Adventures in metalwork and machine restoration!

[TFrench]

Had a little time this evening and got the switchgear reassembled for the filing machine. Just needs a power cable and plug now. I've not bothered changing the motor or switches as
1. They're original and look cool. The top isolator box is very art deco - I'm going to highlight some of the casting on it.
2. I've got 3 phase at work and an inverter at home so wherever it ends up living it'll work ok.

 

[TFrench]

Really starting to come together now! My new manual forklift came in very handy getting the big heavy lump placed back on the stand without knocking any paintwork. Best £24 I've ever spent! I've got room on the bench now to get the next few bits cleaned up and painted.
I spent some time working out what bits I've actually got in the bucket of tat that came with it and I do have the really rare sawblade attachment that lets you put a hacksaw blade in it, but not the bits that actually let you put a file in it. Found someone on Instagram with a similar Thiel machine who is going to get me some pictures of how it works so I can machine up something suitable.

 

[TFrench]

Project die filer is getting very close to completion. All the components I have are painted, cleaned up and refitted. Pretty much all that's needed now is for me to machine the components to hold the files. I have scored a bunch of NOS machine files as well, so I'll even have something to use in it.

 

[TFrench]

And in other news, I recently bought a deceased engineers home workshop tools. The lathe made a funny noise when I turned it on, looked in the cabinet, saw a plastic bag touching the belt and thought no more of it. When I got it unloaded at work and started cleaning it up I found it was the old boys collection of mucky magazines. Thank God I didn't open it in front of his daughter!
In amongst all the bits and bobs I got was this beautiful Hilger angle block set. The scraping is incredible on them! The chart shows how to stack them up to create any angle you need. Super happy to have saved these from a rusty death!

 

[AES]

But what have you done with the "mucky magazines" TF?

Seriously, nice find mate.

 

[TFrench]

I felt like I should have put them in a hedgerow to give the youth of today a blast from the past!

 

[MusicMan]

Drooling over your Hardinge and Tiger buys! Nice work as usual.

Keith

 

[TFrench]

So fitting a new kitchen has meant I've actually been using my machinery rather than just tinkering with it which makes a nice change! Does mean I still haven't finished the die filer though. I'll get to it. I did pick up my next long term project though - a Mossner Rekord bandsaw. Very high quality toolroom saw. It's got a compound table, three speed gearbox and variator for infinitely adjustable speed with max torque. There's also a blade welder and it came with reels and reels of blades. It'll keep me busy in my lunch breaks anyway!
It's not all great though - looks like a lot of additions and bypassing has gone on over the years with the electrics and there are some big cracks in the cast aluminium doors. Looks like the original owner was Lucas which probably explains the dodgy wiring! The tyres look shot as well, hoping I can get some PU replacements.
Apologies for the awful pics as well - my phone camera is only working on fully zoomed out mode.

 

[Ttrees]

Be interesting to see this one, as a bandsaw fanatic myself, I'm keen to see all the bells and whistles.
Guessing the tables around somewhere, or is that trunnion sitting oddly for a reason?

 

[TFrench]

Yeah, we took the table off for transport. I've been trying to buy this saw for 3 years and my mate finally gave in. Probably paid too much for it given its condition but it's going to be awesome when I'm through with it. One of my first jobs will be to get it bolted to some box sections so I can pallet truck it around easily and it can't fall off the pallet! I'll get better pics when I get my new phone but there's a really cool job selector wheel that gives you blade speeds for different materials, then the glass fronted wheel below is the speed variator. A lever on the side works the gearbox. I know a couple of guys on instagram with them so I should be able to get some help if I get stuck with anything.

 

[Woody Alan]

Hi,

If it helps I used these guys Bandsaw Parts - UK supplier of Quality Urethane Band Saw Tyres and emailed the company (Andrew Cross replied) to ask what size my SBW4300 took and he was very detailed in his reply. Tough to fit but I managed with a piece of correct sized bar clamped in metal vice to rotate wheel on and some Bessey clamps to lock tyre on one spot and stretched reclamping etc until it went on, just needs a bit of thought.

 

[TFrench]

Had a quiet day at work on Thursday so I spent some time ripping into the saw and assessing what its going to need. Started by removing 60 years of bodged up, bypassed unnecessary electricals:


(all this came off it!)

