Thunderbolts in existence

[Brendan W]

also thunderbolt production ended in 1993 not in 1989

Wrong. Main production ended in the late 80s, however they could be ordered until the 90s (overstocked units, built from surplus parts, etc.) The ending in the 80s bit was me only focusing on main production and not afterwards.

[Tyler]

also thunderbolt production ended in 1993 not in 1989

Wrong. Main production ended in the late 80s, however they could be ordered until the 90s (overstocked units, built from surplus parts, etc.) The ending in the 80s bit was me only focusing on main production and not afterwards.

Correct.

[JCRGH]

What about the 1993 tbolt

[Chem_Boffin_6589]

What about the 1993 tbolt

It was single tone, more square and was overall different to the Thunderbolt we know and love. '89 was really the plug pulling of mainstream Thunderbolt production so that is technically where production for it ended. The Thunderbolt after '89, although different, was on special order as well If I remember correctly.

[Tyler]

What about the 1993 tbolt

1993 bolt was a big experiment for the Tbolt as a last resort to try and boost sales on it, but with the dual tone requirements gone with Civil Defense and the uprise of battery backup, this made the Tbolt seem like more trouble than it was worth. The 2001-SRN inevitably outsold it with the Tbolt only scoring around 10 units sold.
There were 2 quirks that this model had that would make them die relatively fast. In the early 80s Federal changed the way they coated their fields and armatures in the Model 2 and Tbolt motors, this new method was cheap and made the motors unreliable and prone to failure within 10 years or less. This is why most late model Tbolts with their original motors sound really bad.
The other issue this model had was how they made the rotator. It was not similar to the 2001-SRNB, it just looked like it. The Tbolt had a motor turned vertical driving the big spur gear directly, this was bad, because It put a lot of stress on the motor and made rotation very choppy and rough. The latest model Federal makes is very similar to the B-series Tbolt rotator. There is a more reliable gear reducer connected to a motor instead of the motor driving the spur gear directly. This was was much better, allowing a little resistance in the mechanism so it moves smoothly and keeps everything tight and reliable.

If you are looking for the most maintenance free and reliable Tbolt, you need to look at the B-series. The B-series was a fantastic model, but there was one small quirk with this model too that caused it to be dropped. There was an issue with the C-faced chopper motor to knock itself loose from the mount and jam the chopper in the stator, causing the motor to burn out. There was a really simple fix to this problem as seen below, but Federal of course didn't want to deal with it for whatever reason. The rotator was great, the blower was small and easy to manage and the chopper motor wasn't a hassle to worry about. The B-series units that are still up and running will probably last many more years just from how well the model was designed. It looks a little messy, but if Federal cleaned up the design a bit eliminating wasted space, the last model Tbolts would've been a lot more dependable and as robust as the original, if not better.

The chopper motor fix:

Pete asked around, and found that this is a Series B Thunderbolt, a short-lived attempt to modernize the design. Apparently, there were problems with this motor getting loose on the mounting plate and getting stuck out of alignment (rotor stuck to inside of stator). So, Federal quickly cranked out the Series C Thunderbolt, which was reverted to the model 2 style chopper motor. The workaround for this Series B unit is to use lock washers and retaining compound on the 4 motor-mounting bolts.

https://www.thesirenboard.com/projects/tbolt/page4.html


There were plenty of things Federal could've done to the Tbolt to make it better, more efficient and louder, but it appears that they simply didn't want to fool with it. A lot of missed opportunities that led to the unfortunate demise of the Tbolt.

[Brendan W]

Hard mode question:

Are there any Thunderbolts in Canada that are not in Sarnia, ON?

Always accepting bolt locations that aren't on the map! We're at approximately 1400 sirens now.

[fire_freak_57]

You got the two jailbars in Independence, OH, already? Those are circa 1953, Federal Enterprises Thunderbolt 1000’s with the 6M blowers and the classic jailbar grille.

New submissions us locals (us being myself) know about:

Abandoned in place, intact, is what appears to be a 1000 or 1000T in the City of Cleveland atop a food packaging plant at 8200 North? Madison Avenue.

In addition, there’s an active Thunderbolt 1000 or 1000T atop the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant (referred to as the ‘NEORSD facility’ per a CHFD memo; NEORSD means Northeastern Ohio Regional Sewer District) in Cuyahoga Heights. It’s the only active one in existence that’s outside Independence itself. The reason nobody’s recorded it is because it’s on private property and with security gates and checkpoints all across the plant it would be hard to get a good vantage point at all. It is tested on the first Saturday at noon with the rest of their system which is a Fedelcode 5 and a 2001-SRNB. That was a recent development.

[NahIDee]

Either nothing works for me or the link to the map is broke.

[Greenfield1003]

Bringing this thread back to it's original topic...there is a thunderbolt 1003 at the sewage plant in Cloverdale, Indiana. Unknown if it's active or not but supposedly the county tests on the first Friday of every month at 11:00.

[Glist]

Bringing this thread back to it's original topic...there is a thunderbolt 1003 at the sewage plant in Cloverdale, Indiana. Unknown if it's active or not but supposedly the county tests on the first Friday of every month at 11:00.

I was the one that found it. Unfortunately it was removed shortly after the street view was taken.

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