Dominion woodworking tool. Help reqd.

[skeetstar]

Folks , this is my first post so please be gentle.

I have just acquired a Dominion Eliott Minor combiantion woodworking machine. The motor is due the attentions of an electrician this week to get it running, the blades have been sharpened and the machine cleaned and oiled where necessary.

However I have hit a hard stop. The bearings that allow the top carriage to move, there are four of them, need replacing. They appear to be held in by a slot headed fixing of some sort, but i cannot see any screw threads, and there is, to me, a strange looking washer thing into which the slot headed fixing is seated. Has anyone ever restored one of these things and replaced these bearings? If they have I would be grateful for some input.

I can try and post some photos if that would help.

Thanks all

 

[SammyQ]

Welcome aboard Skeetstar. Mine is in bits at the back of a crowded shed, but if you're willing to wait 24 hours, I'm slated to tidy it tomorrow and will have a butchers on your behalf.

Sam, The Elliott Minor Man....

 

[skeetstar]

That is great Sam, thank you.
Also, do you have the thicknesser accessories with yours? I have two vast great castings that
obviously go together, but no idea how they actually attach to the machine.. but that is a
question that can wait till the bearings issue is sorted.

Talk anon I am sure

 

[SammyQ]

Noooo.....one does not possess said objects of desire, but I'm slightly perplexed by your question. I'll have a shufti for the manual mine came with and see if such boat anchors are mentioned/pictured. Hang in there; you are now on what the 'Murricanes call "The Slope" - where you slide faster and faster into a love of antique, heavy, but first class cast iron woodworking gear. I recommend you wenture over to OWWM.org and be astonished by:

The size of the things they take on,
The number of machines each stockpiles in "ratholes" and
The really good advice you get on restoring whacking great big kit to a usable state.

So far, I'm on: Elliott Minor, freee!! Wadkin AGS £50 (and £100 to repair), Crescent Bandsaw copy £11.53, Soag/Chekko metal lathe (0.5 tonnes) £73..... I try really hard to buy only what I NEED 'cos I only have a glorified shed - 11' x 8 ' - and space is a continual headache, but the finish off some of these tools is far superior to modern Chiwanese rubbish with their euphemistic aluminium castings and pressed steel whatevers.

Sam

 

[skeetstar]

Sammy, I don't mean to hassle , but did you take a look at your Eliott machine. my wife is back from hols wiith the camera so I could post a couple of pics if that helped?

Thanks

 

[SammyQ]

Sorry, 'flu stopped play. I did manage to locate the beast, but couldn't get to it because of all the lumber piled in front. I did get a couple of photos by shoving my camera down at arms length, will post after tea-time Saturday.

Sam

 

[SammyQ]

Right, got two photos:

Are those the bearings/screws you were posting about? I couldn't ressurect mine from the back of the pile, but I did wiggle my fingers onto the shafts supporting the bearings, they seemed to just be big coarse cross-head 'old-fashioned' screws. I reckon a thump with an impact driver might back them out?

On a more positive note, I've found the manual and will post a scan of what I think is your planing attachment in the next few minutes.

Sam

EDIT:

Please post your pictures?This problem ain't over until it's sorted.

S.

 

[SammyQ]

Sorry, Gates' Infernal Invention and its spawn are making a monkey out of me, can't lose the inverted page scan - WHICH WOULDN'T EDIT! ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

S.

 

[CHJ]

 

[SammyQ]

Ta Chas.

 

[skeetstar]

Sammy, the pictures if the planer are great, they show me how to orient the bits I have got, just need a way to fix them to the machine, It looks like I am missing a fixing or two.

Yes the bearings that can be seen in your phot are the ones I need to change, Will try and post some details photos of my own now.

 

[skeetstar]

If I do this right , this should show the exterior side of the fixing for the bearings. I can get the fixing to turn with a screw driver but that doesn't bring it out of the casting. As you can see the inner element is housed in some sort of sleeve which has a slot in it.

 

[skeetstar]

And here is the inner side of the bearing housing. If it drifts out it will have to be drifted out from here I guess, but I reckon I would need top make a special tool to do that.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[SammyQ]

I'm honestly baffled. Temporarily...I need to see if I can get through a big pile of timber to get to mine. I suspect that you will have to support the side of the casting and drive from the non-slotted side. My only hesitation is that there may be a pin involved? Why else should a slot head be provided? Confused.

Sam

 

[skeetstar]

Some progress made. The housing with a slot is just a collar in which the pin is seated, the pin being the bit that carries the bearing. I have got the collar out and the pin is now loose, but held in position within the casting by the remnant of the collapsed bearing, ie the inner ring on which the ball bearings sit. I guess this was sweated onto the pin somehow, cos it wont move. Once I have figured out a way to get that off, I can get the bearing renewed and get the machine back in commission.



Watch this space...

 

[SammyQ]

That's clearer Skeetstar. Can I suggest a drastic, but effective path to progress? I would NOT smack the shaft to drive the bearings out, there is simply too much unsupported cast iron flangery to snap off! What I would do, is jam the shaft/bearing complex tight, with clothespin wedges perhaps, then CAREFULLY track the outer race in two places with a cut off wheel in a dremel or similar. Then follow that with a GENTLE, SLOW cut through the inner race.

I had similar problems when a three spline steel pulley froze solid on a shaft in my Wadkin and I had to angle grind it off...as the Scots say, "my arris was makin' buttons!"....slow and gentle is your metier. You'll probably get little enough of the bearing sides to identify the bearing, but a caliper to measure the shaft etc and a careful perusal of the Bearing Boys website will get you a cheap set of replacements, with the knowledge you're buying from a reputable source.

To replace the bearings, I suggest an old-fashioned 100 Watt bulb and 15 mins 'cooking' on it for the bearing, followed by a swift insertion through the casting with a freezer-chilled shaft. Worked for me!

Good Luck.

Sam

 

[skeetstar]

Thanks Sam, that is pretty much what I was thinking... I need to go and get myself a Dremel or cheaper alternative and, as you say, cut carefully througn the bearing metal. I don't have a Dremel yet, so it will be a few days till my next post. Thanks for your help and interest,.

 

[skeetstar]

Done it! I managed to get the inner ring of the bearing off by heating it with my soldering iron. and levering it off the pin by application of a screwdriver, not pretty but effective.

Once the pin is out, the purpose of the slotted end becomes clear: See photo The bearing seats on the larger diameter element of thr pin, the two elements of the pin are on slightly different axes so by turning the pin you can raise or lower the bearing fractionally. I assume this is to allow for variance in bearing diameter, bearing wear or to aid leveliing of the carriage on the beam.

Soo off to get a new bearing and get it installed, we are on the home stretch.

PS , even though success was achieved, I went the idiots route. In line with each bearing housing there is a machine screw the end of which impinges on the slotted collar around the base of the pin... so undo the screw, twist the bearing shaft to adjust height of bearing, tighten screw against slotted collar and ll is locked solid.

Magic

 

[SammyQ]

=D> =D> =D> That man!!! Colour me impressed! AND you have added to the supply of knowledge about a discontinued/antique machine, Yay!

Sam

 

[skeetstar]

Well we are done. Sammy I used your technique for getting the bearing onto he shaft (one cold, one hot) worked a dream. BTW, the bearing ID is 3/8in and the OD is 5/8in. Everyting works, just a matter of making some adjustments here and there, and getting an Imperial allen key to install the plane knives and we are in production.

Thanks for all you help, it is much appreciated.