Multi TH3/TH1 Thicknesser Restoration Project

[SkinnyB]

................UPDATE................
I have transferred all the photos from photo bucket to Flickr and placed them back in the original post.
Also added a post covering diy digital read out and extraction port on page 2.
................UPDATE................

Hi, I quite enjoy looking at restoration threads so thought I would make one about my Multico TH1 or some are referred to TH3.

A few month ago this Multico TH1 came up online. Starting and finishing price of £100. Not bad considering what you would have to pay for a 12" thicknesser new.
Anyway, this is the state it arrived in. I believe It had been stored in a shipping container or similar looking at the original pictures.

I had made the mistake of thinking as it was quite small it would be a 2 person easy lift. Not right! This thing was heavy, worst off we had to get it in the back of a Qashqai.
I stripped it down as much as I could with the limited tools i had brought along. With an extra hand and the motor and table removed we managed to get it in.

To get it out however it was an almost a complete dismantling of the thicknesser in the of the boot of the car.





List of jobs:

Complete strip down and clean.
De-rust everything.
Paint stripped on some parts.
Surface prep for painting.
Painting.
Needs a new side panel as one is missing.
Needs a new height adjustment wheel.
New bolts.
Re-Grease.
New Emergency stop.
Dust extraction port.

Lets get started:
I decided to clean up the Cutter block first just so something looked half decent on it.
Cutter block removed and pulling the bearing and housing off. Using Pulley pullers the block came off fine.


Bearings removed

Bearing blocks stripped and masked off.


Bearing blocks primed. I used some rust prevention primer as it needed using up.



Knife chip breaker holder cleaned up using a Paint & Rust Remover Grinder Wheel Disc on the angle grinder. A great little pad for this sort of work.


Cutterhead cleaned up. I made the mistake of thinking the rust was going to be harder to get off than i thought. So started with a 80 grit sanding disc. This was too abrasive really, a rust removing pad that at this point I had not used yet would have been far better.


Polishing cutterhead using sander all the way to 320 grit.



Bearing seemed fine. I gave them a good clean and applied some fresh grease.


Cutterhead blocks painted black and cutter head assembly ready to put back together.



Assembly finished.



Next is the In-feed and out-feed rollers to tackle.

 

[SkinnyB]

In-feed and the outfield roller time.

As you can see these are in a loverly state.


Pulling off the cogs.


Polishing the cogs, Luckily they had the same diameter bore that fit onto the motor. So i spun it up on there and held i wire brush to it. Worked great.


Same as the cutter head really. The in-feed roller was a little tricky due to the ridges. i used some rust remover to help move it along a bit.



I then proceeded to clean up the bushings in which the rollers are mounted in.

 

[SkinnyB]

Further dismantling:



I decide to strip some of the parts of the old paint. A: to remove the old paint B: to remove some of the stubborn great and prepare it for painting. Although not ideal due the the water I use pressure washer to clean all the parts and to remove the soft paint after I have applied the stripper. Works a treat just need to make sure that you dry it well and quickly.



Parts ready to be painted. Instead of masking of the places where paint was not needed. i.e metal to metal contact. I painted just over the edge then came back with he paint remover pad on the angle grinder. Gave a crisp clean edge this way.

 

[Ttrees]

Cool 8)
How much does it weigh...whats the heaviest part ?...
I don't see much cast iron in the piccys ...
I'm trying to get an idea of how heavy it is ...
Could I lift this on my own like my startrite tablesaw (absolutely no prob for me)
I can swing a bag o coal on my shoulder
From what I can see, It looks manageable for me to horse it about.
Hope to get me one of those someday,
Looks as it is going to be cared for,
Good luck with your machine sir, hope you enjoy it thoroughly

...Now I can see the IRON
Looks hefty enough
Tom

 

[SkinnyB]

Undercoating thicknesser table wings. These will be black.


I used Hammerite Hammered Dark Green finish previously on my Watkin AGS 12 rebuild. I liked it and plus I had 2L left over and wanted to keep the cost down as much as possible.




Also decided to paint the motor black as it now looked a little drab with all the new paint on the other parts.

 

[SkinnyB]

New Hand wheel.

I have had this large hand wheel for a long time now and it had become one of those things i probably wouldn't use but kept it anyway. Glad I did.
I needed to reduce the diameter of the rising/lowering threaded shaft to fit the new hand wheel. Luckily I have access to my works Lathe (Colchester) so I did it on that.

 

[SkinnyB]

Reassembly:
I really like how "new" it looks, everything is so shiny. For the non moving bare metal parts I used a clear protective spray paint thats like a lacquer I guess. This should hopefully present the rust. For the feed rollers and table I used paste wax. And moving parts I used grease.

 

[SkinnyB]

Almost there....

From this:








After 5 days of work I have got a great 12" thicknesser. So far I have only spent £30 on it. I still need new switch gear and would like digital readout on it. I also still need to install some sort of dust collection. The machine works great. I also need to make a sheet metal bender in order to make a new side panel. I was thinking about a cut out with perspex so that you could see the gears going around; could look interesting.
I have only eyeballed the knives at the moment so I could do with a knife setting jig too.

Hopefully you enjoyed this quick restoration. Only the second machine I have done, first was my Wadkin AGS 12 which is the pride and joy of my workshop.

Any questions welcome.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Lovely job

 

[Ttrees]

That didn't take long :shock:
You done a wonderful job
Is their any way you can make the readout with a cheap Lidl calipers ?
Make sure you keep us updated
Tom

 

[Ring]

Cracking job what a belter of a machine you have there well done. =D> =D>

Jim

 

[galleywood]

You have done a lot of work in a short space of time.
Grest post.
Thanks.

 

[Harbo]

Wow looks like new!
Great job

Rod

 

[RobinBHM]

I used to have one of these multico's.

I think TH1 is 240v and TH3 415v.

Great machines, mine was both accurate and its quite slow feed rate meant a really nice finish.

You now have a machine of sedgwick build quality, that would cost a lot new and still quite a bit used.

 

[Fitzroy]

Awesome job. Surprised you didn't replace the bearings, would have been a pain to spin the machine up and find them noisy!

F.

 

[Chrispy]

I'll never forget the look on my first boss's face when he looked up at me and said "it's gone" took me a while to realise he meant his index finger, he'd been trying to clean the drive chain on one of these with a rag while the machine was running he thought it sounded a bit noisy!

 

[pollys13]

Really nice job, must give you a great sense of achievement, bringing it up all nice and shiny. Beautiful machine, enjoy it.

 

[n0legs]

I do like a machinery rebuild and refurb
Lovely job and the best part is you now know it inside out =D>

 

[SurreyHills]

Fantastic job and an awesome result. The difference between what you started with and have turned it into is like an ugly duckling transformed into a swan.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[merlin]

Good job that, I like the old Multico's.

Have you got your eye on the next one yet?

Merlin