1950 Sunbeam T-20A Toaster Malfunction

[captainclock]

No sure don't, not new repro. Probably available somewhere. I see old appliance cords on e-bay the age of some of those might be hazardous.

Well I was asking because there was a booth at one of the local antique malls before it closed shop that was selling reproduction cloth lamp cords (it was made of rayon or something like that) and I was just curious as to whether or not they made reproduction cloth (rayon) heater cords as well.

Also apparently from what I was seeing in the service manual for my toaster that you located for me (again thanks for that) the toaster wanting to turn itself on even without a slice of bread in it has something to do with the thermostat and how its "kill switch" is positioned, apparently there's a small round cylindrical spacer bar that goes between the "kill switch" and the thermostat control and if its not sticking out from the thermostat within a 1/16" it will cause the toaster mechanism to act erratic.

 

[markdi]

The link to the service manual does not work anymore.
Does anyone have a copy or a new link to the service manual ?

 

[rnorton]

With all of that automation, it's a shame they never figured out how to get both sides of the bread equally toasted.

 

[Ed in Tx]

The link to the service manual does not work anymore.
Does anyone have a copy or a new link to the service manual ?

I guess that's why I always SAVE these sort of things. Never know when they will disappear!

It's a little less than 10 MB. PM your email and I'll send it to you.



And yes it is too bad they never figured out how to toast the bread equally on both sides. Sometimes half way through I take out and flip the bread around to even out the toasting.

 

[cgutz]

With all of that automation, it's a shame they never figured out how to get both sides of the bread equally toasted.

My recently purchased toaster is a 4 slice unit. It doesn't even have coils on once side of each slice of bread.

Go figure...

 

[rnorton]

My recently purchased toaster is a 4 slice unit. It doesn't even have coils on once side of each slice of bread.

Go figure...

That's just ....weird. How well does it work like that?

I'd like to try a Sunbeam T-9, preferably a World's Fair model. I don't really care about automated turn-on when the bread is dropped in. I always like the T-9's looks more than those of the T-20 and its successors.

 

[captainclock]

I ended up finding a 1956 Sunbeam T-20B Toaster at an estate sale for $3 that was still in working order so now I'm using that.

The 1950 T-20A I think I'm just going to give up on as I still can't figure out how to get the darn thing going as I've tried everything under the sun possible to try and get it going, I even tried straightening out the thermostat spring to see if that would fix it but instead it made it worse, now it won't even turn on at all, whereas before it would at least turn on albeit not at the right times but it still turned on none the less.

So I'm really not sure what to say about this toaster other than its just gonna have to be a "wall hanger" seeing as the part this thing needs is NLA and trying to locate a NOS thermostat assembly for this thing is like trying to find ice in the middle of the desert.

So there you have it my update for now.

 

[captainclock]

UPDATE: I was finally able to get the 1950 T-20A working, I ended up taking the thermostat spring out of the T-20B model that I had previously bought at an estate sale, and installed it into the T-20A and swapped out a few other thermostat parts including the switch contacts from the T-20B into the T-20A and I also snagged the old cloth cord off of the T-20B (which was still in great shape yet) and put it back together and after I plugged it in, it did one cycle of automatically triggering itself without bread in it (I think it was calibrating itself since I swapped some parts out and was applying electricity to it for the first time after the repair) and I stuck a couple of pieces of bread into it and it did its thing and I took the bread out and it was actually toasted pretty evenly and consistently considering I had just guessed about where the thermostat should be set at during the thermostat calibration after putting it back together) anyways and I left it sit for about an hour plugged into the outlet and it didn't trigger itself randomly anymore, which means that its finally repaired. :yes: :thmbsp:

 

[Jim M]

^^^^^^^^^
I'm not having anything to do with toaster threads. No sir, not me. :nono:
I've still got a twitch

Good Job Guys :thmbsp:

 

[Ed in Tx]

UPDATE: I was finally able to get the 1950 T-20A working.... :thmbsp:

Congratulations!

 

[68custom]

that's great! just remember to not make Toast near sheer or flammable stuff. better yet don't leave the room while Toasting!

 

[captainclock]

that's great! just remember to not make Toast near sheer or flammable stuff. better yet don't leave the room while Toasting!

I don't think you have to worry about that as I don't have any window coverings in my kitchen to speak of and plus the only window that I have in my kitchen is above the kitchen sink and I know better than to use any sort of electical appliance near water.

 

[soundmotor]

I am truly amazed that the service manual was tracked down. I have 2 of these toasters. The one I use was my mother's and bought in 1958 or thereabouts right after she married. I got it around 1987 and it worked great for a long time with nothing more than generally cleaning. In the interim I bought a second one in case the first ever failed. Finally the cord did and I took it apart and gave it an even more thorough cleaning. That is pretty much the whole story, the damn thing won't die and the other one has never been used by me. Great toasters, they say a lot about how thing were in the US.

 

[captainclock]

I am truly amazed that the service manual was tracked down. I have 2 of these toasters. The one I use was my mother's and bought in 1958 or thereabouts right after she married. I got it around 1987 and it worked great for a long time with nothing more than generally cleaning. In the interim I bought a second one in case the first ever failed. Finally the cord did and I took it apart and gave it an even more thorough cleaning. That is pretty much the whole story, the damn thing won't die and the other one has never been used by me. Great toasters, they say a lot about how thing were in the US.

Yeah I was kind of surprised as well that the original service manual for these toasters was able to be located (thanks to Tom Bavis), anyways yes after a few hiccups and buying a couple of parts toasters I was able to get my 1952 T20-A going again and I was even able to salvage a "minty" cloth cord for it as well that was still in really good shape yet and had no signs of wear whatsoever on it, and it toasts my bread like a charm. :thmbsp:

 

[br2600]

Why your toaster did what it did.

I have a venerable Sunbeam T-20 toaster that started to exhibit those symptoms. Works, but after a while it will self cycle. With no bread in the machine, the thermostat is looking directly at the opposite element, so quickly turns off, but after few minutes, it cycles again.

I dismantled it, and discovered that the metal in the thermostat element had annealed. It is supposed to be a "snap action", bistable switch. Normally, putting in the first slice of toast (on the "one slice" side), arms the system, closing the circuit and causing the bread to lower. Heat radiated from the bread warms the thermostat element and it snaps to the closed position and it will remain there under spring tension until it is activated again...this if the metal is still tempered. But over the course of the 60 years use, the metal becomes annealed and loses the spring action.

Of course parts for the toaster are long since gone, best I can do now is look for a later model on Ebay that still might be working, or if I'm really lucky find another T-20 without too many hours on it.