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Tyler
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Real Name: Tyler Brasher
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Re: Very First Thunderbolt Ad

Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:20 pm

Stormsetter4 wrote:
Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:31 am
They weren't using old Thunderbolt parts for the first generation of 2001's, those were produced new and considering the hundreds that were sold, there's no way there were that many parts left over. All of the 2001's and even the 508's now have a hole on the bottom of the siren mounting plate where you can remove a small filler plug and install the unit on a Thunderbolt standpipe. From what I understand the direct drive rotator design for the SRNB, 130, and 508 was designed when the SRNB came out, not back in the 90's. Otherwise, the first generation of the 2001's would have used it.
Nope that's partially right. The 2001 came about around in 1987-88 and it did use the old mechanism because they hadn't designed the direct drive system yet. About 2 years later, Federal pretty much ended off the Thunderbolt, but wanted to try just one last thing. This is what many don't know about. They started experimenting with one of the most problematic pieces, which was the rotator, because belts broke and gear reducers stripped out, so they came up with a compact system that axed the gear reducer and used a slow turning motor that was turned upward, driving the spur gear directly. The spur gear on this mechanism and the old belt pulleys were exactly the same, so Federal didn't really have a loss making the 2 units side by side. They used this new system only on the Thunderbolt at this time to try and revive such a popular siren, and make it more modern and appealing. Sadly it didn't quite catch on, but it's not surprising that it didn't.

Meanwhile, with the leftover parts they had from the Thunderbolt, and the mass production units they made for the early 2001s, since the new and old rotator was similar, they figured to use up the stock of pulley systems they had on the 2001 since it was already using this mechanism and it prevented them from going under financially from spending a lot of money on things they didn't even use. As you can see, it took a while before they ran out of stock on the pulleys and switched over to the direct drive mechanism. Keep in mind, the 2001 uses the Thunderbolt's collector ring assembly too, so they have "chopper tubes" inside them, so yes, they used many Thunderbolt parts on the 2001. The intake box you'll notice attaches to the bottom of the chopper tube right where you would bolt on the horn support for a Thunderbolt.
Really if Federal wanted to, they could grab a 2001, remove the projector, motor, rotor, stator, and intake box. This leaves the core of a Thunderbolt, next just weld on the chopper cap ears, fabricate a chopper cap, projector, and horn support, drop in a Model 2 motor and poof... a new Thunderbolt.
My knowledge excels on the Federal Thunderbolt siren and SiraTone EOWS sirens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Proud owner of
2014 Federal UltraVoice UVICU
1981 SiraTone C/B prototype
1984 SiraTone C/B

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