Day 5:
All my Micromatic parts came in and I went to Harbor Freight and Menards yesterday to stock up on some parts. One thing I bought was a movers dolly that I wanted to put under the fridge so it was easier to move around. Unfortunately, while I was lifting it on the dolly, I managed to snag the power cord and yank it out from under the fridge.
I was pretty upset, but upon further investigation, it seems the electronics back in 1952 were pretty simple. This small setback will end up helping me in the long run. As I was looking under the fridge, the stock wiring was in terrible shape. The insulation on the wires was totally worn away in parts. On other parts, the wiring was so brittle, it would crack and flake away at the slightest bend.
I got some 14 gauge solid core wire and redid all the wiring from the light and regulator to the relay. I am guessing the compressor has been replaced once after all because that wiring looked newer, so I didnt replace that, but other than the 2 wires going from the compressor to the relay, all the other wires are all brand new.
In addition to that today, I began sandblasting the old enamel and rust of the fridge. The sandblaster I have is very small, and would take days to complete a whole fridge, so I am just using it for the bad parts where there is a lot of rust or paint bubbling. For the rest, I am using emery paper and some good old fashioned elbow grease!
I sanded the outside of the fridge for about 3 hours today, and got many parts down the bare metal. For the rest of the enamel that is there, I have it clean enough and with enough texture for a new coat of primer to bite into it. Hopefully I dont regret going completely down to bare metal, but I think I will stop here. Regrettably, I took my digital camera to my parents yesterday and forgot the camera there, so I have no pictures to take today. I will definitely post some when I get it back though.
Which leads me to the last part of what I did. This fridge is only 14" deep, which is deep enough for a 1/6 barrel or home brew keg, but not a 1/4 or 1/2 and since I want to be able to use any size, I have to modify the door to allow more clearance. The foor on this fridge is very thick, so I should be able to cut into it to make room. The inside of the door is made out of some type of MDF type fiberboard. I found this really interesting that this material was used inside a fridge from 1952. I thought for sure it would be metal, or at least some type of molded plastic.
I started cutting away a notch, but then the board started falling apart, so I just took the whole thing out. This left me with a whole door full of 55 year old fiberblass insulation.
My neighbor happens to do roofing and insulation so I called him up for some ideas, and he has an idea for some super strong roofing foam that I could pour into the door and cut a mold out for a keg. He is going to look up the prices for what I need and get back to me. He then can finish off the foam with a spray plastic which is used to coat roofing foam. He says this stuff is as strong as plastic, and would be more than adequate for the interior of a fridge.
So thats my update for the day. Hopefully all of this may one day help someone, or at the least, provide a good read for the rest of you!
Once again, I will have some pictures soon!