Wadkin pillar drill resto

[wallace]

Hi all, I purchased this drill sometime ago and have been useing quite regularly. I thought it was time to spruce it up a bit.

I spent a few hours stripping it down which revealed the original wadkin paint colour, I'm not going to take everything down to the bare cast because Wadkin put a realy thick base coat on their machinery to cover any casting imperfections. Instead I will treat any chips and scratches and then fill and paint. I stripped my lathe to bare metal and it took ages.

I took the table gears out and found no wear at all. Not bad considering its 45 years old, thats if I have the date code correct. The previous owner said it came from the factory where Warfedale speakers are made.

It has a work light which is fed from the 3 phase supply which is 24volt

 

[9fingers]

The only thing lacking with these drills is the ability to vary the speed. However with the advert of modern inverters, it is pretty easy to vary the speed from say 20% to 200% of the plated speed.
This should make the machine much more versatile - for example with larger diameter forstners.

Lovely machine! If I had the room (and the floor strength!) I'd be looking for one.

I look forward to seeing the finished results.

Bob

 

[wallace]

I have an inverter but its only rated at 2hp, the drill is 2.5. I intend to get one when penny's allow. I did intend to put it on the RS but I have managed ok without it so far.
Mark

 

[tjwoodms]

I have a customer who has one of these babies with a mechanical push button speed selector fitted its not currently installed and has not been running for some yrs it came from the wadkin factory when they finaly closed down a few years ago

i should be making a start on a full rebuild after xmas

 

[9fingers]

I have a customer who has one of these babies with a mechanical push button speed selector fitted

How does that work then Tim? Does the motor have multiple windings to change the number of poles?

I know wadkin used to have a motor generator system to generate 400Hz 3 phase for their routers to get up to 24k rpm or so

Bob

 

[tjwoodms]

im not sure how the system works from what i hear its a one off. but there are quite a few wadkin one offs out there most of them were built as prototypes and never made it to production. I will have to investigate it further when i strip it down

on wed im looking at a wadkin combi saw/spindle/planer/thicknesser ive never seen one of these either i spoke to my old service manager who worked for wadkin for 35 yrs and he has never come accross one either. My customer thinks it was built for export and somhow made its way back to our shores.

 

[Max Power]

Great thread , I love these old machinery rebuilds, if only I had the time and engineering know how.
Ive got a couple of wadkins, a morticer and a disk sander , both built like a tank, how sad theyre not made anymore

 

[tjwoodms]

the wadkin name is still going now owned by daltons for the cassical machinery but i from what i hear they have sold very few if any new machines since that aquired the rites

ams own the rites to the grinders and moulders but as far as i know have no plans fro production

 

[Tony Spear]

My customer thinks it was built for export and somhow made its way back to our shores.

Wouldn't surprise me! there's loads of old British machinery scattered around countries like Nigeria, some working and some intact but unused.

Isashi Waterworks, which supplies water to Lagos has some steam driven "Lift and Force" pumps (and the boilers!) still in situ but abandoned.
Originally manufactured by Hathorn Davey (now Sulzer Pumps) of Leeds, and when I looked at them a few years ago, we reckoned that going by the Plant Labels they were probably the first heavy machines ever imported to Nigeria!

In fact, I've just remembered that I used to know a very wealthy Brit who had/has a house in South Oxfordshire and he started his fortune by shipping sawmill machinery to Nigeria and I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of that is still there!

When I first went out there, over 40 years ago, for some reason I can't remember, I visited the Sawmills at Sapele and all the machinery was British.

 

[wallace]

Hi all, spent some time sanding treating and filling. put a couple of coats of zinc based primer on

And then a few coats of enamel in the correct wadkin colour. I like spraying with enamel, by the time you've done one part you can give the last part another coat

I will have to leave it for a few days to harden off properly.

 

[9fingers]

Looking good so far!

Bob

 

[tjwoodms]

Had a look at the wadkin combi today it turns out its a dim saw spindle combo. The saw blade can be wound left and right but the bushs are shot as is the winding nut and screw should have replacements made for the new year. there has been a bodge job done on the original parts to hold the nut together after its split in half at some point

The spindle bearings are also totaly seized but the spindle unit itself looks to be lifted from a wadkin BEM.

It looks like the machine has had some rough treatment the spindle motor is leaning over a little due to a damaged motor swing bar it looks like somthing has been levered against it

I spent about 4hrs on it today

 

[wallace]

Spent alittle time today painting and cleaning some of the guides.

Tim have you any pictures on the project that your doing?
Mark

 

[Hitch]

Nice job, i like doing things like that. Got the same going on, but on a much smaller scale, an old champion watchmakers drill!

 

[yetloh]

It's amazing the difference just picking out the name makes. It'll be a fab machine when you are done.

Jim

 

[AndyT]

Looking good! May I ask how you masked off the lettering to get it looking as good as that? Was there a very fiddly stage of cutting masking tape with a scalpel to fit inside and around the letters, or is there some extra clever trick to it?

 

[wallace]

Hi, I got the idea from Jack english in america. He does amazeing restorations of wadkin machinery. To do the lettering I paint the whole machine in the wadkin colour then mask off a square around the writing and spray it red, then with a small brush paint in the background colour. Its much easier than trying to paint just the raised lettering. Heres a link to the RS lathe that Jack restored, for those of you that like old iron. http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=70658&start=90

Mark

 

[tool613]

Mark

Thanks for posting this. I have not run into one of Wadkins drills. They really never made many drills and do not know why.

I just love that era of wadkin machinery. Here is some machinery on the floor at Green lane works in the 40s.

I would give my right arm for one of theses but then I could not use it

keep up the great work and you will have some great "ARN"


Jack
English in america

 

[Andy RV]

Looking forward to seeing this drill finished, thats other thread on painting the lettering is really good, thanks!

 

[wallace]

Hi all, have done some more work, this is the depth stop.

I put them on the lathe and went through the grits to get a decent finish I then polished them with polishing compound on a buffing wheel.

Mark