Adventures in metalwork and machine restoration!

[wallace]

I've always fancied trying metal spinning, I nearly bought a set of old tools from an antique fair but the price was scary. I've got the promotional film on 15mm cine film showing spinning being done. I cant remember the machine maker. They were painted a deep red and you could add loads of extras to make it into a saw, lathe, bandsaw etc

 

[wallace]

Heres a clip of the coronet doing metal spinning

https://www.youtube.com/upload

 

[Keith 66]

I havent looked at this thread for some time so all i can say is "i am not worthy".
I thought i was bad buying machines & selling a few, i realise i am but an amateur!
Keep it up. By the way, dont want a big acdc tig welder do you?

 

[TFrench]

I havent looked at this thread for some time so all i can say is "i am not worthy".
I thought i was bad buying machines & selling a few, i realise i am but an amateur!
Keep it up. By the way, dont want a big acdc tig welder do you?

I'm an amateur too in most things, I'm just lucky to have the space and means to do what I do. It's become something I really enjoy, and pretty much self funding as well. The spinning is something I've always wanted to have a bash at as it's something I could possibly incorporate into the day job. Maybe someone will want a fancy finial on a boiler or something. :lol:
I recently bought an ac/dc tig so I can have a go at aluminium repairs but I was diddled on it - seller claimed it was fine but I can't get it to work. It's in for repair now. If it can't be fixed I may well be interested in yours!


Wallace, I can't believe that tiddly little coronet had the beans to spin ally! Makes me think I'll be ok fitting a smaller motor than the original on mine.

 

[TFrench]

Nice and easy job today. The wadkin lathe uses 1 1/8" toolposts and I had a few of the modular rests I wanted to be able to use. Bought a length of the right size stock and knocked out 3 new rests. The one on the right is the original, I made 2 of the same style and one with a square shoulder to use with the hollowing rest I picked up recently. Really good exercise in making repeatable parts, its definitely easier than doing it on the wood lathe! :lol:

Toolposts

 

[marcros]

do you have a tap for the sorby system? I have a tool post, but would like a very short cross piece- shorter than they make.

 

[TFrench]

Yes, I bought a set so I could make my own rests. The curved one was a little beyond what I can roll at work though!

 

[marcros]

Yes, it looks like a beefy section to bend!

 

[TFrench]

Progress report... Tailstock on the metalspinning lathe is seized - I think it was missing a thrust washer, I spun it to retract it and it's galled up and won't budge. Need to get the porta-pak home from work so I can introduce it to Mr Flame... :evil:
Went to a farm auction where I spent an enjoyable morning with andytoolsntat buying nice wadkin stuff... Had to go back with the lorry to pick it all up :lol:
EPA spindle moulder:
EPA spindle
BSW ripsaw
20190914_110015
RM planer (what a monster - 20" cut!)
20190907_132801
BGY sander (keeping this, been after one for ages)
20190907_152520
And a DM morticer (again, keeping as its more wadkinny than my multico and has stacks of chisels):
DM morticer

I've had a session cleaning the morticer and it looks like a different machine:
DM cleaned up
Still some work to do but its getting there.

 

[TFrench]

Ran into a problem with the RM that I hadn't noticed before I bid on it, the castings for the infeed support roller had been cracked off - I assume by people dropping boards onto them, and the roller had also gone walkies. I've made good progress on a fix the last couple of days.
Wadkin RM roller
Turned 2 "eyes" to match the size and shape of the original castings, then got a bit of EN8 round bar that I turned to match the original. Next job is to cut the broken bits off, jig it all up and weld it back together.

 

[Trevanion]

I've seen absolute diabolical looking Wadkin DMs before that were more black than Wadkin green, give them a once over with a bit of thinners and they totally change into beauties that would command almost double the price :lol:. They have a lovely double stop mechanism which is super robust, just like the rest of the machine!

I wish we had farm sales like with gear like that out this way, usually it's more powdered rust than actual machine :roll:

 

[TFrench]

The auctioneer was hilarious - there was a really knackered old bench with a record vice and literally no one would buy it. He got down to a pound and eventually said "come on, CRAFTSMEN used this" like that made it worth something! :lol:

I'd never studied a DM before, the double stop is pretty funky. There's a spare as well in the box of stuff that came with it.

 

[Trevanion]

The auctioneer was hilarious - there was a really knackered old bench with a record vice and literally no one would buy it. He got down to a pound and eventually said "come on, CRAFTSMEN used this" like that made it worth something! :lol:

I was at a farm sale once and there was a pallet of about 20 ancient, homemade, odd-sized, rotten concrete blocks which nobody wanted. "These have still got plenty of life left in them! Look!" as he kicks one of the blocks and a chunk falls off :lol:

I'd never studied a DM before, the double stop is pretty funky. There's a spare as well in the box of stuff that came with it.

It's a lovely thing for when you're doing joinery being able to do both the mortice and the haunch in a single pass without having to adjust stops like on the older Sedgwick models. You just flick the stopper around when you need it and then flick it out of the way, the ball detent makes it feel kind of tactical when you do it too.

 

[AES]

I think the word "adventure" is being used in its widest sense by the OP. Of course metal working COULD be dangerous - along with just about any other activity you care to mention - but having often visited India on business I've seen some very dangerous practices in workshops there. What exactly is it that you're trying to say?

In general there are a LOT of discussions on safe practices in all areas on this Forum - as you would know if you had looked around many posts on this Forum.

 

[TFrench]

Like AES says, not sure what you're getting at. I'm a sheet metal worker for a living, I'd like to think I have a bit of an idea what I'm doing. The adventure part is more related to the cool tools and restoration stuff I'm doing...

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[TFrench]

Big progress on the sander this week. Not up to wallace's standard but I'm happy with it.
Before shot as a reminder:
Sander before
I tried to power it up and the switch was dead - I could override it but it wouldn't hold in. Luckily Wallace has a spare that is on it's way here as part of a trade... One of my most hated jobs is paint prep but I just couldn't leave it looking so gross. I've a feeling that as the switch was playing up it became the paint and glue mixing table... I have a large pot of Reseda Green for painting the deckel mill (can never have too many projects, right?) and its a nice enough colour for the sander.
Sander painted
Sander painted 2
Now I'm just waiting on the switch to get it running. I will also need to fabricate a dust collector for the belt side, and make a platen for the belt as well. Productive week though!

 

[Trevanion]

That’s looking lovely! The colour almost looks like something you would see on the original machine.

Did I miss a negative comment or something? :?

 

[TFrench]

Think it was a spammer, it got deleted pretty quickly.

 

[Droogs]

looking good Tony

 

[AES]

+1.Looks VERY tidy. Pity I haven't got the space for such a device in my shop. Well done Sir.

P.S. I didn't realise the post I reacted to (above - now deleted it seems) was from a spammer (how does one know?). I just didn't understand his point about metalworking being dangerous - so can crossing the road (specially in India which it seems is where he came from)! And YES I have tried crossing the road there!