Fun Project VR's - what happens?

[dykker5502]

Hi,
John Regan sold his company, Fun Projects, to Birdhaven, and since then it seems that many of the nice products have disappeared from the market.

That's a true pitty as they where very much appriciated.

Does anybody know what Birdhavens plans are? I assume John have also passed the agreements with his suppliers if any so it should have been no problen to continue the production and delivery of VRs, pinion bearings etc etc.

[John.Zibell]

I know the pinion bearing setup is available from Birdhaven. I don't know the status of the VRs.

[TRDxB2]

Seems like Birdhaven has lost interest in many things - besides Fun Projects, Texas T innovative parts are lacking. Their website www.texastparts.com contains very few parts (zero for front axle).

[Been Here Before]

When you can't buy local, look else where.

https://www.oneillvintageford.co.uk/aca ... rator.html

1919-27 Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out T-5055-SS

6v Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out.

This is a state of the art semi-conductor cut out unit which modernizes and replaces the original relay type of past years. It is identical to original exterior appearance and dimensions and is plated in cadmium as original. Also includes authentic insulators and hardware.

It is designed to continuously handle the maximum 20 ampere output of the original Ford DC third brush generator. It can be used on Model T and Negative Ground Ford DC third brush generators.

Comes complete with all electrical hardware and instructions for use.

Price: £87.46 (£104.95 Incl. vat)

[speedytinc]

When you can't buy local, look else where.

https://www.oneillvintageford.co.uk/aca ... rator.html

1919-27 Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out T-5055-SS

6v Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out.

This is a state of the art semi-conductor cut out unit which modernizes and replaces the original relay type of past years. It is identical to original exterior appearance and dimensions and is plated in cadmium as original. Also includes authentic insulators and hardware.

It is designed to continuously handle the maximum 20 ampere output of the original Ford DC third brush generator. It can be used on Model T and Negative Ground Ford DC third brush generators.

Comes complete with all electrical hardware and instructions for use.

Price: £87.46 (£104.95 Incl. vat)

This is an electronic cutout, not a voltage regulator.
Same thing you can build for $10.

[Been Here Before]

"This is an electronic cutout, not a voltage regulator.
Same thing you can build for $10."

OK........

[Allan]

John, there' a big if to your $10 self build. You need an original into which you can install your $10 worth of components. I wonder what has happened to the efforts of those working on making the innards for existing cutouts, to convert them to voltage regulators like the Fun Projects item.

Allan from down under.

[speedytinc]

John, there' a big if to your $10 self build. You need an original into which you can install your $10 worth of components. I wonder what has happened to the efforts of those working on making the innards for existing cutouts, to convert them to voltage regulators like the Fun Projects item.

Allan from down under.

I buy used cutouts for $2 & the last batch of diodes was $4.85 each. !0 was a round number.
Good question on the modern VR designers. Havent heard anything lately.

[Mark Gregush]

Right now I am working on installing a semiconductor in the cutout housing. I need to drill a 1/2" hole in less then an 3/4 X 3/4" area that is available were it mounts, it gets narrower below that space. That gives almost no heat sink area. Need to figure something else out. I have 4 housings to chose from, but need to take my working generator to Tom shop and use the KR Wilson setup to test them before cutting them up.

[Steve Jelf]

...and is plated in cadmium as original.

Cad plating came into general commercial use in the thirties.

[JohnH]

John, there' a big if to your $10 self build. You need an original into which you can install your $10 worth of components. I wonder what has happened to the efforts of those working on making the innards for existing cutouts, to convert them to voltage regulators like the Fun Projects item.

Allan from down under.

I buy used cutouts for $2 & the last batch of diodes was $4.85 each. !0 was a round number.
Good question on the modern VR designers. Havent heard anything lately.

The project has got as far as developing workable designs and testing them; there's several to choose from. And, at this point in time, anyone with electronic construction skills can build one of them, but of course that's a very small minority of T owners. From my own and all other reports, the designs are still working well on a few test cars after six months.
The problem of getting regulators 'out there' to everyone hasn't been solved yet.
One of the challenges is a multitude of different cutout housings in circulation, and to develop a board that suits them all. It's a bit more involved than mounting just a single diode as per a cutout only.
There is also the 'what if it doesn't work' scenario in providing a regulator in kit form. It also appears that the idea of assembling a regulator PCB isn't as popular as anticipated - there certainly wasn't a rush on TonyB's PCB's when he had some made up.
The way I see it, from my observations in the Model T world of 20 years, the demand is more for a complete regulator, ready to install, without requiring any electrical knowledge.
Ultimately, someone with the entrepreneurial skills would have to organise the manufacture and sale of the units, if the new regulator is going to be an out of the box unit, to be installed just like the FP design.

[Steve Jelf]

I believe the bottleneck at Birdhaven is a shortage of staff. I think Bill still has another full time job, with his wife selling the parts and one son making things, and there's more to do than three people can keep up with. Some of the other parts folks are up against the same thing. The loss of one vital employee eventually prompted John Regan to call it quits. Chaffin's Garage is a two-man operation, and Glen couldn't quit until his son retired and took over. I don't know the situations of all the parts dealers, but I doubt that any of them has a staff as large as half a dozen people. There are a good many Model T parts that one person makes for all the dealers, and when that person goes the product goes with him. We're lucky to have the parts we still do have available.

[TRDxB2]

When you can't buy local, look else where.

https://www.oneillvintageford.co.uk/aca ... rator.html

1919-27 Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out T-5055-SS

6v Negative Earth Semi Conductor Cut Out.

This is a state of the art semi-conductor cut out unit which modernizes and replaces the original relay type of past years. It is identical to original exterior appearance and dimensions and is plated in cadmium as original. Also includes authentic insulators and hardware.

It is designed to continuously handle the maximum 20 ampere output of the original Ford DC third brush generator. It can be used on Model T and Negative Ground Ford DC third brush generators.

Comes complete with all electrical hardware and instructions for use.

Price: £87.46 (£104.95 Incl. vat)

This is the same as the one Snyder sells its a NU-Rex. Running your 3rd brush at more than 5amps http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/33 ... 1366209910
By John F. Regan April 17, 2013
All driving of a T nowadays is basically sustained high RPM compared to T era when roads were rough. Thus if you set up your generator to 10 amps or more you will for sure wreck the battery. The T generator is capable of about 100 watts max. That means that at a charging voltage of 7 volts you can get a max of about 14.5 amps out of it but that is maximum output and not where you want to run the thing with a cutout in place. That output is OK if you have the lights on to suck up about 10 amps of that but if you drive during the day with lights off and charge rate at 10 amps or higher - you will be boiling a lot of batteries away.
If your car is equipped with a voltage regulator rather than a cutout you will destroy that voltage regulator if you jumper across it to polarize the generator. To be safe you would want to remove the voltage regulator (if your car has one) and then polarize the generator. All Model T's were negative ground. One does not have to "routinely' polarize the generator. I have never had to do it to any of mine. If the battery has always been installed correctly (negative ground) there is no way that the generator can become reversed while in normal service.