New Member - SO glad I found this board! Its awesome!

[cyepez64]

Hi all. I've been browsing through the posts here and I am so happy to have run across this discussion board! The information you all have been exchanging is really helpful and you already saved me money on my Chambers model B refurbishment. After a year and a half of sitting in the garage in pieces, the old girl is finally being reassembled. I had no idea what I was doing when I bought this stove but I seem to have wound up with a good unit despite my ignorance! It was actually in daily use until a short time before I bought it and tore it down. The more I work on this stove the more impressed I am with the quality and simplicity of old appliances. I will try to remember and post some photos.

On another note, I noticed the posts about Macy's here in Houston and also had negative experiences with them (unreasonable prices, inconsistent information). I found a great place locally called Bright Metals of the Heights that rechromed my cooktop for about $350 and had it done in less than a week. If you are in the Houston area, I recommend them.

[Ms V]

Hi Cindy,

Glad to welcome you, we used to live near Houston, Pasadena. Thanks for the info about the Bright Metals shop. I have a chip or two on my stove, and some rust somewhere I am sure, but the next owners will have to do the restoration, I am just happy to be able to be cooking on it...V

[berlyn]

Cindy,
Welcome to the board!!

You do have your Chambers literature??

I'm south of ya'll on Hwy 59 a couple of hours.

Berlyn

[berlyn]

Cindy,
I too did not have a good experience getting price quotes form Macy's. They were twice the price of reporcelian a black stovetop than others were. To be fair, I will have to say others have had better experience with Macy's.
I too got my service manual from Sam on E-bay. Nice fellow Chambers owner and quite knowledgable on the mechanics and workings of a Chambers.
We've been having nice warm weather to work on your Chambers!! [img]cool.gif[/img]

Here's
[url="http://community.webshots.com/album/259218814eAzvEX"]Big Bertha's[/url] journey.

Berlyn

[cyepez64]

Great photo documentary of your process. You guys were really thorough. I did not go to that level of detail with my stove, but mine was not q

[cyepez64]

oops, that post wasn't quite finished yet! I was saying that my unit was not as rusty and grungy as yours was either so I thought a general interior cleaning would suffice for a while. Since you went through the teardown process - where the heck does the spring for the folding top attach? There is the little "arm" on the top where one end goes, but where does the other end of the spring go?

Cindy

[RobbiQuest]

A fellow who used to be on this 'Board got a quote from Macy's to refurb his Model C and learned via that process that Macy's sends their reporcelaining work to Gigi's. :-) So the diff is their mark-up.

[cyepez64]

I'm not sure Macy's is even still in business. They are only about 2 miles from my house, and last time I drove by there was a big red violation sticker from the fire marshall on their front door. Its too bad the original owner died.

[mayreejayne]

Cindy, I hate to trash folks but Macy's is one of the reasons I'm unloading the Chambers I have in my garage. Macy's charged me about $175.00 dollars to look at my "B" model (which they had to pick up and take to their shop in order to assess it!) and then they wanted $800 to get it to work again. I ended up paying the assessment fee (five years ago) because I thought their practice unethical but I'd be darned if I was going to leave the stove with them so they could benefit from it. So they brought the stove back and I'm $175 poorer for it. Sad story, I know.
Mary-Jane in Houston.

[RobbiQuest]

Cindy, I bought a replacement spring for my Model B canopy from TOAC - it cost a ridiculous $12, but it does work nicely now. The spring I have hooks onto the "hook" at the back of the canopy (that you described), and the other side hooks onto the pilot.