Restoring My Elma Super Elite Watch Parts Cleaning Machine

I purchased a Vintage Elma Super Elite some time ago now, and whilst the unit was in working order, it was crying out to be restored as the old paint was flaking off, and there were many dents on the casing, not to mention the fragile glass jar bakelite lids were crack, and held together with gaffer tape!.  The wiring was very old too, so needed renewing for safety reasons more than anything else.

Here’s some photos of the unit showing the condition it was in when I found it on eBay UK.

The unit took sometime to arrive from the UK, but it finally landed in Finland, almost free of injury, the top motor speed control knob was broken in transit, but shall be easy enough to replace.

Here’s a couple of photos of the unit being stripped down, mainly reference photos of the wiring, which will help when I renew, and rewire the unit.

The photo below shows the wiring going to that large motor speed controller in the centre, and the two switches, one either side.

The next photo is the wiring to the single switch On/Off

And then the Switch with the light bulb, the heater on/off

Close up photo of the speed controller

Wiring junction box, located behind the switch on the right (when assembled)

And the left junction box.

Reference photos..

Casing parts removed, as you can see from this photo, the silver item is the heater, which looks newer than the other parts, so one would assume its been replaced at some point.

The three new jar lids, these are available from Cousinsuk

The base was the first to be tidied up, here’s what it looks like after removing all that old paint..

And after done dent removal, filling, and more wire wool work..

The heater chamber, and motor shroud was up next..

And then the cast parts..

Handy tip for you if you plan on restoring anything aluminium or cast alloy, to remove the old paint, soak in Acetone for 24 hours.  Here’s what Acetone does to old paint.  Makes easy work of shifting it.

And the base..

Next blog update will no doubt be the rewiring, which shall be a challenge, but I do love a challenge 🙂