern toasters pop up automatically but yours must be really outdated if it never pops the bread bsck up automatically
Nope. Dualit still make toasters that don't pop up. Have a look at the Dualit classic toaster, they have been making pretty much the same toaster in the UK since the 40's.
You press a lever down, it pushes the ejector fingers up and you can get your toast. It's quite handy as you can push the lever down to pop the bread up to see how toasted you bread while the toaster it still on. Take the toast if you happy with it, or pull the lever up to carry on toasting.
@@Edrim_Glebe we bought one of these because the Adeiaide museum curator (??) is from the UK and in an interview in the paper he replied that he brought his with him. That was enough recommendation for us. Bringing your toaster half way across the world... must be good
9:42 immaculate timing, laughed till I needed my inhaler
2:25 "Through the magic of buying two of them." Reminds me of craft shows, cooking shows and the like that used the magic of T.V. or pre-preping stuff to make the show go along smoothly.
That Scotch T-Shirt is pure nostalgia. Love it.
Just what I want. A video about my toaster.
God I love his shirt, Used those tapes in my VHS camera when I was a teen.
Thumbs up for the t-shirt alone. I want one!
Me too! I'm glad someone else noticed how awesome his shirt is. I just finished watching the video and now I'm going to search for one to buy.
1986 era VHS blank cassette box.
They made several variants of this design... As VHS was dying out the design, the quality of packaging and the tape itself also went downhill.
I love how you take such mundane topics such as toasters and turn it educational and entertaining. Love it!
How many loafs of bread did you need to toast for this video?
(PS: ALL TOASTERS TOAST TOAST!)
Don't toasters toast bread?
Depends who you ask.
@@friendly_alkali Well, when you make bread, you don't say you're baking dough, do you? No, you're baking bread.
No loafs were needed... they were too lazy to be involved. There were, however, 2 loaves of bread used in the making of this video.
@@friendly_alkali --- only half way through, then they toast toast.
I vote change the name from lever to a more simple, elegant name of Electro-Mechanical Interlock. Just rolls off the tongue.
Speaking of which, we don't seem to have a proper name for it.
*Slider* is not quite it, it rather implies that only the position along the course is important.
*Button* would be technically right, but we just don't think of them having that kind of course.
*Handle* would be the "how", not the "what".
*Slider-trigger* would best describe it, but that is precisely a description, not a name.
*Lever* does imply the mechanical work plus action triggering, despite there not being an actual leverage.
I have owned toasters with mechanical latches (and a latch release button) which will latch when unpowered, but a magnet doing the work does seem like an obvious solution.
Nice vid
I'm playing with an old Proctor Silex. This video showed that there is a second
contact than the one I had been twiddling with. I gave the buried one I tweak
and the magnet mechanism works again-- for now. Thanks for your dedication to fixing things
rather than pitching them out.
It's funny that he explained all those details on how cutting the power to the electromagnet would end the cycle, but what he missed was an easy way to time the toast to pop on cue by just turning off the power strip that the toaster was plugged in to. By the looks of the extro, I got the impression that timing was something that took some time to get right. Although he might have taken the difficult road, it did appear like he took the fun road. LOL... awesome video!
3:05 hahaha hi tech insulated poking device... the humour level on this video is over 9000. IEEEE
Indra Chaudhari THOSE ARE PENS!!!!
@@jeremyloveslinux THAT'S THE JOKE!!!
I feel like that's one too many 'E's.
I am glad you mentioned the Sunbeam toasters. I would really like to see a follow up video on them. I'm really curious about why, when the patent has long run out, and the technology is proven (my own toaster has lasted for ages), that Sunbeam or others have not made any more toasters with this technology.
*It's 2am and here I am learning about toasters 🍞*
*Bet you'll never look at toasters the same way again*
i really love your channel, it really helps with my anxiety. it's so soothing, informative, chill, and funny. You're incredibly delightful.
I grew up with one of those Sunbeam toasters. My Das was actually a repairman for Sunbeam. We had all the best appliances. The electric skillet my parents got for a wedding present in 1963 is still cooking and better than any one I could find now new.
Dude I just discovered your channel & you're hilarious, I love the subtle humor & I absolutely love your content! You've easily become one of my top favorites on youtube.
I want to know exactly how many pieces of bread he toasted during the production of this video. :P
I'm sure no bread slices were harmed during the shooting of this film xD
#BreadLivesMatter
@@SeleniumGlow but did the film survive the shooting?
Dammit all the good bread harm puns were taken!
No toasts were harmed during making this video!
BTW - can anyone (native speaker perhaps) explain for me, why there are no movies but frenchiese's(I'm not even sure of the spelling)?
