FM light plant winding

I have a FM light plant (generator) mounted on a Z engine. the gen has no windings (wire)inside. Anyone know how or where or direction on how I can get replaced.

A good motor shop should be able to replace your windings, but they would probably want to see the originals and even then the cost would more than likely be prohibitive. Best bet, fix it up and run it with the dead generator. I have a few dead ones that still show very well. Keep your eyes and ears open for a replacement generator. Sometimes parts show up when you least expect them to. I spent considerable time fabricating a radiator for a FBM Mod A, which has a Z style D engine. About a year later I found an original radiator at a swap meet. The odds against that are pretty high, but it happens.

If there are windings on the armature, you could replace the windings on the frame fairly easily. I have rewound the armature on a Tiny Tim generator, and found that winding, and soldering the coils to the comutator bars is so labor intensive, that if I had charged for the job, my very good friend would no longer be my very good friend.

Most motor rewinding shops would be able to rewind the generator, if they know the number of turns on each coil and the type and wire gauge. You indicated that there are no windings on the device, so you do have a problem.

You could rewind the coils on a "guess and by golly" method, estimating the number of turns required on the coils and their wiring configuration. This would allow you to generate power at some voltage and current level for demonstration purposes. It would be important to know how the generator was wired, that is series, shunt, compound and so on.

The best bet would be if you could find someone who has rewound the coils on one of these generators. Someone who also kept records of what he removed from the original coils and what he rewound back onto the coils. Also recorded information on how it performed afterwards.

Sometimes you can come across sets of old electrical books in used book places that show examples of these sort of devices. Frequently these books come in sets, each book covering a particular subject like generators and motors, etc. These books may provide you with some guidance.

I have a few books on the subject of rewinding. I graduated college(engineering school)30 plus years ago, and don't feel that I would want to tackle the formulas necessary to set those coils back in place. Like I said, run it with a dead generator until you find a good one. They are around. I just love these Smileys

I agree with you Gus, there is a big difference between telling how it could be done and going out and actually doing it yourself. As I get older my get up and go got up and went or something like that.