We are working on an ancient 1920's era Otis freight elevator. The elevator has a traditional overhead machine that is geared 1:1 and runs at 50 fpm. Operation is constant pressure, so there are only 3 controller relays: Up, Down, and Potential. One of the relays has contacts that are completely eaten up, which resulted in an elevator shut down. I looked through all the normal suppliers, but I cannot find relays or relay parts that look like this. Do these still exist?
Montana, I have tried all the normal parts suppliers, but I cannot find anything that looks like these relays. Have you found one of these before and could share the part number?
These relays are rebuildable and adjustable. You will need to know the face and stem dimensions of the carbon hi-hat contact and the dimensions and stud size/length of the copper contact. In the past I have had some of the copper contacts made by a local fab shop. You might send a picture of the contacts you need to unitec sales or take the contacts out and have new ones made locally.
I heard back in the day otis had cj building some of the solid slate controllers. That's how I found some of my coppers and carbons. Even the bronze contact holders.
Thanks for the help, guys! I reached out to UNITEC and C.J. Anderson. UNITEC could not provide an exact matching part number, but they gave me a list of possible contacts with dimensions. We'll need to return to the job and pull one of the contacts to check the dimensions. C.J. Anderson was a no-go, but they did quote me to build a relay-logic replacement controller.
Yes, they are circular carbon contacts. A buddy steered me towards ADAMS, as they have a selection of replacement contacts and holders that look like they will work. I put together a parts list and emailed it to the customer, just waiting on approval now.
