Machinery refurbishment

[JDraper]

Hey everyone, I’m new to the forum and I have just posted an introduction. I’m wondering if anyone has any leads regarding machine maintenance or refurbishment. I have a Sedgwick CP in two tone green, Sedgwick spindle moulder in the blue and white livery, and a startrite mortiser that all need an overhaul. I live near Cambridge, and I can’t seem to find anyone nearby who does maintenance on woodworking machines. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[Deadeye]

Depends what you mean by "refurbishment" or "maintenance" or "overhaul"? I didn't know much but have stripped and rebuilt a pillar drill, a planer, two thicknessers and two lathes. It's not as hard as you fear and there's always been lots of wisdom and advice on here.

I suspect there are two problems with finding a commercial service.

Firstly, to do it all properly takes a long time...and so it's a labour of love not an economic proposition. The cost of labour at any sensible rate would outweigh the value of the machine.

Secondly, it's all rather unpredictable. Sometimes bolts simply won't come out, or parts are worn out and spares no longer available, or the pulley won't come off. So it's hard for someone to say "yes, I'll replace the bearings for £X" when they don't really know if that will actually be possible or how long it will take them.

So the other way is to do it yourself and enjoy the ride!

 

[Sideways]

That sums it up very well.
I've restored a few machines and my buddies have done more, mostly for ourselves as we search for our ideal machines but including a couple of overhauls for people who asked nicely.
It's never as simple as expected.
The machine is always worse than the owner describes
Parts are expensive to source and/or need access to a full machine shop to take stock parts and machine them to fit.

If you work on your own machine, even if that is one you ultimately sell, you are in charge and the decisions on what to do are all yours.

If you work on someone else's machine against some sort of estimate of costs, it is frustrating because working to a budget, you have to leave things undone because the owner won't value the little things enough to pay what it costs to sort them. You waste time and energy working around problems but still trying to get the machine just right If you break the machine, it's on you. Lots of risk, the pressure of a deadline and little upside. Nah, not fun.

I recommend good old machines to people because they tend to be well built and long lived, but unless you have some mechanical aptitude and are willing to learn how to maintain them yourself, you may be best off with cheaper machines and consider them disposable because no one will fix them either once they are out of warranty.

I'll offer a view and would be interested in readers comments.
What is the going price of a repair to fairly expensive kit ?
It isn't unusual to find a repair costs maybe half of what something is worth. More than that and you start to query whether the repair is worth it or should you just pay more to get a new machine with a full warranty.
Sedgwick machines are typically £4k plus new.
So if a repair cost £2k, that's not atypical, yes ?
If you could find someone to restore your machine (not me), would you pay that or would you take your money to Axminster and buy a new Harvey ?


Sedgwick charge a lot for their spares. It has nothing to do with what they cost them. It has everything to do with how much they can get out of you.
Fortunately what usually goes wrong are bearings, bronze bushes, motor bearings or even whole motors, rubber belts and the like. You buy all of those at affordable prices from the online bearings and transmission suppliers.
You assess your machine carefully and in the worst case you also have to give Sedgwick £200 apiece to replace a couple of worn out sprockets and you buy a new drive chain from someone else.
So if you DIY, you might get away with between £150 and £750 cost of parts to bring a machine back to full working order.
Just don't drop anything important or the cost of one big part will be more than your whole machine is worth.

Good luck

 

[JDraper]

Depends what you mean by "refurbishment" or "maintenance" or "overhaul"? I didn't know much but have stripped and rebuilt a pillar drill, a planer, two thicknessers and two lathes. It's not as hard as you fear and there's always been lots of wisdom and advice on here.

I suspect there are two problems with finding a commercial service.

Firstly, to do it all properly takes a long time...and so it's a labour of love not an economic proposition. The cost of labour at any sensible rate would outweigh the value of the machine.

Secondly, it's all rather unpredictable. Sometimes bolts simply won't come out, or parts are worn out and spares no longer available, or the pulley won't come off. So it's hard for someone to say "yes, I'll replace the bearings for £X" when they don't really know if that will actually be possible or how long it will take them.

So the other way is to do it yourself and enjoy the ride!

I was thinking about doing it myself, my aim is get them working as well as possible not so much worrying about aesthetics. I did try and sort the mortiser out, I inherited it from my dad and it has never been serviced. The alignment is slightly out. What I need is to find someone with more experience in doing these things

 

[JDraper]

That sums it up very well.
I've restored a few machines and my buddies have done more, mostly for ourselves as we search for our ideal machines but including a couple of overhauls for people who asked nicely.
It's never as simple as expected.
The machine is always worse than the owner describes
Parts are expensive to source and/or need access to a full machine shop to take stock parts and machine them to fit.

If you work on your own machine, even if that is one you ultimately sell, you are in charge and the decisions on what to do are all yours.