While I was at it I thought I'd give it a go and power it up. Motor works perfectly and the gearboxes are working. Big relief! Hopefully I'll be able to work out the original switchgear as well - its all still there, just replaced with modern stuff. My plan to bolt it to box section as a base won't work - it only has 3 mounting holes in a triangle pattern which won't let me get a pallet truck under it. Might go with just building a stronger pallet.
Freed up the trunnions so the table will go back on. While I was at it I found the worst thing so far - the bottom blade guide bracket is missing a chunk on one side and is nearly cracked through on the other. Need to come up with a plan to fix it - probably machine it back to a suitable point then braze a new piece in. Quite delicate parts though. Should be interesting....

 

[TFrench]

The biggest cosmetic issue on the saw is the broken doors, so I thought I'd have a go at that first. The handle on the rear door had been rammed with something which popped the weld. Started like this:

Much trial and error and grinding later


Then it was the turn of the front door. Just removing it proved to be a big challenge, I had to resort to the hot blue spanner to get things warm. I think the steel screws had corroded to the alloy. The crack runs from the bottom of the door and stops at the thicker casting at the bottom of the R in the logo.


I clamped it to a heavy box section and burred the crack out on both sides

And this is where I got to:



I do have a bit more grinding out and welding to do on it to cap the fracture fully, but I'm definitely making progress - my tig skills aren't up to much yet but I'll get there.
I've also found a local company that may be able to re-rubber the tyres. They're 410x40mm which seems to be bigger than most of the urethane tyre makers go.

 

[P.j.Ofurey]

Just read every word and enlarged every picture, what an enjoyable read.the deckles are superb machines.nice job.
I spent 25 years moving industry around Europe as an electrician/ mech fitter, everything from donkey saws to 450meyere production lines to robots, this great thread reminded me of a lot of those times all over Europe.

 

[Ttrees]

Great to see some progress, looking good.
Why would one want urethane tires?
Seem more trouble than their worth to me, from looking at them on youtube.
I've never seen anyone dress them, although unsure if it's possible to scrape the stuff.

Did you happen to come across this thread before?
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/anyone-had-success-with-homeade-bandsaw-tyres.104443/page-2There's a link for rubber and gasket material that you can buy in differing thicknesses etc
A fella by the handle Van Husky, who is a real bandsaw guru you will find elsewhere, reckons the best type of adhesive is the 3M rubber and gasket glue, and for bigger machines again, a 24hr slow cure epoxy could also be used very well.

Ps those are some mean looking clamps

Following with interest
Cheers
Tom

 

[TFrench]

Just read every word and enlarged every picture, what an enjoyable read.the deckles are superb machines.nice job.
I spent 25 years moving industry around Europe as an electrician/ mech fitter, everything from donkey saws to 450meyere production lines to robots, this great thread reminded me of a lot of those times all over Europe.

Thanks. I really need to get the FP2 wired up and running, then I can strip the FP1 down. Someone has pumped grease into the oil nipples and its a complete tear-down job to remove it. Not looking forward to it but it needs doing sooner rather than later. Still on the fence about what to do with the jog borer/grinder. Can't see me ever using it to its capability but it seems a shame to part it out when it all works....

Ttrees, the clamps are carvers. Best welding clamps you can get. I need to find out if the wheels need a crown or should be flat - mine are so worn I can't really tell. I think I'm going to get them done properly - the quote I've had wasn't ridiculous and it's done properly then. I've got doubts as to whether PU would hold up to cutting metal?

 

[TFrench]

Been busy recently. First up was a cast iron bench for my dad's new workshop. I bought the top a long time ago with the intention of using it for a welding table. It's a bit big for the welding area at work though so I never did anything with it. Found some cast iron legs on Facebook recently and they fitted together great. I donated one of my restored vices to it as well, so that's another one off the list.

 

[TFrench]

Next is one of my current projects, a deckel SO cutter grinder. It was a complete nail and listed as spares/repairs. Plenty of oil, scotchbrite and patience and it's almost all freed up. I gave it a good soak in evaporust which freed up nearly everything - I just have one dovetailed slide that won't budge.

 

[TFrench]

Last up is my new "little" lathe for my home workshop. The metal spinning lathe is going to draw too much power for the inverters I have at home to run it, so I'm planning to move it to work where I've got proper 3 phase. All the sheet metal equipment is there as well so it makes sense. Just working out how to redo the wiring as the genius I got it from removed everything!

Anyway, the new lathe is a Smart and Brown model M mk2. Looks to be in great condition, tight ways and the electrics are totally unmolested. Only got a couple of pics as I've got it stashed away until I have space to bring it home, but I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.

 

[sploo]

Last up is my new "little" lathe for my home workshop.

Very jealous. I do like my little mini lathe (Chinese special, Sieg SC2 clone) but I'd love a "proper" old one like that. Quite a few come up for sale around where I live, but the unknowns of specs/sizes/weights/transport always makes me chicken out.