Zenith Chromacolor Sign Motor
 

My sign has developed morning sickness. The motor will not spin on its own on startup. I have to tug a bit on the color wheel to get it started. Once moving, it continues until the next startup. The motor is rivetted in, so to get it out I'll need to drill them out, which should be easy.

I'm attaching a pic of the motor and am hoping someone knows more about the internals of it. Are they metal gears, or plastic? Can it be oiled, or is it sealed? I know from the 3 dead flip clocks I have plastic internal gears are not desirable. All 3 motors spin, but the output shaft doesn't turn from stripped or cracked gears. I'm hoping this motor has metal and can be oiled.

I've tried to source a new motor and found some with the same specs but the RPM. I can get a 3 RPM, but not a 4. Not a big deal and would just have to match the output shaft type and location.

It will be interesting to see what you find. I have the same sign, with motor working (fingers crossed), but when I got it the bulb socket was burned up and needed replacing.

I have an early Motorola color TV sign that had a seized motor when I got it. I was lucky to find a mechanical fit at American Science Surplus (who recently went out of business, and probably went out of stock on the motor years ago anyway).
The replacement is twice the RPM of the original, and still is very slow to my eye and leaves me wondering how the sign was supposed to be eye-catching.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/old_tv...7677353439537/

Good luck!

The socket on mine was an issue when I first got it. I cleaned up the contacts and secured it better and hasn't acted up since. The motor had been working fine for years, but one day it just wouldn't turn. When I gave the color wheel a light tug, it started. Hopefully it's nothing major, but with the motor installed, I'm not sure if it's serviceable. Seems it had tangs bent over holding it together, so probably not meant to be service.

I'll be putting it on the bench tomorrow and removing the motor. I'll just bolt it back in once the rivets are removed.

Those are some nice signs. I wish I had gotten more when they were less expensive. I paid 60 for this once back in 2007. Now they want 800 or more. Crazy!

Well the motor seems to be completely seized. Unless the reduction gearing means I can't manually spin it from the output shaft.

Of course Zenith used a motor with a threaded shaft instead of one that uses a set screw. I'm not sure what do try next. The power supply is pretty simple. There's a transformer for the 12V lamp and the motor gets direct AC from the line cord. I could try drilling out the rivets, removing the motor and taking it apart. Not sure what I'll find inside or if it's user serviceable.

Any thoughts on how and what to replace it with?

If the reduction ratio is high enough (probably is) you won't be able to spin the output.

No luck finding a suitable replacement motor. I know there are ones close, but I don't have the tools or skill to modify either the output shaft or the color wheel hub. I can get ones with a gear or just a shaft, but not a threaded shaft.

I put it back up for now as I don't want to drill out all the rivets only to find the motor not serviceable. It's a task for another day.