Wadkin FM24” Planer Restoration

[ScottyT]

Things have moved along in the paint department, I got the top coat on the main casting, it’s looks pretty good, not perfect but i am happy with it, at the end of the day this machine will be getting hammered so it won’t stay pretty for long anyway

It’s original colour specification (pretty much anyway) and should look the ticket when it’s finished.

I now have the thickness table flipped over so i can access the rollers. Now this bit required a little bit of elbow grease, the blowtorch, some copper and assortment of hammers.

For those who are not familiar with these types of machines, the thickness table shown above (upside down in this photo) has a roller system built with in it to facilitate the smooth running of stock through the machine when using the feed gear, it works by a hand wheel at the infeed table that when turned raises and lowers two rollers positioned either side of the cutter block, if your running some nice dry Douglas Fir thorough though the table the wheels can be in a position that’s more or less flat with the machines surface of the table as the stock will tend not to get stuck.
If however your machining a dirty piece of green oak that’s 6” wide it’ll be wanting to stick itself to the bed, friction is your enemy here, but in these circumstances you can raise the rollers within the bed to ‘break’ the friction and greatly improve the feed, we’re talking 0.3 projection above the table.
It’s a simple enough system, but this has seen 62 English winters and it’s all a little bit corroded and seized.

There are two collars, one at either end of a steel bar, they do two jobs, retain the bar itself, and they are also the cams for the raising and lower of the rollers that are positioned directly below in this photo, or directly above in normal orientation.
They are held with 1/8 hex grub screws, and are also keyed to the shaft. This was an issue as it wasn’t just a case of hitting the bar on the outside of the casting, the keys were hitting the casting from the inside, so I had to move atleast one collar Inbound, remove the key and only them would it allow me to withdraw it from one end. Took me about an hour to do one, lots of heat, a large hammer, a small pien and some copper slips and a copper drift got the job done.

I even had to heat the keys out, they were a bugger to persuade out.

Once I got one end out I withdrew it and then smacked the other cam/retainer and actuator casting off the other end but inboard of the table.

A good afternoon spent whilst also doing my favourite job in the world, knocking on reams and reams of cedar shingles on a curved roof. Lovely. I’m hoping to have the table painted by the weekend, it’s a substantial piece of kit, it should look great when it’s painted.

Scotty

 

[Curval]

This is a very interesting thread and an excellent project, thanks for sharing.

 

[Graham McClure]

Things have moved along in the paint department, I got the top coat on the main casting, it’s looks pretty good, not perfect but i am happy with it, at the end of the day this machine will be getting hammered so it won’t stay pretty for long anyway

View attachment 177819View attachment 177820

It’s original colour specification (pretty much anyway) and should look the ticket when it’s finished.

I now have the thickness table flipped over so i can access the rollers. Now this bit required a little bit of elbow grease, the blowtorch, some copper and assortment of hammers.

View attachment 177821

For those who are not familiar with these types of machines, the thickness table shown above (upside down in this photo) has a roller system built with in it to facilitate the smooth running of stock through the machine when using the feed gear, it works by a hand wheel at the infeed table that when turned raises and lowers two rollers positioned either side of the cutter block, if your running some nice dry Douglas Fir thorough though the table the wheels can be in a position that’s more or less flat with the machines surface of the table as the stock will tend not to get stuck.
If however your machining a dirty piece of green oak that’s 6” wide it’ll be wanting to stick itself to the bed, friction is your enemy here, but in these circumstances you can raise the rollers within the bed to ‘break’ the friction and greatly improve the feed, we’re talking 0.3 projection above the table.
It’s a simple enough system, but this has seen 62 English winters and it’s all a little bit corroded and seized.

View attachment 177822

There are two collars, one at either end of a steel bar, they do two jobs, retain the bar itself, and they are also the cams for the raising and lower of the rollers that are positioned directly below in this photo, or directly above in normal orientation.
They are held with 1/8 hex grub screws, and are also keyed to the shaft. This was an issue as it wasn’t just a case of hitting the bar on the outside of the casting, the keys were hitting the casting from the inside, so I had to move atleast one collar Inbound, remove the key and only them would it allow me to withdraw it from one end. Took me about an hour to do one, lots of heat, a large hammer, a small pien and some copper slips and a copper drift got the job done.

