Instlr60's Vintage collection and workshop

[INSTLR60]

I decided to add a doorway from the lunchroom to the install bay, because during the winter, all the heat goes up the stairwell to the secondary stockroom. Hopefully, sometime this year, ill have a alternate source of heating, because this year my bill went thru the roof!! it'll either be propane or a wood fed boiler...hmmm..im looking at the wood fed boiler....All I have to finish is the header above the door, and some osb over the framework, and plastic.and a latch onto the door.

 

[ex416]

hey Rick, if you keep it up i won't recognize the place when i come down.

 

[INSTLR60]

oh, there enough left to use as a landmark....lol

 

[INSTLR60]

just the other day, I ran across an aerodynic that a gentleman was getting rid of, he said it fell off a shelf and sustained some damage. I looked at it, and determined that it was fixable. he originally wanted 250.00 for it, I guess it hit him in the head , cause I told him he wasn't to get it. I told him he wrecked the bar and that I would give him **** for it for scrap. he took my money, and so now, I have a bar to resurrect .... :yes:

 

[INSTLR60]

one of my clients is a public works department, that also is a friend of my previous public works client. they brought over some trinkets,cause they wanted to see the shop. this is what they left with me, because they didn't have any use for it, and were intrigued with my idea of " alternate payment arrangements" for work I was able to do for them.. :yes:

 

[Skip Goulet]

well, Im starting, with the warmer weather, getting the motivation to do some improvements to the shop. I replaced some shelves, to heavy duty industrial ones, from the pressboard temporary ones that I threw together when the stockrooms were built, from the main stockroom to the upper stockroom, which im still working on. the pressboard ones I moved into the main showroom, to display more product , lights and such. :yes:

Rick, in the bottom photo I'm seeing what appears to be a large single-faced red light. Is that just a light, or an old Sterling siren/light combination?


Since you were keeping up with my dilemma that started a few months ago concerning all of the sirens that were taken from my friend Harold's house...here's an interesting part of the story. A month or so ago I learned that there were actually two sirens that weren't sold. Harold had two of my large CAM sirens that I had taken to him for repairs. One of them had some physical damage to the stator...literally chunks of the pot metal that were missing. Sometime back a former acquaintance of mine who had a severe drug habit had gotten in my house and had gotten off with several sirens....all of which I recovered. But apparently in trying to get out with that one CAM, he dropped it, causing the damage. The only way to repair that damage would be with a new stator, which isn't possible since CAM hasn't been around since the mid-60s, but as it turned out, Harold repaired the coaster clutch, and there ws no damage to the motor. Anyway, at some point the daughter had been told that the two CAMS were mine. She had told me recently that my two sirens had been sitting on Harold's dresser for him to have something to "look at" when he had come home from the hospital. I learned a couple of weeks ago that the estate had been settled and that the daughter had given those two remaining sirens to Harold's friend Louise who inherited the bulk of the estate. I spoke to Louise last night and she let me know that the two sirens had been shipped. They came in today, and was I surprised! In one of the boxes was the CAM that had beenso badly damaged. It spins nice and freely. However, the other siren wasn't my other CAM! It was a rare B&M E8 siren: one of the few non-coasters that they built. This was one of Harold's collection. I feel fortunate in receiving it, but that doesn't tell me where the other CAM went.

 

[INSTLR60]

Rick, in the bottom photo I'm seeing what appears to be a large single-faced red light. Is that just a light, or an old Sterling siren/light combination?

Since you were keeping up with my dilemma that started a few months ago concerning all of the sirens that were taken from my friend Harold's house...here's an interesting part of the story. A month or so ago I learned that there were actually two sirens that weren't sold. Harold had two of my large CAM sirens that I had taken to him for repairs. One of them had some physical damage to the stator...literally chunks of the pot metal that were missing. Sometime back a former acquaintance of mine who had a severe drug habit had gotten in my house and had gotten off with several sirens....all of which I recovered. But apparently in trying to get out with that one CAM, he dropped it, causing the damage. The only way to repair that damage would be with a new stator, which isn't possible since CAM hasn't been around since the mid-60s, but as it turned out, Harold repaired the coaster clutch, and there ws no damage to the motor. Anyway, at some point the daughter had been told that the two CAMS were mine. She had told me recently that my two sirens had been sitting on Harold's dresser for him to have something to "look at" when he had come home from the hospital. I learned a couple of weeks ago that the estate had been settled and that the daughter had given those two remaining sirens to Harold's friend Louise who inherited the bulk of the estate. I spoke to Louise last night and she let me know that the two sirens had been shipped. They came in today, and was I surprised! In one of the boxes was the CAM that had beenso badly damaged. It spins nice and freely. However, the other siren wasn't my other CAM! It was a rare B&M E8 siren: one of the few non-coasters that they built. This was one of Harold's collection. I feel fortunate in receiving it, but that doesn't tell me where the other CAM went.

don't see the one you're referring to...

