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Sunbeam Toastermatic
The Australian made toaster that
was built to last.
We received a lesser brand of toaster for a wedding present in
1968. At that time the Sunbeam Radiant Control Toastermatic had gained
such a good reputation that we returned the lesser brand and swapped it
for the toaster shown here. It was a good move as it has been in daily
use for the 38 intervening years.
1600 Watts makes for speedy toasting.
The elements are made from round wire that lasts a lifetime.
The end elements are a different style to the center ones and this
may be why with advancing years the toast may brown differently on both
sides.
Caution Make sure the power is
DISCONNECTED before making any adjustments or doing anything
other than simply putting toast in. Do not turn the toaster on its side
or open the crumb tray without DISCONNECTING the power first.
The adjustment described below does not require
any disassembling of the toaster just the normal opening of the crumb
tray.
A
toaster of this age should be given a safety check by an
electrician.
The
toastermatic feature works like this. You drop the toast in and as the
toaster heats up the toast is lowered. When it is browned to the
correct amount as set by the slide adjuster it rises again. When
you put the toast in it presses on a bar that latches a switch closed
that sends power the element. The heating causes the wire in the centre
element to lengthen slightly which lowers the toast platform. When the
desired colour is
reached the switch is un-latched by the heating and thus bending of a
BIMETAL strip. The
power is turned off and the toast rises as the toaster cools. It is the
insertion of the toast causing a downward movement of a bar that latchs
the switch closed and this can only occur when the toast
platform and bar are near the top. The toasting process can only start
again after the toast is removed. With age the toast platform may not
raise high enough to enable the bar to latch the switch on and some
jiggling of the toast is required to get the toasting started. The
slotted screw head visible in the center of the picture adjusts the
cold height of
the toast platform. Turning it anticlockwise raises the platform. I
find it works best when the platform is adjusted so that it is just
about at the top of its range of movement. When I find myself having to
jiggle the toast it can usually be fixed with a quarter to half a turn
anticlockwise.
A BIMETAL strip is made by bonding two metals with different
expansion rates together. When heated one side expands more than the
other and the strip bends.
Update 12/2016 Google will give you all the information you could possibly need on fixing this toaster.
A comprehensive site devoted to this toaster is http://www.automaticbeyondbelief.org/