View attachment 177824

I even had to heat the keys out, they were a pipper to persuade out.

View attachment 177825

Once I got one end out I withdrew it and then smacked the other cam/retainer and actuator casting off the other end but inboard of the table.

View attachment 177826

A good afternoon spent whilst also doing my favourite job in the world, knocking on reams and reams of cedar shingles on a curved roof. Lovely. I’m hoping to have the table painted by the weekend, it’s a substantial piece of kit, it should look great when it’s painted.

Scotty

Hi Thats great work. I have a Wadkin planer and Robinson table saw which I want to clean up, repair a bit get, better acquainted with and export to Tanzania to set up a workshop. Can i get in contact with you re some questions on maintenance please ?

 

[ScottyT]

Hi Thats great work. I have a Wadkin planer and Robinson table saw which I want to clean up, repair a bit get, better acquainted with and export to Tanzania to set up a workshop. Can i get in contact with you re some questions on maintenance please ?

Hi Graham, no problem at all I’ll help you in any way I can. I believe you can private message me directly on here.
I also have a Robinson dimension saw, in my biased opinion I think they are the finest examples produced, you have great taste

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

I flapped some red paint on the thicknessing bed today and left that to do it’s thing, so I turned my attention to the tables rollers and rise and fall actuating mechanism.
The rollers themselves are just turned lengths of quality steel, with the ends turned down to accept DN 2062 bearings, that’s an imperial size of 5/8 internal bore, and an 1” 9/16 OD. They are clapped out so I have removed them ready for replacement.

These are what I like to call Joiners V Blocks, they are a great help when it comes to this type of work and are very cheap to produce
Obviously the left hand roller has had a little tickle up to see how they come up, and they come up well. The 2/3rds barrel on the ends are the bearing housings and also the means to which they fit the table, they simply slide into machined sections, with gravity the only thing keep them in place.

I didn’t have the room at first to get the puller in-behind the barrels, so I gently heated up the bearing, and with a solid piece of copper tube and a large hammer I gave the edges of the barrel a few sharp blows, just to draw it off enough to sneak the puller in. Once the forks were in it was no problem.

I will now give it all a good clean up and simply fit it back onto the table before dropping it all back into the main event. That’ll be the next post, I am very much looking forward to this magnificent machine taking centre stage in my workshop.

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

I managed to ease the table back into the main event this afternoon, I got it all prepared, cleaned out any fastenings I was reusing (I’m swapping most out for stainless but I have to say the original hardware comes up a treat and it feels very good quality so I’m using it where I can)
It was very plain sailing i must say, it all slipped on a treat.

Two gib strips, two cast thread plates that fit to the underside of the table and x4 5/8 whit bolts and washers for fixing those plates.
The rise and fall mechanism of the machine is such that when the wheel is turned to adjust the table for height, the two large threads rotate simultaneously, because of this, slots have been cut out of the thread plates that link the the two together to enable the clean meshing of BOTH threads at the same time by allowing you to rotate the plate within those slots to catch the thread as the table comes to rest. Once they’re both located i snugged up the Gib screws and lock nuts and the 5/8 bolts for the cast.

A very very small thumbing of grease at the top of the rail here to allow the table to slide nicely. Grease is a no go for me on the externals of a machine but in this environment it’ll be ok.

it went back in 100x easier than it came out, and it all lined up and dropped down in the first attempt.

The cut out in the casting that you can see (right side of the thread in the above photo) is to get access to the Gib strip bolts and lock nuts. There are 3 each side, 5/16 bolts with nuts for locking off when set.
The cam assembly has to be in place before the table is lowered back in as they are drawn in and out from the casting. The rollers however can be fitted after as they just drop in.

Here is a view outside for the gib screw adjustment, there is one more located above these two in a separate cut out in the casting.
I’ll be looking at getting the motor back on towards the end of this week, it’s all finished ready to go so at the earliest opportunity I’ll get it lashed back on.

