1987 52" Antique Brass Emperor Restoration

[Jordan U]

This Emperor was given to me by Tod T. I replaced the bearings and capacitor to get it going again.

The mounting bracket is not original, I still need to devise a way to secure the canopy to the bracket. There is also some kind of issue with the reverse function, it only runs in forwards, draws power on reverse but doesn't turn and occasionally pulls the breaker. I tend to think there's something wrong with the reversing switch, I haven't looked into it yet but a few minutes with the multimeter should remove all doubt.



It's currently connected to a 3-speed remote control because medium and low are very loud, sounds like there's 2 parts on the stater that aren't the greatest. High is quiet, so I can get a quiet 3 speeds by using the remote. Eventually I will convert the control to triple capacitor, but this will suffice for now. This will be going in the bedroom for a little while.

I will add on the restoration videos as they come out.

[Adam D.]

That's a Hampton Bay Marco Polo made by Aircool from the later part of the 80s.. Those rivets give the motor away.. I think they started making those in 1987/88 and all the way close into to the mid 90s like they did with the little 42" Southwind without virtually no change... As cheap as they are, they are good fans..

[Jordan U]

Nov 15, 2020 23:54:04 GMT -5 Adam D. said:

That's a Hampton Bay Marco Polo made by Aircool from the later part of the 80s.. Those rivets give the motor away.. I think they started making those in 1987/88 and all the way close into to the mid 90s like they did with the little 42" Southwind without virtually no change... As cheap as they are, they are good fans..

Thanks for the information! This one is dated 1987. The cheapness shows in a few areas but it still moves decent air.

[Jordan U]

The Marco Polo has been hung in the bedroom:





I often clean cane blades with Comet. Really does a great job getting years of accumulation out of the cane.





Installing the new bearings:




First test:

[Adam D.]

U didn't reinstall that cover that goes around the top bearing and screws into the top shell of the motor.. Not sure what's the reasoning on why it's there, but it's got it's purpose, it could possibly help with noise reduction.. I would have made sure that I reinstalled it...

[Jordan U]

I know, I forgot to put it back and by the time I realized it I had already pressed on the new bearing, figured the bearing would get ruined trying to pull it off so I wanted to see if I could get by without it. The only thing I can think it does is secures that top portion of the motor to the bearing, perhaps without it the rotor isn't perfectly centered around the stator which is causing that hum on the 2 spots. I saved it, I'll put it back in eventually.