Wadkin RT Lathe restoration

[wallace]

Its been ages since I did a machine and I was starting to get withdrawl. This is an oddball little lathe. It has an aluminium headstock which sits on top of the bed it houses the motor as well. It shares the same tail stock and tool rest as its big brother the RS. I stripped the head stock/motor down.

Inside the motor was in really good condition

 

[wallace]

A little bit more done today, I cleaned the bearings of the old grease and they look to be in good condition. The bearings were of coarse british made self aligning and still good after 70 years.

I found a stencilled No.4 underneath the green paint. I've seen that on a few wadkin machines now

I sanded the raised letters flat and tidied them up with a dremmel

When I've got the motor together I want to bench test it. It has 6 wires coming out of the windings A2,A3 B2,B3 C2,C3 do I connect three wires together and the remaining three for the power?

 

[heimlaga]

To me that sounds like a motor wound for a star-delta starter.

I am looking forward se the next follow-up on this project. I like good old machinery.

 

[wallace]

I couldn't work out the wires and didn't want to go any further until I saw the motor running. I've done a motor before and then I had to get it rewound which ruined all my work. So I put the motor back together greased the bearings and temporally wired everything up on the bench. It worked a treat and very smooth.
After degreasing everything I got ready for some primer. I use a zinc primer to inhibit rust and a few coats of machinery enamel.

And of coarse a decent mask, Does anyone know how long a charcoal filter can be kept for. I only use it for spraying and then keep it in a bag.

And then the enamel topcoat

I started to clean the bed

 

[custard]

Wallace, I seem to recall you injured your back moving a machine on a previous restoration, hope you're fully recovered. These restoration threads are a great read!

 

[wallace]

Thanks Custard yes my back popped a bit when trying to sort the planer that tipped off its pallet. I'm at the age when things twinge when you do too much.
I've got my heart set on this monster, don't know how I'd move it or where to put it but I wants it

 

[wallace]

Heres the tailstock and banjo, they look rough but their in really nice condition

Started to prep ready for paint

Made some bits shiny

I cleaned up the handwheel, I don't know why but the wheel feels really light even for ali. Can you get different weights/types of ali?

 

[wallace]

Put the handwheel on the lathe to get rid of any dings and then polished



Then sprayed with black enamel



Then I sprayed the rest of the bitts

 

[Bigstinka]

Nice

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

you don't hang about do you Wallace

 

[swb58]

Interesting that you've come across a stenciled number under the paint on the casting. This has been discussed on a vehicle forum as they also appear on engine blocks, the thought is that it may be a foundry number. The castings were stored for months before machining and the numbers may have been some form of stock rotation ID. As firms like Qualcast made castings for a wide variety of products, the numbers could well have originated at the foundry and not the end user.

That's going to be a nice lathe by the way =P~

 

[wallace]

I think these numbers relate to an asset number for a company or even ministry of defence they liked stencils. Each wadkin part has its own number as part of the casting. Every cast part has RT then a number to identify it.

Well very nearly finished, I got it all wired up, I need to make some handles for the brake and the speed selector

 

[wallace]

Well its finished, not bad going 9 days. I think I put a good 35 hrs into it.

 

[Berncarpenter]

Brilliant as usuall Mark , can't wait to see you tackle my old RS.

Cheers Bern

 

[wallace]

Cheers Bern I've got big plans for that old girl

 

[The Bear]

Superb as usual, never get bored of seeing your restorations

Mark

 

[n0legs]

Wallace you do great work =D>

 

[skippy75]

She is a thing of beauty! Lovingly restored too.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Wow, what a great job !
Trouble is, you set a benchmark !
Hope my RS 6 looks as good

 

[yetloh]

That looks really cool, Mark. Are you keeping it or have you restored for sale? If so, I'm sure there will be plenty of interest.

Jim