The Siren Board

Thought some of you might want to see the inner workings of a 40+ year old Federal Q. This one has been restored, the motor cover and front grill are new. The rest of the siren is original. The stator and stator guard have been rechromed and the motor has been rebuilt. Will post assembled picture and video in the near future.

I was looking at the nameplate and does it say Federal Sign and Signal?

I had no idea the clutch on these things were that simple.

How long does the friction disc in them last, considering all the torque that motor puts out.

Their rotors are beautiful.

Magnified, the name plate appears to read:
Federal Sign and Signal
Corproation USA

holler wrote:I had no idea the clutch on these things were that simple.

How long does the friction disc in them last, considering all the torque that motor puts out.

There is very little wear on the friction disc, clutch engagement is almost instantaneous with almost no slippage. Thats one reason the surge amps on Q's can reach 250+ amps. That is the original friction disc which has lots and lots of miles on it and its still fine.
Not sure why Federal went to a screw type clutch and now a one way ball bearing sprauge type clutch. Maybe because of parts cost.

Hey Henry,
You took a picture of yourself, check the rear housing, your reflection.

Federal Signal fan wrote:Hey Henry,
You took a picture of yourself, check the rear housing, your reflection. :wink:

Yes. We always look for the photographer's reflection in all kinds of photos.

I would leave the stator grill off.

Robert Gift wrote:

Federal Signal fan wrote:Hey Henry,
You took a picture of yourself, check the rear housing, your reflection.

Yes. We always look for the photographer's reflection in all kinds of photos.

I would leave the stator grill off.

Leaving the Stator guard off would not be a good idea in my experience. The rotor is free to rotate at all times and when completely assembled with motor cover and grill, because of its weight, you must handle it by the stator housing, the motor cover is only held on by 3 small machine screws. I can tell you from experience, it will bite when least expected, the leading edges of the chopper have a knife edge. Watch the following test video I did today and you can see how easily the rotor will spin.

Rebuilt Q

Henry455 wrote:Leaving the Stator guard off would not be a good idea in my experience. The rotor is free to rotate at all times and when completely assembled with motor cover and grill, because of its weight, you must handle it by the stator housing, the motor cover is only held on by 3 small machine screws. I can tell you from experience, it will bite when least expected, the leading edges of the chopper have a knife edge. Watch the following test video I did today and you can see how easily the rotor will spin.

I have worked on Qs.
Yes, you want the grill on when handling. But once on display, I would remove it. Looks much different without the grill!
It would be louder, too.
People must be warned not to get bitten.
I was slightly bitten while molesting an air raid siren in Yantai, China.
Trying to get it to growl.

yep, you definitely have a different clutch design on that than my model 76. maybe if I can borrow a camera I can post the photos of my disassembled siren for comparison.