Generator Moulded Commutator

All Models

Some generators now fitted to passenger and commercial vehicles have a moulded type commutator in place of the earlier fabricated type.

A moulded commutator can be recognised by its smooth exposed end; the fabricated commutator incorporates a metal "roll-over" and a lipped insulating cone. Both types are shown in Fig 1.

A moulded commutator can be re-skimmed if required, but care must be taken not to reduce the finished diameter below 1.45in (36.8mm). If more metal than this is removed the commutator could later become distorted by centrifugal force. If it is not completely clean after skimming to this diameter ther armature should be removed.

It should never be necessary to undercut between the segments after skimming a moulded type commutator because the initial undercut of 0.035 in (0.89mm) is sufficient to leave the minimum undercut of 0.020 in (0.51mm) after the commutator has been skimmed to its minimum permissible diameter.

The service instructions for skimming and undercutting the fabricated commutator remain unchanged.

Fig 1.