Dude i remember when you just had a list of like 20 patrons. Now you probably couldn't fit them on the same screen if you did it that way. Thats so dope dude I'm incredibly happy for you. Your videos are always enjoyable and they keep getting better and better 👍
At first I thought you'd just cut off electricity to the toaster to time the toaster to your script, but no, you just timed it :D
The ad at 1:03 and 3:35 for the innovative leverless Sunbeam toaster with the automatic lowering and raising of the bread/toast (which worked at a slow, dignified pace) is pure nostalgia for me. In the 60's my family got one and we felt that we owned yet another item that was one of the technological wonders of the time, like color TV.
This video was surprisingly funny. I've watched nearly all of your videos, and this caught me off guard, but in a good way! Loved the alliteration, and especially the datasheet! :D
Well one of my favorite things is your t shirt collection. Yeah that sounds a bit creepy, but I'm ok with that.
Tantalising territory of toaster technology. That's fun to say
I love my sun beam toasters. I have rebuilt a bunch of them. The way they get the toast to lower is ingenious they have leaf springs that when heated loose there spring and the weight of the bread will take it down. Then when it's done it cools off and back up it goes. What other mechanical device could work on a daily basis for a hundred years and still make perfect toast. However my favorite toaster is the toast-o-laser the toast walks through a heating element. And it has a window for your enjoyment!
Only once in a blue moon do I click a "recommended video", by someone I've never heard of, subscribe, and binge watch all their videos...
Love your work!
I feel like this a video James May (from Top Gear) would make. I love how he and Alec make the mundane so interesting.
His show where he reassembles stuff is cozy af
Don't turn the board upside down, all the electron are going to fall down!
w h a t
there's a reason why it is made like that, which you don't seem to mention, imagine an electricity break during the device is in use, you forget about it and come home later to find your house on fire...
I just spent over 10 minutes learning about toasters! Time well spent!
The motor in our car, a Nissan sentra 1981, was using a bimetallic handle to close the choke --- automatically, not human intervention. The physical motion of the bending rod was used directly. It was not an electrical switch which would activate a motor or electromagnet.
This allowed to keep the choke for a longer time period when the motor was really cold.
The gas pedal was disengaging the choke even when the bimetal thing still didn't feel warm enough to do its job. When you were starting the car in winter, going back inside the house to warm up, you could hear after a few minutes the motor idling at a mad speed, probably 2500 RPM. We had to rush in the car at tap to throttle to finally hear the motor slowing to a more safe RPM of 900. This interlock was another ingenious improvement over older motors.
I've always wondered how that switching method worked, btw I've still got my grandads Morphy Richards toaster from the 1950's. Works perfectly, built to last!
Fun fact about the word "toast": the 1984 film _Ghostbusters_ contains the first recorded instance of a slang usage of the word meaning "something that will be no more; something subject to impending destruction, harm or injury".
"This chick is *toast!"*
Perhaps we could have a video about the wheel soon? :). Great video! Entertaining and educational!
I love the terrifically timed toast you used to punctuate your sentences.
It says so much about your videos that I immediately click like as soon as I start the video. No need to wait until the end before I decide if I'll give it a like. I already know I'll like it. Your videos are absolutely great every time
Too awesome..
To complete this video however, you need to mention Talkie Toaster.
You're entirely too fond of alliteration.
I am okay with this.
1:07 LOL Did anyone else notice how their eyes are perfectly synched? The whole face is actually perfectly combined for a brief moment!
I must REALLY thank you for making this video.
I’m doing a project for technology class where I have to write about how toasters work. But I read some articles and didn’t understand any of the since oga boga or whatever. And so I couldn’t write anything about something I didn’t understand.
Until I found this video!
My somewhat pretentious Cuisinart 4 slice toaster stopped (had it for years) working...toast/bagels would not 'stay down.' I bought a cheap one at Walmart and found it would not let me push the lever down for a little longer cook time if toast/bagel was not toasted enough. So I bought a newer, fancier one on Amazon (a Cuisinart !) only to realize that I had neglected to notice the "cancel" button on both my other toasters. Now I am stuck with the 2 newer toasters plus my old Cuisinart. So this video helped me greatly, since I plan to dissect my old Cuisinart and see if I can 'fix it.' ...that is clean up the worn/ sticky spring and contacts mechanism and see if that does it. Most likely it will be a waste of time, but I am retired and need stuff to do !
Unfortunately you overlooked the most important unanswered question facing the toasting world.
Can you pause toast?
And can you buy pre toasted toast?
@@CaveyMoth pre heated, pre bord, pre-recorded and now pre toasted? ;-)
Would save you from cold toast when the eggs get burned and need to be redone. Make it a smart toaster too, then you can just say, "well shit, Alexa pause toast!"
ua-cam.com/video/Q4PUT6gG9nw/v-deo.htmlm3s
It would heat it internally and end up making it chewy. No thanks.
