This generator was used on a Farmall M to power a baler that had a 3 phase electric motor. It was driven from the belt pulley gear box. The idea never caught on due to price, but some dairy farmers had the one you are working on to power the milk coolers. This generator was very expensive. I only saw one of these in use and that was 70 years ago. Something how you can remember something that long ago but can’t remember what you did an hour ago, getting old I guess.
I had never seen this before and yes I grew up on a farm. I suffer from the same memory problems, I can give you names, dates and circumstances from 68 yrs ago but couldn't tell ya what I ate for supper last night.(CRS) disease.
I'm only 64 years old, and I have a hard time trying to recall names, but I can still remember the summers of my youth as though they were yesterday. Ask me who I worked with, and I could point them out on photo, but hanged if I know their names.
I had two PTO generators on the farm in the 80's. One was a 15 KW, powered by a 30 HP Massey, and the other was a 30 KW powered by a 68 HP Massey. A tornado hit the farm in the mid 80's. I powered my house and my son's house for seven days. I too set the frequency with my Fluke like you did. I sold the farm in 98 as my age was affecting my body. At 80 now I enjoy your videos and how well you handle the technical problems. Thank you for sharing your work.
Back in the sixties an engineering friend built a house out in the country with lots of redundant backup systems. The garage between 2 of doors there was a small door for a drive shaft he would backup the tractor hook it up to the PTO and run the generator in the garage. He simply used an electric wall clock like they had in schools and if it second hand matched his watch for 60 seconds he knew the generator was at 60 cycles.
My neighbor across the street has the exact setup you described. He has a "dog house" next to the utility pole with a pole mounted transfer switch. He backs his ol' Massey up and pto shaft drives the generator inside. He runs his small farm easily on it during power outages.
love the idea/pto-geny 20KW+sizing/full-home 🏡 400A 240v ( and for shop use a loophole for running 480v 3p ) and the chevy C10's ( my 1968 327+SM465 has a spot for it as it was intended for average working men ect ) ( and others like some jeep models do , like the cj pre-1990~? ) have a PTO output
This generator was built when made in America ment something Very cool brother Keep saving these little pieces of history Thank you God bless Just saying
While I’m not sure if you read any of these. I work in the utility industry as a generating facility controls/electrical tech. The drawing of the control circuit was well done and the explanation was so good I’m going to share this at work. Thanks for the content and always look forward to seeing your releases. Be safe.
I would assume he looks at these comments, he asks people to comment on different things. Additional he's seems to be conscious person who would be interested in what people think of his videos.
Very interesting generator. I knew it was a GE by the shape of the tail end, the same as all GE motor-generator welders of that era. Notice the 240 volt 1PH "crowfoot" plug is 37.5 Amp. The small welders used on the farm in that era were called "limited input" as the farm max power [Federal REA Act] was 220v @37.5 amps. All the transformer welders were 180amp output max to meet this 37.5 amp input limit. You have a great channel!👍👍✔✔
The 240V socket is the same one used in Australia today, only difference being we don't have 40A sockets! Try telling people we got it from America and they don't believe you!
REA act ?? 🤔what is that, and yes my grandparents both are farmers/ranchers and both properties were in the family's pre electric nation, and later on i took over the one in SLC Utah area and it is still on pre-1940's equipment electric wise but it's super crispy and needs to go as it's bad but anyways it's under 100A and 120V-box-main/poll aka not modern at all
@@richardprice5978 REA: Rural Electrictrification Administration. A Roosevelt Administration program instituted to bring electricity to rural America. "Striving to implement some of the ideas of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) program across the nation, the Roosevelt administration created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935. The main goal of the REA was to provide electricity to all rural areas, most especially family farms. Private power companies in many regions did give farmers the opportunity to purchase electricity, but in order to run rural lines, most demanded all or a majority of the construction costs up front. Furthermore, many companies proposed to charge higher rates for the power they supplied the countryside. These factors made electricity a prohibitive cost to many farmers and rural citizens." The REA established electrical "cooperatives" that allowed the establishment of electrical transmission lines to rural areas. Electrical service went from 10% of rural households served to 25% of rural households served nationwide in 1939 (4 years).
