Some years ago, I purchased a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster at a salvage store. Lately, it stopped automatically accepting and toasting the bread. I found, through trial and error, that it would accept and toast the bread if I tilted it over toward me at about a 45-degree angle. That helped for a few weeks until it finally stopped working completely.
I decided to take it apart and possibly replace the heater contacts. After many years of use, they must be kaput, I thought. When opening it, I tried to keep from bending anything until I found out how it was intended to work. It clearly had a very crafty mechanical logic system that sensed the presence of bread, starting the thermal motor to lower the bread while starting the heaters. The contacts were still in perfect operating condition. When it “sensed” that the bread was properly toasted, it would shut off and lift the toast.
I found that the return springs that lifted the toast had weakened a bit, so the bread presence sensing switch couldn’t trigger the starting cycle. I figured a light tweak of the spring bracket should cure that problem. However, there was no bracket to tweak, only a punched hole in the inaccessible frame. How else could I fix it? Shorten the spring? This wasn’t going to be easy.
Digging further into the mechanism, I found an adjustment screw that increased the lifting spring power. Not only that, but that adjustment screw was accessible from the bottom, without taking the toaster apart -- just open the crumb tray, and there it was. The engineer should have added instructions on how to make the adjustment -- it would have saved a lot of time and effort.
This entry was submitted by Robert Nepper and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Tell us your experiences with Monkey-designed products. Send stories to Rob Spiegel for Made by Monkeys.
Got to applaud your tenacity, Robert. I would have ditched that recycled Sunbeam for a new toaster in a heart beat. I suppose it's the thrill of the finding the fix no one else could or would have the patience to uncover. Is your Sunbeam still fixing your toast these mornings?
Your first couple of sentences give me an image of standing in my kitchen holding the toaster at a precise 45-degree angle, waiting for bread to toast while unable to do anything else. Normally I do a lot of multitasking during cooking and food prep, and this would drive me nuts. Like Beth, I would have tossed the darn thing and bought a new one.
I understand your thoughts, Beth, except those old toasters are so cool. I grew up with one, and every toaster I've had since has worked, but they haven't been the same. No other toaster is so substantial.
Yes, there certainly is a difference between cool and functional, Beth. I'm just saying, I can imagine myself holding that toaster at a 45 degree angle, hoping it will last just a little while longer. I've done the equivalent with cars that I've loved, keeping them past their useful life because, well, it's the car I love,
I was under the impression that the 45 deg is only required for the acceptance of the bread, the toasting should continue once the bread was detected and accepted so the 45 deg angle position only needed to be maintained for a few seconds.
You can still multi-task, but the adjustment screw is certainly easier - they don't make them any more like they used to!
My uncle fixed the toaster with a rubberband to hold the bread down so it would toast, thereby disabling the turn off mechanism. I awoke to the smell of smoke and ran into the kitchen which was full of smoke from about counter height to the ceiling. I bent down to look in and he was bent down looking at me with a big smile on his face. Burned it again. I had to laugh.
I suspect that adjustment provision was there to allow compensaton for the individual component tolerance stackup present upon assembly, facilitating end-of-production line adjustment to make the product functional prior to shipping to the customer. Nevertheless, handy to have it there for subsequent field (or kitchen) adjustment when necessary. Amazing how long some of these simple appliances can last with a little TLC
The new age (lazy) problem solver, in absence of a manual, would do a GOOGLE search for the manual. This was the link to show up at the top of the Google search; http://www.automaticbeyondbelief.org/fixing.htm This link tells all about the malfunction descibed in this thread and the adjustment dial.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
