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MMD > Archives > December 2007 > 2007.12.01 > 07Prev  Next


Motora Turbine Suction Pump is Junk
By Spencer Chase

Hello,  I wrote a long letter to Niels Berkers about the Motora
pump.  I worked on one of them recently.  Basically, it is a piece
of junk -- yes, they did make some junk in the old days.  Just about
every detail of this pump was cheap and sloppy.  I am surprised that
any of them survived.

If you insist on keeping it original, it would be possible to rewind
the motor and reassemble it with greater care than taken originally,
replacing all cheap and worn parts with custom made parts.

The design is not bad, with a few important exceptions, but the
workmanship was horrible: sloppy casting and machining, screw holes
that looked like they were drilled by a drunk with a hand brace who
misplaced the drilling template.

I did not rewind the motor because the owner did not want to spend
that much money and the results were pretty good, but the vacuum is
not high enough for a Duo-Art to play properly.  This Motora was in
a Welte and the suction was adequate for that.

The worst part of the design is the lock nuts that hold the turbine
fans on.  They were sloppily peened together.  I was amazed that they
could stay in place without Loctite.  I think these were the poor
man's pumps bought at a low bid by the manufacturer.

Best regards,
Spencer Chase

 [ Mr. Stoddard and Dr. Hickman experimented with a turbine pump by
 [ Motor Player Corp. (Motora).  They didn't like the turbine noise
 [ and so the Ampico B used the 4-bellows box pump.  Ref. p. 247 & pp.
 [ 262-264 in "The Ampico Reproducing Piano", Richard J. Howe, ed.,
 [ publ. by Musical Box Society International, 1987.  -- Robbie


(Message sent Sat 1 Dec 2007, 08:10:48 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  is, Junk, Motora, Pump, Suction, Turbine

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