That's a nice old piece of kit, and a nice simple design - No nasty electronic AVR to go wrong, and pretty much repairable with a bit of baling wire and a couple of feet of string!
That's how all things were built back then built to last and easy to repair now days if it breaks you toss it out and buy a new one plus nothing is made in the USA anymore. It's a shame
I've just recently discovered your channel and I'm having a ball binge-watching your videos. You're a very skillful person and your level of knowledge is remarkable. As a retired electrical inspector, I particularly like how you explain the electrical generation process and the clarity with which you describe the importance of using grounded and ungrounded conductors correctly. Thank you for the hard work you put into this endeavor.
Nice old unit, wish I could find one like that. Old Ford never broke a sweat, good tractor. I love old stuff like that and being GE was great quality. All things being considered I think I would emply a good loop around the PTO, yes you demonstrated the substantial twist of the input shaft, someone was just rough with it and didn't need to happen. I like the stuff you put out on here. Good job.
Nice to see the old beast is still around and not junked like so many before her. Built to last, if you know how to service them. Unlike todays garbage.
What a nice setup. Can be very handy to have a PTO generator and no having to mess with carburetors or other problems caused by lack of usage. This way you slap the tractor PTO and bam! you're on business.
Lots of electrical comments. From a 45 year mechanical engineer concerning your speed increaser gearbox and pto. Normally, shafts such as this are designed for infinite life under fatigue (rotating reversing loads) but for "design loads" only. The torsional deformation and moment bending (TIR) of the shaft have (absolutely) resulted in a now finite life, i.e. it WILL fail....catastrophically....eventually...with no warning. In addition, it is impossible to bend/twist the shaft as seen externary without affecting the shaft internally between the bearings, removing bearing internal running clearance and possible gear mesh running clearance (your probable source of case warmth). It appears that such a failure would free the entire pto shaft since the cotter pin would no longer "fix" the shaft. Since there are no "hoop guards" at either end....... On another note, if the tractor pto shaft and reducer shafts are parallel (or equal angles), and the u-joints are aligned properly, the shaft becomes "constant velocity" (search u-joint constant velocity). In this application, I doubt that it matters to anyone. As ALWAYS...I admire your content for its thoroughness.
It simply needs to be removed and sent to a competent machine shop to remachine a replacement shaft, perhaps out of high carbon 4130 or stainless steel.
@@rockymntain Be extremely careful when using stainless in this application. E.G. 300 series austenitic stainless steels do not survive "reverse bending" applications such as this.
Great video! A cool adaptation might be to put a belt pulley on that input shaft then drive it with a stationary steam engine or, possibly, a traction engine. Would be a cool example of technological cross-over.
This is a great video! I especially like how you went through the schematic and explained the purpose of each component on the print and physically. Well done!
Long ago my friend's wife wondered why he wasn't back from the field for lunch. His shirt caught in the PTO. The machine was running when she got there. Nothing left of her husband.
Nice Explanation of the wiring diagram and circuits of the generator. My uncle has a PTO driven generator he runs off a 3010 John Deere. He runs the 1000 rpm shaft at 540, tractor engine just off idle and frequency at 60 hertz. They don’t make them like that anymore. Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge. I appreciate your videos.
You should use a chain link to stop the PTO shield from rotating, from the safety POV if nothing else. It should have a lug on it at the tractor end to attach a thin chain to with a spring clip at the end. I got thoroughly told off by our agricultural contractor, when he saw me using a PTO driven brush cutter/topper on my Case David Brown 995, without a chain on the PTO shield.
Panel of receptacles facing downwards makes sense from the point of view of keep crud and water out of them. I thought your explanation of the generator/exciter layout was great! Drawing was neat,simple and easy to understand.
