Adventures in metalwork and machine restoration!

[TFrench]

I've sold all the machines I didn't want now, and I've made my money back on the deal - and I've still got the wadkin lathe and the myford (given it to dad for his birthday!) Got the wadkin checked on my quick 3 phase testing rig at work and as expected it runs like a clock. Can't wait to start using it properly. I've made progress with the Harrison too - got the 240v motor out and am about ready to swap the 415v one back in. Once thats done I can move it back into it's final position.
In other tool acquisition news I've got the chance of clearing a local workshop full of industrial sized woodworking kit - if I get it out, clean it up and sell it on I get a cut of the profits - should work well. (or I'll just end up keeping the bits I want!) Can stick some pics up if anyone is interested when I get started on it?
Today I also picked up this:


From a terribly described facebook ad. From the pictures I thought it was a bench sized drill but when I got there and saw it I just rolled with it! Somewhat sweaty work deadlifting those chunks of iron into the van. Its a Grimston Electriska geared head drill. Not sure yet whether to keep it or sell when I've done it up - its possibly a bit excessive for my workshop (so is a wadkin RS though, right?), but its a lovely old machine. According to lathes.co.uk its a very early one with the gear levers on the right hand side of the head. So far it looks to be missing the rack the head winds up and down on but thats about it. All the pick-off gears are there, although one is missing a few teeth. Not bad for £80!

 

[TFrench]

Had a real stroke of luck with the drill - the lady I bought it off still had the rack for the head in her garage so I went and grabbed that on Friday. Took advantage of the warm weather to clean the rust and paint off the column, base and table and get them painted and re-assembled. Once that was done I could lift the head back on with the engine crane.

I wired a new flex and plug onto it and fired it up - smoke poured out the motor but I think it was just a bit of oil that had leaked - it runs perfect now. Now the head isnt rocking around on the floor I can clean it off and get it painted to match. The only faults I can find for now are one of the pick off gears is missing 4 teeth and the two locking levers for the table on the column are snapped. Think I'm going to keep it as I've already got someone after my old startrite drill! It doesn't actually take up any more floorspace either...

Last week Dad was clearing out one of his sheds and I picked up this vice - no before pics but a good clean and splash of hammerite and its good as new. It was missing jaws so I've got a new set fitted. Been after a nice vice with quick release for ages!

 

[colonel-cueball]

I have a number 6 and its a decent lift, surprised it made it all the way up here to the wilds of Scotland given it wasn't overly well packed by the poster (but hey it was collection only till I cheekily asked if he would drop it off just down the road at a parcel store -yeah ok I know the place, I think I paid £45 for mine and £15 to get it brought up, not overly bad.

 

[wallace]

That RS looks to be in nice condition. I've just finished another one, that's 4 this year

 

[wallace]

Your RS has the upgraded bearings. A big roller bearing on the outboard side and a pair of high precision matched bearings on the inboard. I would take the cover plate off and check the grease because replacements are silly money

 

[TFrench]

Thanks Wallace. I think I saw that on eBay and thought it looked like your work. What grease of grease should it have in it? I know it's been kept greased as all the nipples are covered in it but I haven't had time to open it up yet. I'm considering swapping the belt for a rubber one while I'm at it as well to eliminate the clicking from the join.

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[wallace]

The grease doesn't have to be anything special, just a bog standard stuff from a garage. Its not as if the spindle runs at high speed.
I've bought proper belts which have a scarf joint and they send you a small amount of the special adhesive. Generally they don't send enough. Ideally you want them to make the belt up then it can be heated and cured properly. Only downside is you have to pull the spindle out to slip the belt over.
They are pretty expensive, like £50 as well. I ordered one once and it was an inch too small. I found a guy on ebay who makes conveyor belts and got him to make a 3' wide belt so I just cut it up and now have a load of belts. It was the same price as ordering one belt to the RS spec

 

[TFrench]

Is there much to pulling the spindle out? Think I may have seen one of your threads on Canadian woodworking where you made a spanner for pulling the spindle? If you want to sell one of the belts, let me know, it'll save me getting one made up.