Toast is now or never!
1:08 - I noticed that. Don't think I didn't notice what you did.
Yeah, that facial transition was mildly unsettling. lol
Have you ever woken up one day, and thought. I should make a video about toasters.
Well, I did.
I want that shirt. Jurassic Park was taped off of one of those babies my folks had lying around. Some wedding stickers got pulled off the tab real quick!
I'm so impressed by your alliteration! loved it. Top toast timer temperature alliTeration.
Wow... how much bread did you waste in the making of this video? I mean if you don't like toast and with all those out takes I can't imagine you ate it all.
Also, this is the second time you've reminded me of Red Dwarf.
I would guess that he reused the same toasts, as it would probably take to long to wait for each set of toasts to grill just to make this video. Since he knows well how it works, it is (somewhat from what we saw haha) easy to control when it pops 🙂 anyway, only he can confirm how he did it 😉
PS: sorry if I made mistakes, english is not my first language
@@StephClo Nah, don't worry about it. I'm dyslexic so I probably wouldn't notice even if you did. XD
... and most screenings of _RHPS_ ...
I've always wondered how the "lever" stays down. Nice
I want that vhs tape t-shirt so bad
Same
Congrats for winning DISCONNECTED ...... YOUR Plug did work.....
Thank you for providing this publicly available educational tutorial. Great job!
7:22 the circuits dead! 😭
What did the toaster say to the slice of bread?
...
You're toast!
Just... no..
That old toaster looks like it plugs into a _light bulb_ socket.
Would certainly work, I guess.
It did. They were used for light bulbs, fuses, and outlets. Not terribly safe, I might add. Our "modern" sockets came much later.
This was common yes.
Light bulbs were the first widespread electric appliances, so their sockets were the de-facto plug standard. A bit like cigar lighter is for car appliances now.
There were things like "strips" you could plug extensions AND a bulb in, yikes !
I have a prewar Toastmaster 1B9 toaster, the granddaddy of modern popup toasters, which has a fascinating mechanical timing mechanism.
On its face, just winding a spring to toast toast doesn't sound too interesting, but it's actually more complicated than that; for one, the mainspring in the movement is a bimetal. This means that at lower temperatures, the spring winds less tightly than at higher temperatures, so a hot toaster shuts off more quickly than a cold toaster. Adjusting for lightness and darkness also adjusts the winding on the spring.
Second, instead of an electromagnet, the unit uses an entirely mechanical device to switch on and off. A regular magnet is attached to a flexible piece of metal. Pushing the lever down makes the magnet snap into place over two contacts to complete the circuit, while simultaneously winding the watch mechanism, pushing down the floor in the toaster to lower the bread, and locking the floor down. Once the magnet snaps in, the the toaster turns on. (It takes quite a bit of force to push down the lever on this model.)
The lever slowly rises as the clock ticks away, and after a certain point, it will rise enough to pull the magnet away from the contacts. When it does this, the contact will be lost and the toasting is done. When the magnet lets go, it causes the lever to fully travel back up, which hits a switch to unlock the bread floor, causing the toast to pop up.
The fact that engineers poured so much time into making such a complicated mechanism, just to toast bread, is fascinating to me. This is a device with some of the most interesting mechanicals I've ever seen, hooked up to a literal swiss watch movement, and it's sole function is to burn bread in a controlled way. It's also interesting to see how in later years they were able to accomplish the exact same thing with a significantly simpler mechanism (though I maintain that this toaster has done the best job at perfectly toasting bread of any toaster I've ever owned.) The unit was something like $450 adjusted for inflation, and a new toaster can be had for less than $10.
After watching this and getting a good look at the electromagnets and how they worked, I was able to figure out that the reason my toaster wouldn't stay down was because there was some burned on toast crud keeping them from making contact properly, so with a bamboo skewer and the flashlight from my phone I was able to scrape it off through the lever slot and fixed it without even having to disassemble it. Thanks!
3:00 "High tech insulated poking devices"
AKA a pen.
I would like to see a history of Credit Cards. The remarks that will be made...
Especially the introduction and evolution of the chip on board technology
10:24 now knowing how a toaster works you could have controlled the toaster with a foot switch...
For taking mine apart for repair, I realized the yellow lead you have should be connected at roughly 10% from the end or begining of your heating element, thus providing 10% of the voltage for the low voltage side of the circuit to operate (voltage divider). Another genius way to get things done without a transformer or switching power supply!!
It’s been a while, but I was in a vintage toaster, the ones I remember had an electromagnet as the release. The temperature setting adjusted contacts on a bimetallic thing, when it flexed far enough to make contact it would send power to the coil, and then pop the release. But I want to say some also used the bimetallic strip to break contact on a magnet like this too. I’ve only been in older toasters with the all mechanical temperature control, never a circuit board model.