Thanks for clearly drawing the excitation/regulation circuit and the clear explanation. Talk about inefficiency, engine runs around 2k RPM to PTO at 540 RPM to gearbox/pulleys to 3600 RPM. That's the price you pay to get power in the middle of nowhere I guess... Great job Mike!
Pretty sure the frequency drop is mostly coming from the belt drive. V belt usually a small percentage of slip, even more when there isn't any constant tension system on them.
I'd relocate the output sockets to somewhere on the side of the frame, for convenience and safety! Nicely tested the Ford tractors engine governor too.
Very interesting generator setup. My guess is that generator was actually built for another application and was adapted by IH for this PTO rig. I’d say it was probably built in the 1950’s. The field boost circuit is essentially the same as was used by Delco on a lot of old generators in the 1940’s and 50’s.
Thanks for another interesting video. The generator was a very interesting bit of kit and seems to have been part of the IH Farmall range. I'm not surprised that Ford 6610 didn't mind the load as its about twice the power rating of the Farmall M that Dale Myers mentions in his comment. We have the smaller 4600 version from the same range and you also have to scream that at around 1800 engine RPM to get 540 RPM on the PTO.
When this gen set was mounted on the Farmall tractor the plug panel would have been exposed to the side of the tractor. The mounting in this setup is hamemade to use it as a PTO run unit and not in its original configuration.
That resistor across the secondary of the current transformer is called the "burden" resistor and it's purpose is to make the transformer's primary look like a short, to minimize the voltage drop across the primary winding. Without it you might have several hundred Volts instead of 14 Volts across the bridge rectifier. They are always used with current transformers. BTW: You should have replaced the Selenium bridge rectifier with a Silicone bridge rectifier unit, 1¼" square and 3/8" think with four "fast on" terminals sticking straight up (from Epoxy) on one side, when you had the controller out. Did you refill the gear box? Ron W4BIN
The unit was mainly used as a standby unit. In the rural areas, a large arm or ranch might not have powerline access and a tractor driven generator was sometimes used as the main power. The unit was designed to be used rain or shine, so putting the power box under the unit, would have given some protection against moisture. Dale Myers' comments definitely are correct. These things were very expensive and tied up a tractor to run it. I remember seeing it advertised when I was a kid in the 1950s. I suggested we get one to my dad. He wisely said we didn't need one. I did work for a company who used a natural gas generator for an office and welding shop in the 1970s. Our wall clocks were plugged in, and they did gain and lose time. We had no trouble running a computer with the frequency drift.
Great share Mike ! good generator there , Would be great for a farm where they need power out in the field .. That shield over the PTO shaft is a good thing they have now days , When I was a kid they never had them and brush and hay would wrap around it creating a huge ball ..and you would have to constantly get off and cut it off the shaft . That sleeve over the shaft saves a lot of trouble !
A really interesting little genny having a very simple regulator circuit which you explained to perfection. I'd certainly straighten the gearbox input shaft (after measuring and drawing it out first). Thanks.
Great generator and tractor to me. I do think I would change out the gear box or shaft as I would think it would not be good on the gear box bearings nor the bearing in the PTO. Thanks for the videos.
your time is not wasted. i appiate it and your time. i feel like I'm at school. but you explain very well. no words. thank you mate. but if need power and i hade a old tractor. and setup . i would use this setup. a spike in the system power supply from the government supply. or a emergency . or nuke. this system will work. god bless mick Australia.
Very much enjoyed this one like all your other videos. It’s easy to recognize a professional who embraces all the Physics in all of your work, Electrical, Mechanical, and Thermodynamics. You are truly and thoroughly educated in these principals Mike!
Very nice generator you have. It looked well kept n low hours Minus the dust in the bent pto input shaft. Very nice generator. Some day id love to find one for my tractor
Just watched today, I really appreciated your explanation of how the electrical system works. Always impressed by your mechanical electrical knowledge. Thanks for your videos.
