Repairing a wobbly brace

[Farmer Giles]

I've been lurking for a long time but I have been mainly metal bashing but now I have a few woodworking projects to work on so I thought I would jump out of the cabinet as it were and say hi

I bought a brace on fleabay a while ago, nice condition for the princely sum of 10 quid inc P+P except the rear handle or head is annoyingly wobbly.

I took the wooden handle off and a small segment of a washer fell out, this bodge was taking up some slack, so now it was wobblier than Dolly Parton's doo dah's. I ground the end of the shaft off so I could remove the retaining washer and the metal part of the handle to see the wear. As you can see from the pics its a little worn.

Ideally I would take out the wear in the quill shaft then fit an oilite bush and thrust washer, but as this shaft is connected to the crank its a bit difficult to get in my lathe :roll:

So the plan now is to buy a 3/8 ID", 1/2" OD 1-1/8" long oilite bush and ream it out so it is snug on the quill and ream out the head boss to take out the wear so its a nice tight fit on the bush. The fit a 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD x 1/8" thick thrust washer to take out the horizontal play and smooth the rotation a bit.

Sounds like a lot of work for a 4 quid brace, but the bush and washer is about 3 quid and its a nice tool apart from the handle. Anybody else repaired a similar one? Its a J A Chapman, bought out by Stanley in the 1930's.

A couple of pics

The brace before I dismantled the handle

The bodge and the horizontal play

the play on the shaft, the steel against steel when rotating is not a good idea either.

Wear on the shaft that's causing the wobble

Cheers
Andy

 

[AndyT]

Hi Andy and welcome to the forum.

I think what you are demonstrating here is that back in the 1930s when your brace was made, there would have been a huge choice of braces, at a wide range of price points, just as there is with power tools today.

Looking at a 1938 Marples catalogue, for example, a plain 8" brace could be had for as little as 3s 6d, with no bearings, ratchet or plated finish. Adding better jaws and a ball-bearing head cost another shilling.

Adding a ratchet brought the price to 7s 9d, but that was without bearings - so make that 10s instead, or 12s if you wanted it nickel plated!
And so the choices went on, up to 14s 3d for the top of the range model.

I say all this not to discourage you - I applaud your thoroughness at putting this old one back to work - but just to point out that not all braces are equal. The good thing is that many ebay buyers and sellers don't know that - so you could easily be paying the same or less for a superior tool to hang alongside your first one, so as to give you the pleasure of choosing the right one for the job in hand... :wink:

PS - I'd just shim the shaft with a bit of thin aluminium - but I don't know what an oilite bush is!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Welcome from me, too!

Rather than trying to true up the end of the shaft in the lathe, some careful work with a file or two should get it near enough. Remember - it's a ten quid woodworking brace, not a jig borer quill! A couple of thou out won't bother anyone.

The rest of the plan sounds fine. Don't think I'd bother with the Oilite bushes, though. Couple of bits of scrap brass or bronze would do for this job. I assume you've something up your sleeve for retaining the rotary head on the shaft end (drill out, tap and fit a thick washer with a suitable screw and a dab of Loctite threadlock would be one way).

 

[Farmer Giles]

Hi Andy and welcome to the forum.

I think what you are demonstrating here is that back in the 1930s when your brace was made, there would have been a huge choice of braces, at a wide range of price points, just as there is with power tools today.

Looking at a (I can't post URLs yet so snipped!) for example, a plain 8" brace could be had for as little as 3s 6d, with no bearings, ratchet or plated finish. Adding better jaws and a ball-bearing head cost another shilling.

Adding a ratchet brought the price to 7s 9d, but that was without bearings - so make that 10s instead, or 12s if you wanted it nickel plated!
And so the choices went on, up to 14s 3d for the top of the range model.

I say all this not to discourage you - I applaud your thoroughness at putting this old one back to work - but just to point out that not all braces are equal. The good thing is that many ebay buyers and sellers don't know that - so you could easily be paying the same or less for a superior tool to hang alongside your first one, so as to give you the pleasure of choosing the right one for the job in hand... :wink:

PS - I'd just shim the shaft with a bit of thin aluminium - but I don't know what an oilite bush is!

Thanks Andy

The chuck and ratchet work like a Swiss watch so its a pity the handle comes from the cheap end of the catalogue!

Oilite bushes are typically made of a porous bronze alloy and impregnated with oil so they run silky smooth and are very hard wearing. They come in various standard metric and imperial sizes and can be difficult to machine so its best if you can get the size you need. I was ordering some for my tractor's front axle so I've already pinned the ones for the brace onto that order so I may as well use them now, it should make it run as smooth as an otter's pocket

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Welcome from me, too!