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

The pile of scrap is getting thinner and thinner and as more pieces go back on the machine with a new lease of life. I’ve got a long way to go on this machine but i am starting to get to a point where I can see a bit of daylight.
I now have the imperial scale and its carrier back on the machine, the motor and everything that goes with it, name plate and some other misc bits and pieces. It’s looking good and I’m pleased with how it’s going

The motor on this is savage heavy for a smallish machine, barely manageable with out aid so I’m pleased it’s back home. The two stage pulley is yet to go back on but I won’t bother with that for a while yet.
The table roller control wheel is the last thing to go back on before that is all back in place and fully operational.

The threaded bar that can be seen in front of the motor is ideal for taking the strain off the two arms that carry it, and they also aid in tensioning the dual drive belts that go up to the block.

It won’t look like this for long

So far, so good. Not encountered any trouble, not anything that a little elbow grease and a blow torch can’t handle. Had to make a few things in the lathe, chase a few threads etc but very little.

Scotty

 

[Jake]

This era of British machinery really were something. The pretty good and eminently restorable state of it after so many decades of long and hard working life this thing must have had is really impressive. Great work, great thread btw.

 

[Jester129]

That motor is a monster! You are doing a terrific job by the look of it, well done you!

 

[ScottyT]

This era of British machinery really were something. The pretty good and eminently restorable state of it after so many decades of long and hard working life this thing must have had is really impressive. Great work, great thread btw.

The castings are so substantial and the tolerances of the machining are so high that aside from bearings and serious misuse these machines will just go and go and go. I really like old machines, they can produce great work for me, they are dependable and bizarrely cheap to acquire.
Thanks for the interest.

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

You can’t beat a bit of British Leyland or similar on your planing machine. This is standard equipment front and back, obviously using whatever they had that was available. Brilliant.
Obviously the door is now on, the lettering will be picked out in red sometime soon, but for now I’ll carry on with the rest of it.

Paints not perfect but it’s pretty good for me.

I have the table roller extensions fitted, I have shimmed them to run level with the bed, and they have come up really well. I fine tuned the thicknessing table using those cast spin plates I spoke of earlier in the thread, I got the bed as level as I can until I actually sail some stock through and measure either side. It’s a great system really easy to adjust and set.

Gear linkage is now fully fitted back on, works lovely, there is a grease nipple behind the dial readout here to keep things running nice and slick in that cast bracket. All cleaned up and working as it should

Here is one of the two cast pieces that hold the feed gear and the block, like the rest of the machine they are filthy with oil, grease, dust and grime. I shall clean them up, paint them and then refit to the main casting, I will be well on my way then to getting this thing in to action. It’s a metric bearing that the block takes, 90 o/d, 40 bore and 30mm wide.

These are doweled for location to the main event and then x3 5/8w bolts make sure it’s staying put. Next post up will be these fitted back on to the machine and it’ll really start looking like a planer/Thicknesser again.

Scotty

 

[Cabinetman]

I can’t imagine what that machine would cost if it were made new now. The quality of the parts is wonderful.

 

[Jester129]

Just the cost of one casting.....

 

[ScottyT]

It would be a shiny penny I should think. It is so well made you have to see it in person to really appreciate it. When I brought it I couldn’t view it in person, so I asked some salient questions and took a punt on it. When it turned up I was surprised at the immense size of it in such a small footprint. For the last 15 years I’ve been using an 18” Bursgreen UOS, a substantial piece of kit in its own right, but the Wadkin is leagues and leagues in front of it.

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

more progress on the FM, it’s really starting to look like a planer again and my big pile of old cast iron is getting smaller and smaller.

I’ve fitted the block castings back onto the machine, they also take the feed gear and pressure bars, so it’s been a big big leap forwards getting them back on.

The fluted feed roller (in as removed condition) this is at the fore of the feed assembly as it’s able to grab the stock nicely with the flutes, the out feed roller is smooth so it doesn’t mark the stock after it’s been through the block. They run in 4 plain bronze bushes each, two either side and they are held in beautiful steel blocks with an Adams oil cup to facilitate lubricating. As shown below

Here is the assembly cleaned up and refitted to the main event

The bronze bushings, there are two housed In each one of these blocks of which there are 4. The middle of the block is relieved of bronze to allow the oil to get in amongst it. I haven’t replaced these bushes as there is no permissible play at all, incredible really. It’s a very low speed and as long as they are well lubricated they last an age.

pressure bar springs, R/H side being cleaned up to show the state it was all in.
These run up through the underside of the main casting, pass through the block castings and thread into the underside of the pressure bars themselves. It’s exactly the same set up for the feed roller assembly aside from the size of the bar. For the pressure bars it’s 3/8 Whitworth and the feed rollers use 5/8 W.
These threaded bars are what applies the pressure to the feed system, as you pass the stock through the machine these kick into action, allowing vertical movement and whilst applying pressure on the timber.