This generator probably helped build penn states steam power plant. I believe that pto shaft itself is bent pretty good. Considering getting a analog rpm to be exactly 540rpms and the gen it’s self says it’s for 208volts I’d say the results are pretty impressive. I expected it drag the engine down a lot. But it never slipped a beat. A real test would be use a syncroscope an see if it could be synced to grid
That was really fun to see. Interesting how compact the generator & control panel was. Also the use of the 4 prong plug is something to think about. Perhaps it was more common back then?
I did a web sleuth for that plug configuration and came up empty. It may have been proprietary. In that position, I would probably replace it with a twist-lock. That tractor has 72 PTO hp, so could swing that little 13.5 kva generator all day.
Been considering getting an older generator to run a batch plant that I'm redoing so I don't have to get 3ph run in. After watching this guy I've came to the conclusion that I'm not qualified to even look at one much less own one.
Great video, and a really good explanation of how the voltage regulation works. I am very surprised that you left the wires bare going into the four pin connector. With the vibration of the tractor running, I would have thought that the risk of a short was quite high. (IMHO). I guess it would just blow the fuses though. BTW: I used to drive a tractor just like that one back in the late 60's, early 70's on my Dad's farm here in the UK.
I love those old tomestone welders I have a couple of them and older then dirt but works like brand new and the older they are the better they are in my opinion they don't make them like they use to and that is why I will choose a old one over new all the time.
Hey Mike, I haven't seen a new video in a while. I hope you and the Mrs are doing well. I am looking forward to more cool generator videos! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
This generator was used on a Farmall M to power a baler that had a 3 phase electric motor. It was driven from the belt pulley gear box. The idea never caught on due to price, but some dairy farmers had the one you are working on to power the milk coolers. This generator was very expensive. I only saw one of these in use and that was 70 years ago. Something how you can remember something that long ago but can’t remember what you did an hour ago, getting old I guess.
Same thing for me but I’m still young.
You are spot on about that M Farmall...they actually made a toy M with that option on it
I had never seen this before and yes I grew up on a farm. I suffer from the same memory problems, I can give you names, dates and circumstances from 68 yrs ago but couldn't tell ya what I ate for supper last night.(CRS) disease.
I guess the Feed panel under the generator was placed there to protect against weather ?
I'm only 64 years old, and I have a hard time trying to recall names, but I can still remember the summers of my youth as though they were yesterday. Ask me who I worked with, and I could point them out on photo, but hanged if I know their names.
I had two PTO generators on the farm in the 80's. One was a 15 KW, powered by a 30 HP Massey, and the other was a 30 KW powered by a 68 HP Massey. A tornado hit the farm in the mid 80's. I powered my house and my son's house for seven days. I too set the frequency with my Fluke like you did. I sold the farm in 98 as my age was affecting my body. At 80 now I enjoy your videos and how well you handle the technical problems. Thank you for sharing your work.
Back in the sixties an engineering friend built a house out in the country with lots of redundant backup systems. The garage between 2 of doors there was a small door for a drive shaft he would backup the tractor hook it up to the PTO and run the generator in the garage. He simply used an electric wall clock like they had in schools and if it second hand matched his watch for 60 seconds he knew the generator was at 60 cycles.
My neighbor across the street has the exact setup you described. He has a "dog house" next to the utility pole with a pole mounted transfer switch. He backs his ol' Massey up and pto shaft drives the generator inside. He runs his small farm easily on it during power outages.
love the idea/pto-geny 20KW+sizing/full-home 🏡 400A 240v ( and for shop use a loophole for running 480v 3p ) and the chevy C10's ( my 1968 327+SM465 has a spot for it as it was intended for average working men ect ) ( and others like some jeep models do , like the cj pre-1990~? ) have a PTO output
This generator was built when made in America ment something
Very cool brother
Keep saving these little pieces of history
Thank you
God bless
Just saying
While I’m not sure if you read any of these. I work in the utility industry as a generating facility controls/electrical tech. The drawing of the control circuit was well done and the explanation was so good I’m going to share this at work. Thanks for the content and always look forward to seeing your releases. Be safe.
I would assume he looks at these comments, he asks people to comment on different things. Additional he's seems to be conscious person who would be interested in what people think of his videos.