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[wallace]

Its not too bad just take both end caps off, undo the nut on the inboard side and shove a stick inside the morse taper and hit with a suitable hitty thing. Pull the spindle out just enough to slip the drive belt on and be carefull not to drop the spacer that's between the stepped pulley and the main casting. The stepped pulley doesn't have any grub bolts. Then wiggle/ tap the spindle back through. The inboard bearings might try and push out so put the end cap back on the keep them in place.
You have to unbolt the motor and its support to loop the other end of the belt.
Alternatively you can always put up with the click click noise
If you message me your address I will send you a belt

 

[TFrench]

Some progress, finally! Grimston drill has been degreased, painted and moved into position - much harder work than moving my old startrite! I still have a few jobs to do - there's a couple of handles that have snapped but to fix them I need the lathe up and running... Also need to make a new gear for one of the speed changing gears - the largest is missing 3 teeth. I have found a cutter of the right tooth form among all the stuff I got in a job lot so I should be able to make one of my own. In theory...
Grimston Drill
And then today this landed in the workshop:
Elliott shaper
I've wanted one for ages, watched loads of videos on youtube and then this came up pretty close by at a reasonable price. It seems in good condition, everything is tight with pretty minimal backlash. The cross feed all works as well, so I'm hopeful there won't be much of an issue getting it back to work. It has been converted to a 240v 1hp motor instead of the 415v 2hp motor it should have but I'm not sure how much that will affect it. The vice that came with it is a bit naff as well, but I have a decent spare.

 

[TFrench]

I mentioned a while ago about a barn full of machines I had the opportunity to buy. Today the deal was done, so here's a few pics of some of what there is. I will sell most of it on as it's too big for my home workshop but there are a few things I'm going to keep. If there's anything you want, speak up!
240v (from new!) wadkin cross cut saw
wadkin 240v BRA
240v Multico k3 morticer
Multico 240v morticer
Danckaerts dovetailing machine
Danckaerts dovetailer
Union pedestal grinder - I'll probably restore this and keep it for work.
union grinder
Startrite 240v tilting arbor table saw. I might keep this as its probably nicer than my Kity saw.
startrite tilt arbor saw
Flottjet planer thicknesser - never heard of this brand before?
flottjet planer
Big SCM thicknesser
scm thicknesser
Very BIG Sagar sliding table saw
sagar sliding table saw
There's also a wadkin sliding table panel saw - think its a BGP but it's too covered in rubbish to get a photo of, and a 6ft planer. Like I say, if anyone is interested in anything let me know. Looks like I'm getting into the machine tool sales business!

 

[SVB]

Wow - you have been busy.

Nice ML7 you got there, has both the gear box and spindle clutch that are rare and sought after add-one that command quite a premium on ebay etc.

Good result - look forward to seeing how things progress.

Simon

 

[TFrench]

Wow - you have been busy.

Nice ML7 you got there, has both the gear box and spindle clutch that are rare and sought after add-one that command quite a premium on ebay etc.

Good result - look forward to seeing how things progress.

Simon

Yeah, I've gotten it all cleaned up now and got it in dad's garage - gave it to him for his birthday! It's a long bed as well - I haven't seen one for sale yet with everything this one has. It's got high and low speed direct on the motor switch. He's over the moon with it - he had a round bed Drummond before that you could only take a few tenths of cut before it stalled!

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[SVB]

]Yeah, I've gotten it all cleaned up now and got it in dad's garage - gave it to him for his birthday! It's a long bed as well - I haven't seen one for sale yet with everything this one has. It's got high and low speed direct on the motor switch. He's over the moon with it - he had a round bed Drummond before that you could only take a few tenths of cut before it stalled!

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Sounds great. Would be great to see some pics when you get the chance.

Simon

 

[F Flinstone]

Brought back plenty of memory's with the "Harrison" lathe, our school metelworking room had about four or five of them, fifty years later I still love metalworking, I didn't like woodworking the teacher was also the technical drawing teacher and a ******* :evil: , thats why I now want to do more wood work, starting from scratch.Ff

 

[deema]

I’m interested in the Dovetailer, SCM thicknesser and Startrite saw. Sent a message.

 

[TFrench]

Slow progress on all fronts recently! I have got the inverters for the wadkin lathe and the bandsaw now. Mounted the bandsaw one and the buttons just came proud of the casing, so I made a 1/2" spacer piece for the louvred panel and got it all fitted up:
20181011_125014
The motor is refitted and wired into the enclosure, I just need to connect it all up now. Then its just a case of getting the castor system working and it can come home.

