WWII Hand-Crank Flashlight/Lantern Restoration - Restoring Lamps

Restoration of WWII era dynamo (hand crank) flashlight. This week I restored this hand-crank flashlight made by Phillips (type 7424). These were used by Germans in WWII. When I got it I had no idea if it worked. After testing thatt it in fact wasn't working I opened it up to find what's going on.

Immediately after opening I found that the wire from the dynamo to the was loose so obviously I couldn't have worked when I tested it. After the disassembly the other end of the wire came loose as well. I had to replace the wire immediately so I wouldn't loose the other end inside of the brass housing and that was not filmed. I also found a strange loose part from inside the flashlight. You can see me wondering where it came and hoping that it shows on the video. later I realized someone who had opened the flashlight before me had just put it in there for some reason.

The dynamo works so that the magnet is being spun by the hand crank. The polarity of the magnet is not the usual (flat sides being + and -) but the poles are on the curved surfaces. Underneath the magnet inside the brass housing there is a coil which generates an AC current. This current is then lighting up the bulb.

I cleaned the parts with ethanol. I chose ethanol because I didn't want to use multiple cleaners and I wasn't sure if paint thinner or acetone would damage the electronics. Then rusty parts were put into rust remover and some rusty parts were cleaned with multispray because I wasn't sure if all metals on those parts can be put into the rust remover. Then some of the parts were polished. The parts inside didn't need to be polished and it's important to consider if polishing actually causes any issues with the device. Polishing removes thin layer of material and you don't want your parts to be wiggling in their places after polishing.

I used my typical nickel plating solution also shown in on my other channel Odd Experiments to re-plate the bass parts where the plating was a bit worn and you could see some yellow brass on them. For more info on that check out my tutorial on Odd Experiments.

After everything was put back together and the flashlight was working I thought it looked very dim so I got an idea to make a custom LED bulb to fit the flashlight. Wanted to keep the bulb changeable rather than just soldering a LED in place so I can put an authentic bulb back in there. Which do you prefer? The AC current is transformed into DC with a diode so the LED works and wont break. Regular LED would typically break with AC current and also it would show up as "flashy" in the video because it will only light up when electricity moves into one direction.
The following Amazon links are affiliate links. By clicking them you are directed to a amazon product page. If you purchase that or any other product I will get a small fee but you will not pay any extra. This is an easy way to support this channel and allow me to keep making these videos Thank you for watching and reading!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oddtinkering
T-Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/odd-tinkering-2
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odd.tinkering/

SOME OF MY TOOLS:
BLACK GLOVES: https://amzn.to/2YY8a09
RUST REMOVER: https://www.mc-51thebestrustremover.com/?ref=YbUD-0E4NKfV
ROTARY TOOL: https://amzn.to/2WF75I6
PRESS FOR ROTARY TOOL: https://amzn.to/2Uiv1Eu
2-AXIS TABLE FOR THE PRESS https://amzn.to/2WPkttl
CHUCK NORRIS’ TOOTHBRUSH: https://amzn.to/2YfXUj2
POLISHING KIT: https://amzn.to/31w983l
CORDLESS DRILL: https://amzn.to/2Wois77
ELECTRONICS SCREW DRIVER SET: https://amzn.to/2F3n6kO
MY FILMING GEAR:
MAIN CAMERA: https://amzn.to/2JvtKox
MAIN TRIPOD: https://amzn.to/2OlpYgn
MICROPHONE: https://amzn.to/2I80iDz
VIDEO LIGHTS: https://amzn.to/2FpJDaB
MAIN LENS: https://amzn.to/2Fm8yMk
CINEMATIC LENS: https://amzn.to/2TmNdHH
WIDE ANGLE LENS: https://amzn.to/2U7iJha
GOPRO: https://amzn.to/2U3eqU3

---------------------------------------------------------------------
SUBSCRIBE ▶▶▶ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf_s...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Restoration playlist▶ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Видео WWII Hand-Crank Flashlight/Lantern Restoration - Restoring Lamps канала Odd Tinkering