SMC SR-18 18" Oscillating Stand Fan | Initial Checkout

The initial checkout of an SMC branded 18" oscillating pedestal fan model SR-18. The unit is dated March of 1998. Many years ago, back in the very late 90s or early 2000s, I used to occasionally go to one of my grandparents' neighbors house for the day. I don't remember the context, reasoning, or frequency. I was very young and have only a handful of faded memories from that house. There were 2 SMC pedestal fans there. I recall one occurrence where the lady turned on both pedestal fans and directed them right over to the couch where I was sitting. I remember those fans appearing to be absolutely massive, especially in relation to the SMC TH-12 my grandfather had at home. 20+ years later, I came across a few SMC SF-16 16" oscillating fans and thought those were the same fans that were at this house. They didn't seem massive to me anymore, but I figured that was just because I was young and small at the time. I was recently at a thrift store I seldom visit and saw this fan. It immediately struck me as an absolutely massive stand fan, and now I'm starting to think this was the model that was at that house. I thought those fans had button controls, but the memory is really too faded for me to recall. If those fans did have button controls, they would have been the model SP-18. Both the SP-18 and SR-18 are relatively rare models at this point as many of them were discarded post the recall announcement during the Summer of 2004. Like the Lasko/Galaxy recall, there's a ton of ambiguity surrounding the recall, especially in the area of what exactly is defective about the design that results in catastrophic failure. To my knowledge, no other SMC fans were recalled; no 6", 12", or 16" ones of any form factor. I find it hard to believe this one is designed much differently than the rest of them, but a teardown will tell. Potential hazards aside, this is quite a good fan. It is one of the largest pedestal fans I'm aware of, being outdone by only one other 20" model I can think of that I've seen; it was branded under SMC, Hampton Bay, and perhaps a few others. It had 5 thin white blades and I believe was a 20" model. There's also the Lasko petal blade pedestal fans, but I don't think those were a thing yet in the 90s when this was sold. The fan is very powerful and is likely comparable in air movement to even some of the more respectable plastic box fans. It's rather quiet for the air moved. The blade is in absolutely perfect balance, I cannot detect even the slightest margin of error in the balance. The motor utilizes steel bearings, and despite probably having never been oiled over the last nearly 30 years, it still spins incredibly freely.