clean shop, started repairing the air conditioner... how do I fix this

[dbhost]

It took me a long time to get the shop into a reasonably workable stage but with the help of my life we got it all cleaned up and workable again. Now I have the air conditioner on the bench and it's torn down. The problem is dead obvious and unfortunately I do not know how to fix this issue. Take a look at the video and see if you guys have any recommendations I could sure use some insight. [youtube] https://youtu.be/qA0mvAPm6aA [/youtube]

[cwsmith]

All I'm getting is a "This Video is unavailable... Sorry about that"




CWS

[dbhost]

It looks like I forgot to uncheck for the private check mark from the security settings will after I uploaded the video try it again.

[atgcpaul]

I watched it with the closed captioning so I didn't catch everything. I don't quite understand why you can't remove the fan from the shaft. It would seem that you'd remove that screw and it would slide right off.

I'm not sure what type of plastic that is but I've tried to repair plastic like that with CA glue without much success. CA seems to make it more brittle.

[dbhost]

Two issues with the fan blade number one there's no replacement available the manufacturer stop making it a couple of years ago so I kind of have to make do with what's available and the screw isn't the only thing holding it on apparently there is a press-fit sort of situation Happening Here. I'm not certain but I think that plastic is abs so I might try to use some ABS solvent glue on one of the fans and see how it works if it holds I'll do the rest and then test it out it can't get in much more broken anyway.

[mpc]

That fan looks to be installed on a D-shaped motor shaft with the set screw locking onto the flat of the D. Loosening the set screw should be all that is needed. If it's jammed onto the motor shaft it's probably grit or rust doing the jamming. A bit of anti-seize might help though I'd just grab the silver metal collar with beefy pliers and wiggle it off. Breaking the rust free - by tapping the metal collar inwards first - may be enough to loosen it.

Plastic squirrel cage fans like that are common in automotive climate control systems; many use a D-shaped shaft as well. The ones I've seen use a regular nut threaded onto the motor shaft to lock the fan but those are from Japanese cars - the ones I'm most familiar with. I'm sure there are set-screw style fans on other brands. Good auto parts stores have catalogs with pics & dimensions - i.e. they can match up oddball parts - rather than saying "duh, what make, model, and year car did this come from?" to enter into their computer. My local NAPA is really good at this.

A trip to a U-Pull-it style junkyard may be in order... you'll be playing Lotto trying to stumble on a car with the right sized fan.

mpc

[dbhost]

I got some solvent cement for abs Plastics at Home Depot. It's the Universal Abs PVC glue the kind you don't need primer for when gluing ABS and I tested a couple of the fins. So far the results look very promising hopefully I will have a chance shortly to finish the rest of it reassemble the unit and test it out.

[LinuxRandal]

If that doesn't work, go find a similar sized unit, currently being sold (many seem to be rebranded) and see if you can find a parts list for that one. (betting you could find the same fan, with a different number in something else)

[dbhost]

I seem to have it under control. FWIW, the plastics all appear to be ABS plastic, so the ABS pipe glue really did seem to do the trick.