In the above photo you can see I’ve put the sprockets back on the infeed and out feed rollers and got one pressure bar fitted back In and set up. The rear pressure bar is angled slightly in a brass housing piece that fits snug in the block casting. The threads bar is fed down the machine into its steel bracket that’s fixed to the main event.
I heated the sprockets up in the works air fryer, 200 degrees for half hour and they just slip on, I didn’t want to smack them on as it could upset things.

Both rollers fitted up, looking a treat and all running really really nicely.

A piece of brass is held on top of the rear pressure bar with 3/16 Whit screws snugged right up to the outfeed roller, this is a scrape to keep the crap off the roller which in turn stops pressed debris getting pressed Into the finished stock every revolution.
You have to see this thing to believe it to be honest with you, it’s incredible, the way they built it is just immense and it’s so far been a real pleasure to bring back around

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

A quick-fire update on the planer, the end draws close. I now have the castings painted and mounted that carry the top tables and facilitate them sliding up and down. The electrical covers are painted and nearly ready for refitting along with the Brookhurst isolation switch which i am taking back to the alloy.

The gearbox is mounted, the drive chain (original quality renold) is fitted and tensioned to where I feel the correct tension should be. You need to run the chain so when the timber draws the all the feed gear upwards the chain still has a little bit of play in it, otherwise it’ll be like a banjo and put huge amounts of strain on the bronze bearings and the gearbox bearings. Not what you want.

The bar fitted centrally to the top table casting is what makes the tables move up and down, you have a crank handle that fits in the end and you simply turn it one way or the other for up and down.
All of the tension springs have been fitted bath side now too, it all operates really nicely. It won’t be long now…….

Scotty

 

[ScottyT]

It’s been a short while since I updated on here, works been busy etc etc. I have still been working on the planer as and when I have been able and I am nearly at the end of what’s been a wonderful rebuild of a truly magnificent machine.
I have turned my full attention to the block and wiring it back up so I can test it all out.

The bearings on the block were thrashed almost beyond resemblance of a bearing at all, however the block is in surprisingly good shape still.

That is what’s known as a spanked bearing. I had to slit and cold chisel the inner races off the block as obviously they were beyond pulling.

Lots of heat and some carver clamps were used to free the pulley off the drive side.

Here is the cutting block cleaned up, with the moulding cutter plates removed to clean in and around it all.
(This machine takes cutters that doesn’t upset the knives so you can mould anything from rounds to Tongue and Groove either passing the stock over the top or feeding it through underneath using guide sticks screwed to the bed)

A better look at the Dovetail slot that takes the cutters. It has cleaned up well this one. I have the new bearings fitted and the pulley back on so it is ready to refit to the machine. I shall do that next week and show you what that looks like. Interestingly it’s a metric bearing. SKF 90x40x33

The planer is now wired up, with a DC brake fitted neatly into the electrical box so no ugly tin box planted on the outside. I have had the machine fired up off of the generator and run through the gears, it’s really sweet and smooth.

I can’t post videos on here so I took a still of me with the machine so you can see the dual pulley fitted back on the machine with the link belt hooked up to the 3 speed gearbox. You can get a slight sense of scale too, the top tables are yet to be fitted and even now it’s a monster of a machine. When I get the block fitted I’ll report back with an update. The end is certainly in sight on this one

Scotty

 

[Cabinetman]

I am totally in awe! Of both the machine and the way you have resurrected it.

 

[Fred48]

@ScottyT
Fascinating restoration and read. The photographs clearly show the high quality of your work. Thanks for sharing.
Fred

 

[ScottyT]

I am totally in awe! Of both the machine and the way you have resurrected it.

Thank you very much, it’s been a great project.