wadkin MJ restoration

[wallace]

Hi Nathan I'm still keeping track of hrs but I have not tallied up yet. I haven't got to welding yet. I borrowed somebody my welder and they used a full mini coil of wire and a bottle of gas. They said they'd replace it the day after. That was 3 weeks ago. :twisted:

 

[wallace]

I started the head today









Heres the broken stud





I then started on the fence which is quite a lump

 

[Nippychippy]

Loving your work your doing a great job

 

[Bigdanny]

You're doing a good job there Wallace. I'm looking forward to doing mine.
I have a question. Are you planning to change the flat belts to v belts. Mine has been changed on the drive to the knives but is still belt dive on the gearbox/ feed drive. I'm still thinking that may be good to change to v belts all round. It should be quieter I think.
What are your thoughts.

Danny

 

[wallace]

Hi Danny, I am going to keep to flat belt if its too noisy I might change the canvas belts to rubber. If I wanted to change the drive to the gearbox I would have to get a 20" double pulley. My other old planer has been converted to v belt and it looks ugly

 

[wallace]

I can almost see the finish line so I am getting all excited. I was up at 5am so thought I'd do a couple of hours before I had to the daily routine. The clams of the head have been soaking in the barrel over night, this is how they came out



This is after a rub with a cloth, it makes for cleaning rust off a lot cleaner and safer



This is after a rub with some scrubber stuff



I then drilled the broken stud ready for the stud extractor. It drilled really easily just keep forgetting to get some plus gas.



I could not resist putting some bits together





It was 7:30 so had to go back indoors to do my chores and stuff

 

[Bigdanny]

Hi Wallace,
I seem to remember Jack in Canada had a problem with the nuts, studs on his cutting head. I think is this thread and he got some specially made. if-wadkin-made-toilets-they-would-not-flush-t56241-15.html.

Hope this helps

Danny

 

[nathandavies]

a while ago I told you about my bts500 that I bought from the bay, which was dropped just before I picked it up. today I had a guy come over who will be able to weld the broken cast for me. so I've started taking it apart, although i'd love to do a full strip down, I just need to get it working. it's not a beautiful looking machine, but it should be an excellent workhorse. I feel like a strip down to some extent will be needed to remove rust, grime and the like. I need to look back and see what your overnight bath is all about, presumably not matey. I may well have some questions for you regarding bearings, nuts etc. I have a wadkin cc to get working, and a 100yr old planer thicknesser to do a total restore on. (maybe in 40yrs when I retire) I like to keep an eye on what you are doing as it gives me a bit of encouragement to get on with mine (usually to the detrement of the work I should be getting on with) you're currently our equivalent of jack (tool613). keep up the good work, looking forward to using them?

nathan

 

[wallace]

Danny, Jack has kindly offered me one of his nuts and stud. Nathan the CC is the long one isn't it I have the baby ck. I also have an old P/T which is a decent age. I am not going to restore but keep it with all its 100 years of patina. One problem I have is that I tend to start to rush things near the end and its hard to maintain the standard that I want to achieve. My work Being compared to Jacks is a great compliment but I can dream to get to his standards. I keep trying

 

[wallace]

I put the fence in the barrel for the night and then reassembled the feed rollers. I got a shock when I unwrapped the rollers, when I cleaned and de rusted them I oiled and put them in a oily rag but they still got a flash rust

 

[wallace]

Todays progress, I took the fence out of the barrel and I am really pleased with its condition. Its not bad considering its about 90 years old





There was a broken bolt to remove, which came out easily with a little heat and lube





The planer had a couple of oil covers missing so I made some out of brass, this is the original one



And then the one I made

 

[memzey]

So Wallace; any idea when the next exciting episode is going to be released? I really can't wait to see a picture of it when you've brought it back to its original glory!

 

[wallace]

Hi Memzey, heres some more. I got the fence painted and all the components polished. As you can see its in nice condition



You can there must of been a void in the casting so its been filled and machined







I put the gearbox back together





I assembled the other table









I took the motor and head to my local motor winders and he kindly let me use his hydraulic pullers to get the pulleys off

 

[memzey]

Beautiful. It's a real joy to watch you making such good progress. Once you're done you will no doubt be chuffed to bits every time you use it and rightly so.

 

[Bigdanny]

Its looking good Wallace!
Would you be able to give me a little info on the 2 rollers and casting for the feed and outfeed on the thicknesser table.
Mine were missing unfortunately.
Are they both the same length?
Are there bearings on the rollers or is it just a polished shaft where it attached to the casting?
Are there bearings on the actual roller and shaft??
Would you be able to give me some kind of accurate plan drawing so i could get some cat here??
Many Thanks
Danny

 

[Tony Spear]

Good Lord! Can you imagine what a machine like that would cost if they were still made today?

The mind boggles!

 

[wallace]

Danny do you mean the ones that are set into the bottom table. If it is they have bearings in blocks at the end. I will take one out and measure it up for you. Tony I'd hate to imagine how much as well. I suppose it would be worth it if you knew you would get 90 years service out of a machine. This machine was only taken out of service from a sawmill in inverness a year ago. Presumably because of the bearing.

 

[Bigdanny]

Its there ones ,

Im guessing should be one either end. Also are they just exactly in line with the thicknessing bed? And I'm guessing solid cast as well. Cheers

 

[wallace]

Hi Dan, Oh them ones, on this model they only have the rollers on one end. As you can see there are no bearings, just machined. I can easily measure the roller but the brackets would be hard to reproduce from measurements

 

[wallace]

Bit of a set back today. I put some oil in the gearbox last night and this morning there was a nice puddle. It seems to be leaking from the main input shaft, the one that holds the pulley. The shaft goes through a brass sleeve with what I think are grease groves? I was thinking of maybe trying to put an O ring in the groove to act as an oil seal. Anyone any ideas?