Yeah I see the bottom plugs. now it's plugged into the right one for the 240v welder the 120/208 is another plug that's really cool
So it is just 120 / 208 that's fine that will work 240 volt stuff
Don't worry about your rambling your explanation of the circuitry and how it works is very helpful.
Those slip ring look like a cupronickel alloy.
Very interesting generator. I knew it was a GE by the shape of the tail end, the same as all GE motor-generator welders of that era. Notice the 240 volt 1PH "crowfoot" plug is 37.5 Amp. The small welders used on the farm in that era were called "limited input" as the farm max power [Federal REA Act] was 220v @37.5 amps. All the transformer welders were 180amp output max to meet this 37.5 amp input limit. You have a great channel!👍👍✔✔
The 240V socket is the same one used in Australia today, only difference being we don't have 40A sockets! Try telling people we got it from America and they don't believe you!
REA act ?? 🤔what is that, and yes my grandparents both are farmers/ranchers and both properties were in the family's pre electric nation, and later on i took over the one in SLC Utah area and it is still on pre-1940's equipment electric wise but it's super crispy and needs to go as it's bad but anyways it's under 100A and 120V-box-main/poll aka not modern at all
@@richardprice5978 REA: Rural Electrictrification Administration. A Roosevelt Administration program instituted to bring electricity to rural America.
"Striving to implement some of the ideas of the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) program across the nation, the Roosevelt administration created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935. The main goal of the REA was to provide electricity to all rural areas, most especially family farms. Private power companies in many regions did give farmers the opportunity to purchase electricity, but in order to run rural lines, most demanded all or a majority of the construction costs up front. Furthermore, many companies proposed to charge higher rates for the power they supplied the countryside. These factors made electricity a prohibitive cost to many farmers and rural citizens."
The REA established electrical "cooperatives" that allowed the establishment of electrical transmission lines to rural areas. Electrical service went from 10% of rural households served to 25% of rural households served nationwide in 1939 (4 years).
That's a nice old piece of kit, and a nice simple design - No nasty electronic AVR to go wrong, and pretty much repairable with a bit of baling wire and a couple of feet of string!
That's how all things were built back then built to last and easy to repair now days if it breaks you toss it out and buy a new one plus nothing is made in the USA anymore. It's a shame
31:20 “geez that was 10 minutes of rambling …”
Ramble away! You are a walking encyclopedia and technical manual
It has been a while since you uploaded. I hope everything is ok
That old ford 6610 sounds like it's in good shape.2610 was a good tractor.You can tell he loves what he does.
I've just recently discovered your channel and I'm having a ball binge-watching your videos. You're a very skillful person and your level of knowledge is remarkable. As a retired electrical inspector, I particularly like how you explain the electrical generation process and the clarity with which you describe the importance of using grounded and ungrounded conductors correctly. Thank you for the hard work you put into this endeavor.
Lot of pto generators in uk little farms had as back up and (lister startamatic)
Good old ford tractor done 20 years on fords
You have quite the collection of load banks. I think every video i have watched you pull out a different one.😁
You, my man, are so interesting and full of insights and passion. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and passions.
Nice old unit, wish I could find one like that. Old Ford never broke a sweat, good tractor. I love old stuff like that and being GE was great quality.
All things being considered I think I would emply a good loop around the PTO, yes you demonstrated the substantial twist of the input shaft, someone was just rough with it and didn't need to happen.
I like the stuff you put out on here. Good job.
Nice to see the old beast is still around and not junked like so many before her. Built to last, if you know how to service them. Unlike todays garbage.
What a nice setup. Can be very handy to have a PTO generator and no having to mess with carburetors or other problems caused by lack of usage. This way you slap the tractor PTO and bam! you're on business.
