Raising an old Durden Pacemaker from the dead.

**zseriesrob** · 31st December 2018, 09:29 PM

Guys, a little over a week ago, a couple of days before Christmas, I bought a Durden Pacemaker UP12-600. I had been looking on and off for some time, but they were either cheap and poorly looked after, or way up at the top end of the market with the price, but still not perfect by any means. I was not thinking it was not going to happen any time soon....it did. I had the 12" blade model way back in the early 80's, and it also had the 2hp motor. I sold it years ago, I lost interest once I had made the furniture I needed etc. The one I bought was pretty rough, but it was only minutes from me, and it seemed to be good enough to make a start. There were no cross slide, proper wheel kit, rise/fall didn't operate, no saw guard, no reverse switch, no fence bars at the front, and it was fairly rusty, but only surface rust. The buzzer guard spring wasn't operating as it should, and was nearly dead. I stripped it down to look at things and clean etc, made sure there was nothing to worry about regarding starting it up, plugged it in and switched it on, it ran well, no issues at all. I continued to clean and paint, replace bolts, made fence bars, but they will be replaced with the correct size material as soon as I can buy some. I had 75x10mm steel in stock at the time and wanted to get things moving, and check for correct fitment, I need to lower the next set by about 2mm to clear the saw fence, I missed that one... I built a saw guard copying to a degree the original, but mine it steel, and I made a new spring for the buzzer fence, both work fine now. My next project is to build a sanding attachment, finding an original looks to be way to difficult, there really doesn't seem to be any parts for sale anywhere. I had one of these bought new with my machine $129 at the time. I looked through threads here and others have found the same thing, so I will be designing something I can do with the resources that I have available. Now comes the tricky bit, is there someone out there that has an original sander attachment that they could photograph, to refresh my memory of how it is built and how it mounted. I took the moulder bracket off and see 2 mounting holes, but the details are not clear.
Thank you,

**Sparkington** · 1st January 2019, 07:18 AM

Nice looking machine

How did you clean the surface rust off? I've got a complete Durden junior joiner. I have a sanding attachment but not sure if compatible to your machine.

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**zseriesrob** · 1st January 2019, 08:37 AM

[QUOTE=Sparkington;2120972]Nice looking machine

How did you clean the surface rust off? I've got a complete Durden junior joiner. I have a sanding attachment but not sure if compatible to your machine.

All I have used for cleaning off the rust is the scourer material they sell at automotive paint supply places and WD40. I spray a small area, and rub the steel mainly with the grain of the machining. I leave it overnight with a film of WD40 all over and give it another clean the next day, every day it gets better.
With the sanding attachment, I would be interested in seeing what you have it may help a little, it would be a good start.
I forgot to mention in my previous post that I have fitted a wheel kit and added the bolt that was missing from the rise/fall area, and greased it and it all works perfectly. I found a switch for the forward reverse on ebay for about $40 delivered but the seller is away until next week. I have seen cross slides, they vary in price and materials, if anyone has any experience/advice, I would be happy to hear it.
Thank you.
Rob.
Rob.

**Sparkington** · 1st January 2019, 08:53 AM

There joiner for sale in Qld Facebook markplace that might be handy in your quest. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...4100016319647/

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**zseriesrob** · 1st January 2019, 09:29 AM

Ah, thank you, well that is pretty much how I remember the face plate, a tricky part to make, I have to wonder if there is some sort of generic part available. i will look into it. The table area is the bit I will start on, as I remember the table tilted too, but I'm not sure if I ever used that feature.
Rob.

**zseriesrob** · 2nd January 2019, 09:12 PM

I am making headway on the borer/sander attachment, photos shortly, but does anyone know the size for the table? From the pictures I was thinking about 150mmx450mm, slide groove in the centre?
Rob.

**China** · 2nd January 2019, 09:59 PM

I have a table for my machine that is supposed to be for the sander it is not that big it is 190m appr. by 125mm appr. however I do not know for sure that is for sander, do you a pic of what it should look like it appears that it has at some stage been it contact with a sanding disc

I just had a look at the brochures you posted and I would say it is not for the sander unless the brochure is very different

**zseriesrob** · 2nd January 2019, 10:56 PM

I'm thinking it is bigger than the 190x125, all the photos I have are very small, so it is hard to get a good idea. In this picture if the sanding disc is 8" the table should be at least twice 8"?
Rob.

**zseriesrob** · 3rd January 2019, 10:08 PM

It seems I will not be able to purchase a piece of aluminium or possibly steel plate for the table until next week, so for the moment I am testing everything with a piece of ply that I had. Everything seems to work fine, hopefully tomorrow I will have the stay made, to hold it to 90deg. or any other angle needed.
Attachment 447608 Attachment 447608 Attachment 447608

**zseriesrob** · 5th January 2019, 03:57 PM

Well after a few finishing touches it is mounted and all fitting well, I just need the metal table and groove it to accept the slide. It will get a coat of paint shortly.
Rob.

**China** · 5th January 2019, 04:13 PM

That's looking far more substantial that the original would have been, I think the one I have may be form a Durden lathe, it is painted that brownish green colour they used
I have spoken to some one about making the parts for mine I will need to grab a couple of measurements at some stage if that is ok

**zseriesrob** · 5th January 2019, 04:45 PM

My next project is the sanding plate/disk, can anyone tell me what the thread is, I understand that it is left hand and 3/4, but that is all I have.
Thank you.
Rob.

**zseriesrob** · 5th January 2019, 07:31 PM

No problem at all China, I am happy to help.
Rob.

**zseriesrob** · 7th January 2019, 04:33 PM

Things have progressed just slightly, I figured the sander table needed to be adjustable to put the slide groove parallel to the sanding disk. I made a plate with 2 slightly slotted holes, so this could be achieved. I fabricated new stainless steel saw fence bars to the correct measurements and sanded them slightly to give a similar appearance to the original ones. It looks a little more normal looking now I think. The next project is the aluminium sanding disc, I should have the material for that tomorrow hopefully. From what I see the saw blade nut and the thread on the sander area are the same, except for the hand of thread, so I will get the nut measured for the correct thread type so I can thread the disc correctly.
Rob.

**zseriesrob** · 8th January 2019, 09:48 PM

My aluminium plate arrived 20mm thick 300x400mm. I machined the slide groove into it, but will not mount it yet, I need to see what position the sanding disc sits. The second photo shows a cheap plastic cross slide, the size shows it does fit, but I will not be using it, I have a good one on order, but not here yet.The self adhesive tape also arrived today, so I tried an offcut out just to see how well it sticks etc. it looks very strong, and easy to read.
Rob.

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