Bought a 6" Argos oscillating fan about 12 months ago, to replace one which had failed, as part of our dehumidifier / fan combination for drying clothes in the utility. It stopped worrking last week, so I took it down to have a better look at on the bench. I then found the flex, which exited the motor, via the pivoting mechanism hole, neatly chopped in two by the osccillating mechanism arm.
Brilliant design, taking a flex through right next to a moving arm.
When I lived in the US, we bought some years ago a couple of really good room circulating fans, from a company called Vornado. Brilliant, they were. A few years later, we saw a couple of small desktop fans made by the same company for sale, and bought them. Alas, they were made in China, and one had a similar fault to the one that you describe, only it was rubbing the wire across an edge on every swing. So the fan oscillated, but the wire only made contact when it was at one end of its motion, producing an unintentional on/off/on/off etc fan action. The other fan probably had the same faulty design.
Yes and surprisingly common. Usually there is enough slack to stop it rubbing but if the strain relief is not tight on the wire it can rub and then ping. Brian
You're lucky it just stopped rather than going out with a bang!
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