Rather than trying to true up the end of the shaft in the lathe, some careful work with a file or two should get it near enough. Remember - it's a ten quid woodworking brace, not a jig borer quill! A couple of thou out won't bother anyone.

The rest of the plan sounds fine. Don't think I'd bother with the Oilite bushes, though. Couple of bits of scrap brass or bronze would do for this job. I assume you've something up your sleeve for retaining the rotary head on the shaft end (drill out, tap and fit a thick washer with a suitable screw and a dab of Loctite threadlock would be one way).

Thanks CC,

Don't worry, it won't be going in the lathe Too awkward a shape, I shall be giving it a bit of a file as you suggest. The end of the shaft was just burred over before, I may cut a slot and use a circlip or something similar to what your suggesting. I won't be peening it over again.

I shall post a couple of pics when I'm done.

I'm off to a sawmill tomorrow to buy some nice Douglas Fir and a large log of oak, possibly pippy. I'm hoping to use the DF later this year if the moisture level gets to around 12%, the oak is for the future. I shall let you know how I get on.

Regards
Andy

 

[hanser]

Welcome FG

Which sawmill do you use?
My son has just moved to Yeadon and for future reference a source of 'local' timber would be useful.
Cheers
Robin

 

[Farmer Giles]

Hi Robin, I've just answered the same question from Mark here's what I sent to him

Its a wholesale place about 15 miles from Hull, it used to supply high quality timber to the boat trade but that art has largely died. He deals with DF, and larch and then mainly hard woods, the staple being English oak. He doesn't resell cheap imported softwoods. I shall PM you the details, he does collection only and reasonable quantities, he won't just cut enough for a coffee table!

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

I've finished the wobbly brace today, it is now nice and smooth and far less wobbly.

First reamed out the boss to 1/2"

The pushed in the oilite bush with an old fly press (needs some TLC, yet another job). I pushed the bush through so it was about 1.5mm proud at the end facing the brace chuck.

I did take a pic of the shaft nicely ground down but it was out of focus. As It wouldn't go in the lathe I clamped a small bench grinder to a plank then clamped this to the bench so it was overhanging sufficiently so I could turn the brace with its crank all the way round and miss the bench, this way I could rotate it and get a far rounder and neater job than hand filing and take off a little at a time. Once it was somewhere near I stropped it with some emery cloth until it was nice and shiny and fitted in the bush smoothly with no wobble. I then assembled it and found a washer to fit, I then used the washer as a guide to cut a slot for circlip with a junior hacksaw, then widened the slot a tad with a standard hacksaw blade. Here's it complete.

I did play with a oilite thrust washer and this was a bit incongruous and meant I couldn't use a circlip and drilling the shaft end would be a pig as its not a bench drill friendly shape. So instead, pushing the bush through about 1.5mm meant that there is a small gap but this allows steel to bush contact rather than steel to steel. If it wears out I can push it through a bit more however I think it will outlast me.

It may seem a lot effort for a 5 quid brace however now it is a useful tool and it only took about 30 mins or so and about 3 quid for the bush.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Splendid job! I'm impressed with the jury-rigged cylindrical grinder idea - nice bit of lateral thinking!

It's remarkably satisfying to recondition an old tool. You'll get a little inner glow of quiet satisfaction every time you use it.

 

[marcros]

Welcome FG

Which sawmill do you use?
My son has just moved to Yeadon and for future reference a source of 'local' timber would be useful.
Cheers
Robin

I am about 3 miles from Yeadon. Havent found much in the way of local mills. There is one towards Pateley Bridge that i was told about last weekend. I forget the name, but it could be this one:

pricing-up-wood-t49274.html

 

[Farmer Giles]

They are breeding! All JA Chapman braces. I'm not making a collection as such, I wanted a shorter throw one and the other was very cheap and as I know how to fix them up now it just seemed to make sense. I fully intend to use them not gaze at them.

The little un' needed some lateral movement taking out and had also been peened over so that now has the circlip treatment, took about 6 minutes. The scruffy looking one is the same 10" throw as my original but larger diameter bar so probably older. That will go into the to do pile for now as I have no4 and 4 1/2 planes to fettle first, both were given to me. The no4 needed a new blade which I found courtesy of ebay and the 4 1/2 is just rusty and has had a bad handle repair, it was still in its original box.
Cheers
Andy