Lots of electrical comments. From a 45 year mechanical engineer concerning your speed increaser gearbox and pto. Normally, shafts such as this are designed for infinite life under fatigue (rotating reversing loads) but for "design loads" only. The torsional deformation and moment bending (TIR) of the shaft have (absolutely) resulted in a now finite life, i.e. it WILL fail....catastrophically....eventually...with no warning. In addition, it is impossible to bend/twist the shaft as seen externary without affecting the shaft internally between the bearings, removing bearing internal running clearance and possible gear mesh running clearance (your probable source of case warmth).
It appears that such a failure would free the entire pto shaft since the cotter pin would no longer "fix" the shaft. Since there are no "hoop guards" at either end.......
On another note, if the tractor pto shaft and reducer shafts are parallel (or equal angles), and the u-joints are aligned properly, the shaft becomes "constant velocity" (search u-joint constant velocity). In this application, I doubt that it matters to anyone.
As ALWAYS...I admire your content for its thoroughness.
Second the "finite" life.
It simply needs to be removed and sent to a competent machine shop to remachine a replacement shaft, perhaps out of high carbon 4130 or stainless steel.
@@rockymntain Be extremely careful when using stainless in this application. E.G. 300 series austenitic stainless steels do not survive "reverse bending" applications such as this.
Sure hope you and your family are doing ok, I have noticed you have not posted in quite a while, so just wanted to let you know that your missed.
Getting a bit worried here too, I hope he is doing fine.
Both of you need to get a life.
Great video! A cool adaptation might be to put a belt pulley on that input shaft then drive it with a stationary steam engine or, possibly, a traction engine. Would be a cool example of technological cross-over.
I believe the metal is sterilite ,used as high wear resistant, harsh conditions, rust resistant, a high chrome content.
Haven't seen you for some time, glad to see your healthy
This is a great video! I especially like how you went through the schematic and explained the purpose of each component on the print and physically. Well done!
Ditto. One comment though. You should replace that rectifier with new silicon block. Just a thought.
Long ago my friend's wife wondered why he wasn't back from the field for lunch. His shirt caught in the PTO. The machine was running when she got there. Nothing left of her husband.
Must be time to get that Christmas tree up. :)
Dang, I learned something But, forgot my name😺💥🤔😁😂🤣
THNX👍💪🍻🦅🦅🦅🦅
Nice, I could run my whole house on this generator in an emergency. You would make a Fantastic teacher in a school. Thanks
Nice job on the wiring diagram, and an excellent video as usual.
Nice Explanation of the wiring diagram and circuits of the generator. My uncle has a PTO driven generator he runs off a 3010 John Deere. He runs the 1000 rpm shaft at 540, tractor engine just off idle and frequency at 60 hertz. They don’t make them like that anymore. Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge. I appreciate your videos.
As usual an excellent explanation and video.
You should use a chain link to stop the PTO shield from rotating, from the safety POV if nothing else. It should have a lug on it at the tractor end to attach a thin chain to with a spring clip at the end. I got thoroughly told off by our agricultural contractor, when he saw me using a PTO driven brush cutter/topper on my Case David Brown 995, without a chain on the PTO shield.
Panel of receptacles facing downwards makes sense from the point of view of keep crud and water out of them. I thought your explanation of the generator/exciter layout was great! Drawing was neat,simple and easy to understand.
Thanks for clearly drawing the excitation/regulation circuit and the clear explanation. Talk about inefficiency, engine runs around 2k RPM to PTO at 540 RPM to gearbox/pulleys to 3600 RPM. That's the price you pay to get power in the middle of nowhere I guess... Great job Mike!
Thorough and clear exhibition, I want one for the back of my IH. Cheers
I believe the slip rings are actually stainless steel ( non-magnetic food grade ) as you would say very interesting !!!
We had two of them on the dairy farm one attached to the side of 400 internationl tractor. Another on a two wheel cart pto driven. Worked great.
Pretty sure the frequency drop is mostly coming from the belt drive. V belt usually a small percentage of slip, even more when there isn't any constant tension system on them.
Neat little thing.
I don't expect there would be too many of those still in one piece.
Six months since your last video, hope you are well, missing your great videos.
