New Variac (and lots of ?'s)

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Original poster: "Marry Krutsch by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <u236-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Hi All.

	I finally bought a Powerstat variac from C and H Sales.  I got it for
$190.  Now the questions:

	The data plate says it's rated 270VAC and 56 amps, but the windings are
only 12 AWG.  I wonder if someone switched the name plate.  What's the
deal?

	This thing has multiple taps, for 115, 210, 230, 250VAC, Common, and
output.  The 210 tap was badly "abused" by the former user, so the
solder connection between the 210 wire and the windings had melted!  The
wire was just hanging there.  The surrounding winds had
blackened/flaking insulation, so I just removed the 210 tap/wire
completely, and scrubbed the damaged area with alcohol.  This is OK,
right?

	There are a few errant winds sticking out above the rest.  I smoothed
them a bit with SiC paper, but the wiper still makes "tinging" noises
when it goes over them.  I know this will shorted brush life, so is
there anything minimally invasive that I can do to correct the problem?

	I put a nice coat of varnish over the entire core/windings (except for
the wiper contact area), to re-insulate a few areas with flaking
insulation.  I can't see anything wrong with this, but you guys know
more than I do.

	After being plugged in for about 5 minutes, with intermitant light use,
the core/windings are slightly warm to the touch.  Is this normal?  My
small variac doesn't heat up this fast.

	This doesn't have the typical 1256/1156 model # on the data plate.  The
plate reads: Type-S1027,  SER-77,  SPEC NO.- 1 BP 2452  MAX KVA.-15.6 
What do I have here?  I couldn't find much on the internet.

	After saying all this, I should say that it works on all ranges,
despite numerous "small" problems.  I also had to put additional
fasteners on it, since it was missing about 1/2 of what it originally
had.

	Can I still get brushes for this?

	Any comments/tips about operating/maintaining this would be greatly
appreciated.  Sorry for such a long post.

Thanks,
Winston K.

PS-Did I get a lemon, or what? ;-)))