PLAN No. 1211. ARMATURE REPAIRING—MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT
Armature repairing is done with the armature held in a rack about the height of an ordinary workbench. Thus the armature winder is required to stand while working, sometimes for considerable periods. It is essential that he have good feet and legs. It is also necessary that he have the use of most of his fingers. Repairing an armature requires only a few new coils in skilled work. On the other hand, much of the work in armature repairing is of a routine character. Hence a man of little experience can do the work under direction of a journeyman. It will always pay a person who contemplates following armature winding as a vocation, to take a short electrical course before he engages in the actual work. A beginner at armature winding will receive from $50 to $80, an expert may expect $75 to $150, and a foreman or chief $125 to $200 per month. The work is all indoors with an 8 or 9 hour day.
The coils used in rewinding the armature may be purchased complete from an electrical manufacturing company, but the larger concerns make their own coils. The preparation and insulating of these coils is often benchwork. A man who does not have the use of his feet can do some of it. Deft fingers are required, but there are now many blind workers who are insulating armature coils successfully. This work may pay from $40 to $90 a month. Some preliminary manual training is required, which can usually be obtained in the shop where the worker is to be employed.