I'd relocate the output sockets to somewhere on the side of the frame, for convenience and safety! Nicely tested the Ford tractors engine governor too.
Very interesting generator setup. My guess is that generator was actually built for another application and was adapted by IH for this PTO rig.
I’d say it was probably built in the 1950’s.
The field boost circuit is essentially the same as was used by Delco on a lot of old generators in the 1940’s and 50’s.
Good rambling, a great explanation of the generator workings.
Very nice! What a good working unit - and it's control system is simple and easy to understand! Nice!
Thanks for another interesting video. The generator was a very interesting bit of kit and seems to have been part of the IH Farmall range. I'm not surprised that Ford 6610 didn't mind the load as its about twice the power rating of the Farmall M that Dale Myers mentions in his comment. We have the smaller 4600 version from the same range and you also have to scream that at around 1800 engine RPM to get 540 RPM on the PTO.
I hauled a gearbox for a wind generator, the gear ratio was 1:97! Imagine the heat that built! 🤔
When this gen set was mounted on the Farmall tractor the plug panel would have been exposed to the side of the tractor. The mounting in this setup is hamemade to use it as a PTO run unit and not in its original configuration.
Great video Mike! LOVED the explanation and schematic! I like messing with this old stuff and the knowledge you pass along is wonderful. TY
Great explanation on the primative voltage regulator.
That resistor across the secondary of the current transformer is called the "burden" resistor and it's purpose is to make the transformer's primary look like a short, to minimize the voltage drop across the primary winding. Without it you might have several hundred Volts instead of 14 Volts across the bridge rectifier. They are always used with current transformers.
BTW: You should have replaced the Selenium bridge rectifier with a Silicone bridge rectifier unit, 1¼" square and 3/8" think with four "fast on" terminals sticking straight up (from Epoxy) on one side, when you had the controller out. Did you refill the gear box? Ron W4BIN
The unit was mainly used as a standby unit. In the rural areas, a large arm or ranch might not have powerline access and a tractor driven generator was sometimes used as the main power. The unit was designed to be used rain or shine, so putting the power box under the unit, would have given some protection against moisture. Dale Myers' comments definitely are correct. These things were very expensive and tied up a tractor to run it. I remember seeing it advertised when I was a kid in the 1950s. I suggested we get one to my dad. He wisely said we didn't need one. I did work for a company who used a natural gas generator for an office and welding shop in the 1970s. Our wall clocks were plugged in, and they did gain and lose time. We had no trouble running a computer with the frequency drift.
Great share Mike ! good generator there , Would be great for a farm where they need power out in the field .. That shield over the PTO shaft is a good thing they have now days , When I was a kid they never had them and brush and hay would wrap around it creating a huge ball ..and you would have to constantly get off and cut it off the shaft . That sleeve over the shaft saves a lot of trouble !
Hi, great stuff Mike, many thanks for the info on the circuit and how it works, real good explanation.
that tractor has 72pto horsepower. No sweat. Nice unit and looks like it was well built with low hours. I always enjoy your videos.
Somebody must have had that thing wide open and engaged the pto
It’s nice that you save these pieces of history. Brings back memories of working on old Pullman cars in the 70’s.
That's more engine than it needs. Some tractors don't have much of a PTO clutch. All in or all out.
Hi Mike good to see you again sir with a project nice 8n on back ground Cheers AJ
A really interesting little genny having a very simple regulator circuit which you explained to perfection. I'd certainly straighten the gearbox input shaft (after measuring and drawing it out first).
Thanks.
Easier to make a new one than untwist the old one. Add a slip clutch on the shaft and it would never happen again.
@@Demobius Good idea.
Absolutely wonderful video!
Outstanding video bud.
It was a lot quieter than I expected. I figured you'd hear it scream over the tractor!
Another great video Mike thanks for sharing 🦘👍
Great generator and tractor to me. I do think I would change out the gear box or shaft as I would think it would not be good on the gear box bearings nor the bearing in the PTO. Thanks for the videos.
