Klaxon 12A broken brush holders

[Oregon Desert model 45]

When my Klaxon 12A horn arrived, it had some loose parts rattling around inside. One of the bakelite brush holders was broken. These were originally overmolded to the steel crossmember.  I found some angle grinder brush holders and brushes that looked like a close match. To mount these I sanded a flat spot on the holders and clamped them to the bar with hose clamps. I soldered a jumper wire to the holder conductor tab and connected to the field windings with a wire nut. After a little tinkering, the motor ran great.  The most troublesome part of this project was mounting the ratchet to the shaft. It was hardened steel fastened to the end of a steel shaft with a single screw. Every time I  tried testing the horn, it would get out 1 or 2 aahoogas  and that ratchet screw would come loose.  I tried adding lock washers & star washers between ratchet and shaft, and each time it still came loose.  I finally found a  thin washer with some type of coating on it that added enough friction to resist loosening up. We will see how long it holds

Kevin

[dibarlaw]

Kevin:

 I found a fairly nice 12A at of all places our Antique Radio Meet. He wanted $40.00. I was going to buy it until I saw that it was a 12 volt version. Drat....