In article ,
Christopher Tidy wrote:

DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2008-09-19, Christopher Tidy wrote:

Hi folks,

I am repairing an electric motor for a friend. The centrifugal switch is
broken. It needs a replacement felt washer as the original has worn
down. It needs to be a hard felt washer (not the kind which is rubber
mixed with felt) with dimensions 1/2" (hole) by 1" (overall diameter) by
1/8" (thickness). Anyone know of a source? I can send money by PayPal if
anyone has one they're willing to sell.


You can get sheet hard felt from McMaster Carr (among other
places). You can use arch punches to cut the ID and the OS -- and the
main question is "how critical is the concentricity"?. This is the same
kind of felt used to make way wipers.

Probably not that critical. I have just been sent a pair of fairly hard
felt washers of the correct size by a company as a free sample.
Hopefully these will work, but if not someone else has suggested I try
leather (not sure how easy it is to find leather which is 1/8" thick,
though).

Go to any cobbler and buy a leather sole blank. I use one as a coaster
in my office. Looks like a big leather footprint, is 0.200" (~5mm)
thick, and is very hard and dense. I paid about $10 for it, which the
cobbler claimed to be his cost.

The cobbler will have sole blanks in various thicknesses.

Joe Gwinn