Great video Mike, the explanation of the circuitry was very interesting, good job Mike.
great video. love your content sir!
your time is not wasted. i appiate it and your time. i feel like I'm at school. but you explain very well. no words. thank you mate. but if need power and i hade a old tractor. and setup . i would use this setup. a spike in the system power supply from the government supply. or a emergency . or nuke. this system will work. god bless mick Australia.
Very much enjoyed this one like all your other videos. It’s easy to recognize a professional who embraces all the Physics in all of your work, Electrical, Mechanical, and Thermodynamics. You are truly and thoroughly educated in these principals Mike!
Very informative about the schematic. Thanks for sharing
Very nice generator you have. It looked well kept n low hours Minus the dust in the bent pto input shaft. Very nice generator.
Some day id love to find one for my tractor
Tractor supply and harbor freight sell them.
Thank you for all the great videos, always very interesting and a pleasure to watch. Tony (UK)
i really enjoyed your video, not much into electricity but kept looking at the ford tractor! very interesting, reflects a career you love
Just watched today, I really appreciated your explanation of how the electrical system works. Always impressed by your mechanical electrical knowledge. Thanks for your videos.
Great vid, I just love it wen You get a S.E.M Notification Makes My DAY!!
Good show!
THANK YOU MIKE, REALY GOOD VIDEO WELL EXPLAINED. REGARDS RICHARD.
Thanks for sharing buddy
That pto shaft stopped hard suddenly and put the twist and wonnle in that shaft.
Probably a stupid question... But did you refill the gearbox oil after draining it?
What a f un video! That's a nice little package your neighbor found!!
that 4 pin cannon plug size is used on some large servo motors for mills and such,you can find them on ebay as used cables etc,sometimes dirt cheap.
Nice unit!!
Nice video!
awesome video. very impressive.
Wow; I learned a lot.
This generator probably helped build penn states steam power plant. I believe that pto shaft itself is bent pretty good. Considering getting a analog rpm to be exactly 540rpms and the gen it’s self says it’s for 208volts I’d say the results are pretty impressive. I expected it drag the engine down a lot. But it never slipped a beat. A real test would be use a syncroscope an see if it could be synced to grid
What happened to the gen you pulled out of the neighbors brush pile? Onan?
That was really fun to see. Interesting how compact the generator & control panel was. Also the use of the 4 prong plug is something to think about. Perhaps it was more common back then?
I did a web sleuth for that plug configuration and came up empty. It may have been proprietary. In that position, I would probably replace it with a twist-lock. That tractor has 72 PTO hp, so could swing that little 13.5 kva generator all day.
Been considering getting an older generator to run a batch plant that I'm redoing so I don't have to get 3ph run in. After watching this guy I've came to the conclusion that I'm not qualified to even look at one much less own one.
Modern one with AVR should be plug and play....
very cool
Great video, and a really good explanation of how the voltage regulation works. I am very surprised that you left the wires bare going into the four pin connector. With the vibration of the tractor running, I would have thought that the risk of a short was quite high. (IMHO). I guess it would just blow the fuses though.
BTW: I used to drive a tractor just like that one back in the late 60's, early 70's on my Dad's farm here in the UK.
Interesting stuff. And if anyone is going to know about fields, it's a tractor owner. 🚜😉
looks like you could make a few bucks running up the road to charge EV cars when they run out of juice 😆
I love those old tomestone welders I have a couple of them and older then dirt but works like brand new and the older they are the better they are in my opinion they don't make them like they use to and that is why I will choose a old one over new all the time.
They got the job done. They are nowhere close to the quality of their modern counterparts.
Having the panel on the bottom isn't very convenient, but for a unit that's going to have to sit out in the rain it makes a lot of sense.
Mounting is 90 Deg out for this Tractor...
Amazing video... :-)
Great video! Maybe apply a label for the switch for the novice operator to know whats going on.
I was waiting for Fred Flintstone to show up. Good video btw
Hey Mike, I haven't seen a new video in a while. I hope you and the Mrs are doing well. I am looking forward to more cool generator videos! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.