 

[INSTLR60]

Tonight I have a refurb job to do. A customer called looking for a period correct switchbox he is going to use in his 1974 Pontiac Lemans police vehicle.,so he asked for a Federal SW series switchbox, so he asked what I have, Going down the WayBack Aisle, I found this one,Im going to replace the front faceplate and the white switches, with 6 New RED colored Cole Hersee lighted rockers with the chrome escutcheons . I can sandblast the aluminum box, thankful that it is not the vinyl covered one that Federal came out with, and patch any drill holes with aluminum filler , and it should look pretty good. So , time to fire up the sandblasting machine, and load it up with some fairly soft media so it wont chew up the aluminum, and whip up some flat black paint, in the paint cabinet...

 

[Wailer]

Looks like the same style of box used for the Federal PA70 and PA100 electronic sirens.

 

[INSTLR60]

Looks like the same style of box used for the Federal PA70 and PA100 electronic sirens.

It is actually, the same housing that federal used for their switchbox, and siren. Back in the day, they made all the components match and touted them as being 'Matching"(a clever sales ploy) they also made a plastic desk with a pressboard woodgrain hinged cover, that you could lay on your seat for report forms and such, that had an area on which you could mount your siren and /or your switchbox on. it was considered very slick for the time... :yes:

 

[Skip Goulet]

don't see the one you're referring to...

It's in both the 3rd and 4th photos and is sitting next to a Whelen box.

 

[dmathieu]

Looks like a Federal DST dash strobe.

 

[INSTLR60]

Looks like a Federal DST dash strobe.

yes, that is a dash strobe, and I also have a NIB dual dash flasher...

 

[Skip Goulet]

yes, that is a dash strobe, and I also have a NIB dual dash flasher...

What colors are the dual dash flasher? Haven't seen one of those in a while.

 

[INSTLR60]

well, ive gotten a good start on replacing the lighting in the main stockroom. it makes it so much easier to find things and to get things I need. Since things are always changing, im keeping busy seeing what there is and whatever I get a call for.

 

[tsquale]

WOW! I have to make a stop down there on my day off sometime. The updates look great.

 

[INSTLR60]

WOW! I have to make a stop down there on my day off sometime. The updates look great.

Thank you, I try to keep elightbars on track, with what goes on..I also post on FACEBOOK.so im on there also...

 

[INSTLR60]

I got the refurb job done on the SW 70 switchbox, and it turned out pretty good, back to the original. I called my client and he was very happy with the results. ill get it back to him over the easter break..

 

[Duster]

That turned out really well!! Nice job...

 

[INSTLR60]

That turned out really well!! Nice job...

THANKS,Duster.....

 

[INSTLR60]

well, since im snowed in today, I decided to ad some finishing touches to the stock room. I decided to add by the strobe tubes,headlights, and sealed beams, a closed door cabinet I built for all my bulbs , tubes, halogen replacement bulbs, and the like. I first looked around and found some scrap pine board 4 inch wide and built the frame and shelving out of that. Next, I needed a backing piece,so a scrap piece of pegboard, got used for that. The final thing I needed was some doors. I looked in the garage and found some old shutters I scavenged a while ago. after glueing the shutters closed, I added some hinges, and voila , instant doors.I then got out the paint gun and painted the whole thing white. and put on a couple of drawer pulls. I added as my last piece I needed was some plastic containers, I used for storing nuts and bolts. those worked out perfectly. it turned out pretty good, what do you think????

 

[Scoot163]

Very creative and nicely done!

 

[INSTLR60]

Very creative and nicely done!

Thanks !!

 

[INSTLR60]

Well, I received an order,from my customer, who is looking to restore his 1974 Pontiac LeMans.police unit. He was looking etal trunnion for a radio "tree" that his dept. had run in the 70's, and could not find one. I checked on the shelves and came up with a radio rack,designed to fit the radiohead,a siren and an sw 70 switchbox, like the one I restored for the customer. It was made by ACME and it was available in both black and chrome. the design was pretty simple, and it was copied by many public works departments back in the day. the design by ACME included as many brackets as you wanted and after so many, it was highly recommended that you purchase a stabilizer bar,or two, depending on what you were going to do. The good people at ACME, offered extras that would attach to their rack, like a handheld spotlight cradle, and a predrilled long bar, which was used to mount the heavy Motorola metal speakers. The diagram that they used,was very well done,and even showed equipment being mounted horizontally, like a giant tinker toy setup, and it says, if you wanted to add equipment, you had the option of running sideways. You could tell that the design people for this item went insane and just added radios, and switchboxes and assorted hoo-ha in the picture , just to sell this .Mounting this was a separate adventure, and was not for the faint of heart.With the hardware they included, FOUR lag bolts which were long enough to secure garage rafters,it was recommended that the installer drill through the rubber mat and or carpeting,and the metal trunnion.and with the lag bolts being what they were, you'd drill into the transfer case of the transmission.NO GOOD. we got around that by using a scrap piece of 1/2 inch pine board, BETWEEN the metal floor and the rubber mat, this way the rack would be secured at its base. the next project was to position the board exactly on the hump and pulling and fighting with the rubber mat to get this done. after 3 hours of incanting the phrase JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH, the board would be ready to accept the mount. The fun of building police cars!!. here are some pictures of the rack as it is. :hopeless: