I replaced my Cannon 161 oven door springs about five years ago with the nearest I could obtain to the originals. I used springs from RS Components Limited; their stock number 751-900. Although these keep the door securely closed they were probably a little too light for the job and do not fully counterbalance the door’s weight, so it feels a little heavy when fully open. Maybe I should have tried the next size up (751-938), although at a slightly longer 105 mm these may have required their effective length reducing slightly? If your local hardware store doesn't have suitable springs, you could check whether the type I used are still available, and RS Components will certainly point you to any equivalent that they may still supply, < +44 (0)1536 201201 >.
Here are the instructions:
1. Disconnect cooker from mains electricity and gas supplies.
2. Move cooker to a position where you can access both sides adequately.
3. Remove pan supports, burner caps, tap knobs and ignition button.
4. Open the oven door and remove two screws situated under the control panel.
5. Lift and pull the hotplate at the front sufficiently to move it slightly to one side. DO NOT disconnect the leads to the burner ignition electrodes.
6. WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES all the time the side panels are off, in case a spring breaks or escapes its fixings and flies off !!!
7. Remove two fixing screws and washers from top flange of side panel and lift it off.
8. Move the hotplate slightly to the other side and repeat step 7. to remove the other side panel.
9. With pliers, replace both springs; and adjust their effective length if necessary/possible.
10. Reassemble by the reverse of the above instructions in the sequence from 7. 8. 7. 6. 5. etc. Remove your SAFETY GOGGLES only once the side panels are correctly back in place.
The only problem I still have with this cooker is that the oven timer display is fading away and cannot be seen in direct daylight. Just so as you know for when this happens to your Cannon; I've replaced the three electrolytic capacitors in the timer to no improvement. I guess it’s just the old age of the display itself, its vacuum will have gone soft and poisoned by now. I've cleaned the orange lacquer off the window, (with IPA), so it’s still just usable if shaded from incidental light with a hand. I didn’t want to overrun its filament, as that would just accelerate its complete failure. I doubt I’ll ever track down a replacement timer* for a twenty-one-year-old cooker! I might try to hard-wire in, the innards from a plug-in timer.
*Item 32, Gas Council part number: 384 332, Makers part number: 18432.
The End.
Amateur Physicist
March 2008
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