If you work on someone else's machine against some sort of estimate of costs, it is frustrating because working to a budget, you have to leave things undone because the owner won't value the little things enough to pay what it costs to sort them. You waste time and energy working around problems but still trying to get the machine just right If you break the machine, it's on you. Lots of risk, the pressure of a deadline and little upside. Nah, not fun.

I recommend good old machines to people because they tend to be well built and long lived, but unless you have some mechanical aptitude and are willing to learn how to maintain them yourself, you may be best off with cheaper machines and consider them disposable because no one will fix them either once they are out of warranty.

I'll offer a view and would be interested in readers comments.
What is the going price of a repair to fairly expensive kit ?
It isn't unusual to find a repair costs maybe half of what something is worth. More than that and you start to query whether the repair is worth it or should you just pay more to get a new machine with a full warranty.
Sedgwick machines are typically £4k plus new.
So if a repair cost £2k, that's not atypical, yes ?
If you could find someone to restore your machine (not me), would you pay that or would you take your money to Axminster and buy a new Harvey ?


Sedgwick charge a lot for their spares. It has nothing to do with what they cost them. It has everything to do with how much they can get out of you.
Fortunately what usually goes wrong are bearings, bronze bushes, motor bearings or even whole motors, rubber belts and the like. You buy all of those at affordable prices from the online bearings and transmission suppliers.
You assess your machine carefully and in the worst case you also have to give Sedgwick £200 apiece to replace a couple of worn out sprockets and you buy a new drive chain from someone else.
So if you DIY, you might get away with between £150 and £750 cost of parts to bring a machine back to full working order.
Just don't drop anything important or the cost of one big part will be more than your whole machine is worth.

Good luck

I don’t want a disposable machine, in Sussex I know of a few companies who service machines, all I was looking for was the same in Cambridge. The Sedgwick works well as it is, I bought it secondhand and want it to run as well as possible, the mortiser needs more tlc. Thanks

 

[imageel]

I'd echo what others above have said, these days with the high labour costs and rising prices and potential lack of availability of spare parts to restore or refurbish a machine is often a labour of love and not a commercial proposition.
If you have some basic engineering knowledge and tools most of your machines are relatively simple and there are plenty on this forum who can offer advice and expertise if you encounter problems or are unsure how to proceed, all you need to do is post your questions and await the responses!

 

[JDraper]

I'd echo what others above have said, these days with the high labour costs and rising prices and potential lack of availability of spare parts to restore or refurbish a machine is often a labour of love and not a commercial proposition.
If you have some basic engineering knowledge and tools most of your machines are relatively simple and there are plenty on this forum who can offer advice and expertise if you encounter problems or are unsure how to proceed, all you need to do is post your questions and await the responses!

Yeah I appreciate that, only that I’m working so don’t always have spare time. Like I replied to sideways in Sussex I knew of a few companies who did this, I’m surprised I can’t find any in Cambridge. The two Sedgwick machines I bought secondhand for ver reasonable prices so would be worth the outlay getting them serviced, they are working I just like to have everything as best as it can be. The Mortiser I inherited so even cheaper haha.

 

[imageel]

I guess it is always a challenge finding the time to do extra stuff - back in the day I was holding down a high pressure job/career in the city and would come home, eat a meal, likely kids already in bed and I'd change out of my suit and head off into my garage to make replacement window frames for our house that I was refurbishing.
These days I certainly don't have the stamina to do much, but back then little phased me in terms of having a go myself before reaching out for help.
You could try and find engineering assistance by contacting your local 'mens shed' and see if they or any of their members know of outfits that could assist in setting up your machines.

 

[JDraper]

I guess it is always a challenge finding the time to do extra stuff - back in the day I was holding down a high pressure job/career in the city and would come home, eat a meal, likely kids already in bed and I'd change out of my suit and head off into my garage to make replacement window frames for our house that I was refurbishing.
These days I certainly don't have the stamina to do much, but back then little phased me in terms of having a go myself before reaching out for help.
You could try and find engineering assistance by contacting your local 'mens shed' and see if they or any of their members know of outfits that could assist in setting up your machines.

Stamina isn’t the problem, it’s finding an engineer to service these machines, like getting a mechanic on a secondhand car

 

[Sideways]

Here's your "how to" for the planer.
The differences between your CP and the MB are minimal, it's just bigger.
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/sedgwick-mb-planer-thicknesser-full-refurbishment.136008/

 

[JDraper]

Here's your "how to" for the planer.
The differences between your CP and the MB are minimal, it's just bigger.
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/sedgwick-mb-planer-thicknesser-full-refurbishment.136008/

Awesome thank you!

 

[Against_The_Grain]

Call-out engineers are usually on around £50-75 an hour, excluding travelling costs. This can get ludicrously expensive, especially for simple maintenance work like stripping a motor and replacing bearings.

Whatever you do, don't employ J.J. Smith in Liverpool, they will charge you £400 each way travel costs, £75 an hour, only for their engineer to spend a day looking at the machine and just give it a once over with an oily rag.