The "60-400Hz converter" is in the SF-88 Workshop - the Section B magazine :-))
SF-88 Work Shop
Launcher Section A has been restored and is the display magazine. Section B is the current work shop.
This is the upper surface (outside) of Section B. The badly rusted
elevator doors have been replaced from some less corroded Nike site
- no small feat - I think John Porter said they weigh 13,000 pounds each -
and are about 48 feet long. Put one of those in the back of your pick-up truck ;-))
| Hercules missile shipping containers in the background.
The little steel covers are rusted from 50 years is salt laden air.
| 
| John said the bolts were "frozen" and had to be drilled out.
| 
| Oh My, did you say that restoration was fun? easy?
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| When I showed up in 1996, the volunteers had already restored Section A - WOW
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| This is a volunteer built (not Army) shelter for the Section B 60 Hz to 400 Hz converter. This shows
the size and placement of the control doors. The converter did not work, was restored to operation, re-painted,
and is now being stored down in the work shop - out of the salt air.
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| An M-33 acquition radome is that rust red painted object behind John Porter's chin. The hat was for scale -
|
We went down the steep stairs into the magazine. It was hard to tell if the stair well walls were graffittied
or just had random sections of layers various colored paint peeling off.
| Welcome to underground part of Section B magazine, The Site SF-88 work shop and immediate storage (objects likely to be restored
"Real Soon Now"). John is looking for a tape measure. The dark diagonal area in the ceiling is the long narrow
shaft to the elevator.
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| A restorable launcher on the long narrow elevator. Above are the elevator doors.
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| The undersides of the Section B elevator door support structure. in Section A the area is painted and looks so ship-shape. Think of that hard, overhead work and paint !!
| 
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Some misc stuff
| John pointing to some hydraulic thingie that could use some tender loving care ;-)).
(Sorry, I was getting confused about then :-((
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| The electromagnetically held electric drill used to drill out the bolts holding the plates in Picture (A) above.
Half inch drills can develop enough torque and speed to cause serious damange to the unwary!!
| 
|
Ah - launchers and the various elevator structures use lots of hydraulic. Indeed.
One of the joys of going to a junk yard - excuse me - museum work shop - is seeing the insides
of things you never expected to see.
This is a "slip ring" assembly which permits radars to go round and round with out twisting and messing up cables.
I am delighted to report that no one that I knew ever had to
fix or swap out a slip ring assembly.
Well, enough fun, time to get back to the real world :-|
60 to 400 Hz converter for launcher section
A little story - Don Wellman of Dallas Texas made A model of a Launcher Section, but did not
have a good description or dimensions of the 60to400 Hz (cycles per second) converter. This converter was used to
convert commercial and/or locally generated 60Hz power to 400 Hz for a launcher section (magazine, pit).
So he e-mailed for help. I called John Porter, manager of SF-88 for the National Park Service.
He said he has such a converter in Magazine B, come by and he will help measure it.
It turns out that Magazine B is the work shop for SF-88.
A converter such as this is not displayed at SF-88
- The 400 Hz power for the entire museum comes from a large donated converter
currently housed in the generator building
- The original converter was full of wasp and mouse nests and had to be
rewound before successful use - this is the one in Magazine B we are about to look at.
The following is a photographic record of that trip.
The object of our "desire" ;-)) The MotorGenerator
Overview pictures and dimensions
John Porter is taking the dimensions, making the drawing, and holding doors open, ...
Ed Thelen played photographer ;-))
We couldn't get an overview of the control panel side
with out a major fork lift session !! That thing is HEAVY !!!
To mere mortals pushing and shoving, it seems bolted to the floor -
This pair of tags were on the cylindrical MOTOR-GENERATOR
(I cheated - looked at high res images, tweeked brightness/contrast a lot to gain clarity)
Legend - ???? COULDN'T READ,
|
Big Tag
| CORPS OF ENGINEERS. U.S. ARMY C
| | NOM. | MOTOR GENENERATOR
| | INPUT 60 CY OUTPUT 400 CY
| | NSN 6125 00 893 0019
| | MAKE | HOLLINGSWORTH
| | Mod | JHMX45BMDODA | SER. | CR410
| | P.H. | 3 | NO OF WIRES | 4
| | VOLTS | 120 - 208 | AMPS | 208/104
| | K.W. | 60 | KVA | 75 | P.F.% | 0.8
| | CYCLES | 400 | R.P.M. | 1200
| | DATE MFD. | 1958 | T.M. | 202
|
|
Little Tag
| SERIAL ??? | CR 410
| | OVER ???????? | DATE
| | TEAD | 9.81
| | MWO??? | DATE
| | ENG 12 | 9.60
| | 5.6125.202.35.1 | 9.60
| | 5.6125.202.35.2 |
|
|
This tag was on the control box
|
logo "(EM)"
REG. U.S. | PAT. OFF.
UNICORE
HIGH-FREQUENCY
MOTOR-GENERATOR SET
MADE IN U.S.A.
U.S. CORPS OF ENGINEERS
|
| | SERIAL NO. 82 M-1958 31-32
| | A.C. INPUT
| | 416 VOLTS | 60 CYCLES
| | 83.3 AMPERES | 3 PHASE
|
|
|
| | A.C. OUTPUT
| | 56.3 KVA | 3 PHASE
| | 120/208 VOLTS | 0.8 PF
| | 240/416 VOLTS | 1200 RPM
| | 156/78 AMPERES | 400 CYCLES
| | CONTINOUS RATING
| | ARM. 65 (DEGREE) C RISE BY THERM.
| | FIELD 75 (DEGREE) C RISE BY RES.
| | 52 (DEGREE) C AMBIENT
|
ELECTRIC MACHINERY MFG COMPANY
|
And of course, everything comes with a story or two :-))
John said that applying initial power to this unit was "interesting" !! like sparks, arcs, smoke, ...
My spin on the world.
There are several theories on how to see if some old thing is going to work.
- Disassemble it completely, verify that everything is functional, renew what looks suspect, ...
- I have had some experience with this as part of a team restoring an old IBM 1401 computing system.
(We did check and reform all electrolytic capacitors as that is a known hazard.)
The tape crew wanted to completely overhaul their tape drives - even to replacing the
magnetic powder for the magnetic clutches - after several years
of heroic efforts, they finally completed this task, and most basically quit further efforts -
human burn out -.
- Another theory is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and those folks usually throw the big switch
to see what happens. (Well, OK, after checking lubrication ;-)) Often they are rewarded with at
least partial functionality
and much reduced effort to fix the rest.
- HOWEVER, in this case, the accumulation of wasp nests and mouse nests caused a big flash
and a trip to the electric shop to restore functionality (and get a nice paint job on the outside).
Object lesson - there doesn't seem to be a best way - you are damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Best to be a Monday Morning Quarterback ;-))
If you have comments or suggestions, Send e-mail
to Ed Thelen
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Originated Jan 2009
Updated Jan, 2009
