Donniev Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Any information anyone has about this would be appreciated. Guy I know had it sitting on his farm that's been in the family since the late 1800s, 2.5" opening- it blows air right now just fine, figured I'd probably take it apart to grease everything and figure out how to properly mount it, I'll be golden "Champion blower and force co. Lancaster, PA Patented April 15 1902, June 11 and July 30 1901" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME1149 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Donniev, that's a Champion 400. Do a search under the Bellows section here, lots of good information already posted. If it turns smoothly without a lot of grinding noise, there's really no reason to take it apart and you may do more harm than good by taking it apart. They can be finicky to put back together to get the proper alignment that has worn in over 100 years of service. No grease required, add a little oil occasionally and it will splash around to lube everything. If you do choose to open it up, the top cover has two screws. Remove those and SLIDE the cover toward the back of the gear housing. SLIDE back, do not pry up or you will break the casting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 It mounts on the flange at the air outlet on a 3 legged stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Don't grease her.. She's an oil eater.. Grease would just mess things up.. ideally you want an oil compatible with Worm gears.. I use Mobil SHC 460, though a lighter weight would work very well. That's the little sister to the 400.. Same gear box, just smaller housing.. At least that's the way ti looks in the pictures.. Nice blower by the way.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donniev Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 Thanks for the info JME just got everything wire wheeled and noticed the 400 today. I'll get some oil in it and paint it this weekend probably, going to take a week or two to figure out how exactly I want to mount it next to my forge, I've got a few small upgrades to give my forge anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Re: the oil- you're not filling up the crank case- just putting a few drops in the top now and then. That's after you clean out years worth of grease crud. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted April 10, 2017 Share Posted April 10, 2017 These are the 9" and mounted direct to the forge. They are not intended to mount on the factory stand. You can and i have, used this blower as a free-standing unit next to a large cast iron free-standing forge. The difficulty is connecting the air duct to these as they have a very small flange. Unlike the 12-14-16 inch blowers, which have a larger flange intended to connect the air pipe. I made a mating flange on the end of a section of 3" exhaust pipe and used a v-band clamp from a turbo flange to connect the pipe to blower flange outlet. That way; I have a short section of 3"pipe to connect the flex pipe onto. I cannot tolerate duct tape. The disassembly of these can be harrowing. If you dont have specific instructions. These employ ball bearings and the inner/outter races wear and become rust pitted. They can be quite noisey. Replacing the balls is not a problem. But races are not available. They are not intended to hold oil. Light machine oil is fine. Not a gear lube. I literally use diesel fuel with some engine oil mixed into it. You can make a clamp from two opposing sections of angle iron. 1/2" I think....... Be happy to send some pics but most of them were stolen from me. Along with my phone. I should have some pics on my laptop at the garage. Search YouTube for restoring these 400 blowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Forge mount (9") 400 model with free standing adaptation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donniev Posted April 12, 2017 Author Share Posted April 12, 2017 Thanks Reynolds, I'll post pics when I get it mounted but it may be a few weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 Make sure you check the fan blades on the impeller. I had one that two of the blades were missing and the impeller was out of balance. Easy to rivet on new blades copied from the existing ones. The other identical blower had one piece blades with a lot of crud on them, a good cleaning solved the out of balance problem. Another thing I noticed on my blowers is which direction they like to be turned. One runs smooth turning it clockwise but chatters when turned counter clockwise the other is the exact opposite running smooth when turned counterclockwise. I figure that after decades of use the gears get a set depending on the rotation the blower was used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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