Thread: The Charles & Hunting "Alta" Combination Machine.

Hi Matty,

Now thats the way to do it (3 thumbs up for 3 restorations). How easy would that be...."Now were did that bolt go....I knew I should have taken a photo....oh well, I will just have a look at the other one, and the other other one.

Like the look of the powder coating, I think I am going to have to give that a go soon.

Cheers,

Camo

G'day Matty
How's the powder coating going now you've done a couple of machines? I have had a powder coater refuse to do cast because porosity in the cast will cause pin holes in the final coat due to expansion of gas in the pores with heating. Have you noticed this as a problem? I had the frame of a motorbike powder coated a few years ago and was quite happy with the result, both quality of the job and cost. Am unsure about my old cast machines, keen to hear feedback. Have been slowly doing up an old Peerless bandsaw and there is a fair bit of porosity in its castings. Don't think it would have come up well with powdercoat. Is the quality of cast iron more of a problem with older machines, or just the cheap old ones.

Tony

Hi Tony,
I have never had a problem powder coating cast iron, if the cast is to be kept outside my powder coater uses an etch primer before powder coating just to help with longevity.
The Quality of the cast does play a big part, but any cast can be powder coated, sand blasting also helps to key the material on the surface.
These little Alta's have come up well as only the tops are cast iron all the rest is fabricated steel bar and sheet panels.
More recently I did have good results with the L.S.Barker planer that I powder coated , which had some imporfections in the cast that needed filling, this was possible using a marine grade filler, and the powder coating just went over with a good finish !
I have seen my powder coater give peices an extra thick coat of powder before they go into the bake oven, but I have never noticed pin holes on his finished work before, and I have had a lot of material powder coated over the years.

Melbourne Matty.

All the Alta machines I have come across have had the fine adjustment broken and welded/brazed back together, it took me a while to work out why but until you have owned one and moved it around you don't realize how heavy they are.
There are two small rubber wheels built in under the machine and when they are in a stationery position are very stable unit, it's not until you lift at one end and go to push that it is then they become unstable and can topple over, for some reason they always land on the fine adjuster side of the saw, many a swear word has been said when this happens.




The Alta's have a beautiful little horizontal boring table to one side of the machine, there is a height adjustment via the saw blade rise and fall, the chuck is just a half inch hole with a grub screw, and the table folds down out of the way by removing a tapered pin arrangement.



The motor arrangement is very interesting, the Alta utilizes a duel shaft motor to run both the buzzer and saw at the same time, earlier Alta combinations had a single belt arrangement to the 12 inch saw but later models had a twin belt set up and always a single belt to the 6 inch planer, Motors ranged from 240 volt and 415 volt, 1 HP to 2 HP.
It is possible to retro fit a larger modern 3 HP single Phase motor to these machines, as we purchased one with no Motor, so had one custom made last year and it fitted up great.



Dads Alta is the only machine I have seen with the original switch still intact, most others were replaced.



One of the mitre guides offered with the alta, a nice big guide but make sure the locating pin is in the table grove as a stop otherwise you will cut straight through it.



Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

Melbourne Matty.

I like the mitre guide, and I didn't notice before the mitre slot extension, out of curiosity do you find this extension to be a benefit when normal use of the table saw, or does it sometimes get in the way, I could see it being a painful protrusion depending on how tall the operator is?

Originally Posted by camoz

I like the mitre guide, and I didn't notice before the mitre slot extension, out of curiosity do you find this extension to be a benefit when normal use of the table saw, or does it sometimes get in the way, I could see it being a painful protrusion depending on how tall the operator is?

Haaha, depends if your running at it or not, narr its all good Camo, I haven't had a problem with it and it is handy for the wider crosscutting of timber.
its probably another thing that is prone to getting damaged as well as the fine adjustment if it topples over .

Melbourne Matty

Matty,

I can see my Woodfast ripsaw in those machines

... the fine adjustment, non-tilt, and the boring table and the fence lock ...



Cheers.
Paul

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Matty,

I can see my Woodfast ripsaw in those machines

... the fine adjustment, non-tilt, and the boring table and the fence lock ...



Cheers.
Paul

Paul, you are spot on !

I have some where some pic's of a woodfast branded Alta, I'm stuck at work for now but I will put them up soon !!

Melbourne Matty.

Paul, this machine is one of the reasons I am pretty sure Woodfast took over Charles & Hunting at some stage.....








Melbourne Matty.

A modern solution to an old problem.
The C & H variable speed unit.
Charles and Hunting.
Sydenham St, Highett, Victoria

A two page sheet with price list and ratios from 1952 saved from Civ Eng Usyd.

I have 2 of these units one on a wood lathe and the other destined for a big single disc sander.

C & H also made a nice morticer have a photo somewhere in the pile and when I get the computer to talk to the net again and the scanner ditto to the computer I will post it and the early Wadkin stuff I mentioned in an earlier post.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

C & H also made a nice morticer have a photo somewhere in the pile
H.

I would like to see that H, I have see a spindle moulder and boring machine made by C&H but not a Mortiser.

In the 80's and 90's Woodfast morphed the Alta into their very own Combination machine, there were still many of the features that were on the original Charles & Hunting Alta.
The 6 inch planer is a dead ringer as is the fences, fine adjustment, doweling table etc..

Melbourne Matty.

We had one of these machines in the Industrial Arts teacher training workshop at NSW Uni in the mid seventies.
I replaced it with a Wadkin BGP from Austral engineering and from memory Barry Gabbit was the salesman.
The woodfast was at least 10 years old then so I wonder what the date was they took over Alta?
It is my understanding that Woodfast also took over Hyco.
The wood lathe, scroll saw,band saw are all direct descendants.
I have always wondered why Woodfast didn't continue with the Hyco tilting arbor cabinet saw.
The first Hyco version was a little basic with a lever for the tilt but later ones had hand wheel adjustment same as the Wolfenden and Australian made AGS Wadkin.
Small cabinet/dimension saws were once very hard to find and the early Tiawanese junk didn't help the situation based as they were on Yank designs with no provision for fitting riving knives.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

Small cabinet/dimension saws were once very hard to find and the early Tiawanese junk didn't help the situation based as they were on Yank designs with no provision for fitting riving knives.
H.

H, I thought woodfast took-over in the late 60's, not really sure myself....

Is this the Yank design of tilt saw you were thinking of ?, this is my Wolfenden tilt saw, I might have to get another post going, it's an interesting saw... !



Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

H, I thought woodfast took-over in the late 60's, not really sure myself....

Is this the Yank design of tilt saw you were thinking of ?, this is my Wolfenden tilt saw, I might have to get another post going, it's an interesting saw... !



Melbourne Matty.

Matty,

i say new post away, would love to see more!

Cheers,

Camo