First attempt at moving machines from the farm went ok - all the ones that could be moved by sack truck went into the van. Next trip only bagged the SCM thicknesser as I'd not realised how heavy the dovetailer is :lol: Finally managed to coordinate manpower, trailer and tractor to have another crack at moving machinery - successfully this time!
20181010_140505
20181010_142954
The chap has decided to keep the startrite table saw and wadkin radial arm for now, which I'm kind of gutted about as they're the ones I really wanted for myself.
I have cleaned up the morso guillotine now its back in my workshop at home though, quite pleased with how its come back from being a bit of a rusty wrecker.
morso guillotine

 

[TFrench]

Oh boy, its been a while since I updated this. Lots of things have gone on since the last update! I sold off all the bits from the last trailer load except the large yellow grinder which I've kept for work. Then as I was perusing facebook marketplace as you do I spotted a bridgeport milling machine, which was listed as having lots of other machines with it. Arranged to look, turned out to be a patternmakers workshop with a load of nice sanding machines. (plus 4x bridgeports, all knackered!) Did a deal on all the woodworking stuff and the BIG swift milling machine.
Sanders
Sander and mill
Went back a week later with manpower and a friend with a farm telehandler. A mild spanner in the works when we opened the double doors to the yard and discovered 3 steps that everything would have to come down! We improvised and nothing (and nobody) got hurt! 2 tons of mill coming down that slope was slightly hairy.
Interesting move
My plan was to keep the single disc phillipson sander at home and fit a VFD to it, but when I got it in my garage I realised I was being a bit silly It was gigantic and the shape of the base meant I couldn't get it close to the wall, so it had to go unfortunately.

In the meantime we finally got the electricians to sort out the 3 phase power at work so I could get the harrison lathe fired up which was the original point of this thread (only a year after getting it) All my wiring was good with the motor swap so we are back in business on that front. They also powered the Swift mill up, at which point I realised I'd dropped a colossal clanger and bought a CNC machine. I knew it was but I assumed there would be a simple way to make the table feed so I could use it as a semi manual machine. Apparently not - so there I was with 2 tons of mill I couldn't use and a pretty sick feeling
To be continued...

 

[TFrench]

Because I'd bought all this stuff I had to make a bit of effort and get my other toys home. The startrite bandsaw and wadkin lathe both came in pretty easily - engine crane was about on it's limit with the headstock but it managed it! I posed it next to the graduate just for a size comparison - I always thought the grad was a decent lump until this came home! (admittedly it is on a cart and 3x3 bearers, but still!)
Wadkin RS and graduate
Then I realised putting it in the same position wouldn't give me enough room for outboard turning so I assembled it against the wall to the left. In theory should I be mad enough I could turn 3ft diameter - should be enough!
Building the RS
I removed the horrible ugly control box which left some great big holes in the door. A replacement door was expensive so I used P38 and a dremel to recarve the wadkin logo. Not perfect but better than it was!
Lathe door
Not a great pic as it was just before I got it running and it was still a bit of a mess, but you can see the VFD enclosure, tool rack mounted on the wall and the wheeled cart I adapted to hold all the faceplates and chuck bits. Against the wall is also the gap bed tool rest. This is a bare reproduction casting I bought from someone on instagram who made a pattern and had a couple made. That will be my first major machining job, coming soon hopefully!
Wadkin RS running

 

[TFrench]

If you've stuck with it this long, here's the resolution to the "whoops I bought a mill I can't use" saga. A friend rang us one friday night to let us know about a tractor auction happening the next day. He'd been to the preview and said I may be interested in some of it as he knows I buy and sell machines. We went for a quick look as it was local and I couldn't believe how much good stuff there was. I nearly bottled it and talked myself out of going the next day but in the end we decided we had to go. First time I'd ever been to an auction so it was slightly nerve wracking. Turned out better than I could have ever hoped - we came away with 2 incredible milling machines and lots of other bits for properly silly prices.
Deckel FP1&2 mills:
FP1 &2
The FP1 runs and has lots of accessories with it - I've since found out the boring head and riser block it is on are incredibly rare and probably worth more than I paid for everything at the auction.
Something I'd never seen before - an adjustable eccentric chuck
Eccentric chuck
Toolpost grinder:
Toolpost grinder
This is something that they threw in with a boring head I bought as no one bid on it. When I got it back and did some research it turned out to be a centering microscope - you can use the crosshairs in it to get your workpiece perfectly on centre.
Centering microscope
Among the other cool stuff was this camelback straight edge
Camelback straight edge
Finally I got this Elliott pillar drill for the princely sum of £25
Elliott drill
I've done a quick resto on it and given it to my dad for all the help he gives me!
Elliott drill