Thread: L.S Barker Buzzer

Would anyone know what year this one might be from? The first thing I did was break it down into parts, which happened fairly easily except that in the past someone had had some trouble with the tapered wedges and mushroomed both ends of some and replaced others with wedged in bent over nails that didn't come out very easily at all. One of the cast iron wedges? that secure the tables to the main body is cracked on an edge, also the cover plate that covers the blade when the fence is forward has an edge cracked off. I think it is aluminium. Overall the breakdown was fairly straight forward but to be honest it was a bit harder to get things apart than when I broke down my Wadkin MA (for a deep clean only at this stage)

I have wire wheeled and degreased the main castings and have now started fibreglass bog and sanding for a smooth surface. After a few evenings of this I arrived at the conclusion that I have been romanticising the notion of restoring old machines! Im not even sure I'm doing the right thing but the surfaces are getting nicer, does anyone have any tips to improve this process?? Less fibreglass/epoxy dust is preferable haha but I have made a few surfboards before so it isn't completely unfamiliar territory. Another issue is that the machine came with a 3hp three phase motor but I only have single phase in my home workshop. I have a 20amp circuit but Id like to go down the vfd path. Is it right that not all motors can use a vfd?IMG_0469.jpgIMG_0468 2.jpg

I think a 3HP machine should be OK with a VFD, it's more to do with having to have a VFD for each machine. I only have one VFD which came with my Lathe.

Originally Posted by nicaboo799

I have wire wheeled and degreased the main castings and have now started fibreglass bog and sanding for a smooth surface. After a few evenings of this I arrived at the conclusion that I have been romanticising the notion of restoring old machines!
Im not even sure I'm doing the right thing but the surfaces are getting nicer, does anyone have any tips to improve this process?? Less fibreglass/epoxy dust is preferable haha

I know where your coming from there nicaboo. LOL .
I ask myself " Do I want to be spending ages dealing with this sort of thing or do I want to be doing my woodwork and paying the bills as well as making a profit ?" Its the woodwork and $ why I'm standing in a workshop . Which is why most of my machines run well but are not all shiny and painted up. If I can get away with de rusting and oiling things up I will do that . The whole re paint I have done once or twice and I have one Robinson in the pipeline atm because it was so far gone it had to be taken completely apart.

The other thing is they look great at first when all is finished but things do start to slide the same way within a few years and they start looking aged again pretty fast. Even when treated well.

I actually prefer the aged buffed original look if its possible to have . But I'm also very impressed when I see a well done full resto job.

The only tips I can think of is don't get in to deep all in one go. Keep it fast and simple when it comes to paint . With some of my machines, I just keep them working and do paint touch ups without pulling things completely apart . I need the thing working cutting wood the next day most of the time . That's left me with some things half done paint wise but I will get back to them after more important things like dust extraction is finished. Guards, Bearings and running sliding parts are more important and these can be fixed and put back together in a few hours mostly. Paint can be dealt with after these are all good. And only having the paint as the final job means you can attack it by pulling things off and painting then getting them back together faster.

Originally Posted by nicaboo799

Another issue is that the machine came with a 3hp three phase motor but I only have single phase in my home workshop. I have a 20amp circuit but Id like to go down the vfd path. Is it right that not all motors can use a vfd?
IMG_0469.jpgIMG_0468 2.jpg

You should ask these questions down in the Electronics section . You may get an answer here but you will get one a lot faster there .
Here's a link to that part of forum. Have a look through the Sticky's on VFD up the top of that page as well if you like.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f271

Originally Posted by nicaboo799

...Another issue is that the machine came with a 3hp three phase motor but I only have single phase in my home workshop. I have a 20amp circuit but Id like to go down the vfd path. Is it right that not all motors can use a vfd?

I believe 3hp off a single phase 230v line will draw around 17.5amps - which is getting very close to your 20amp limit and might cause problems at start up (where motors draw well over their amp rating for a short period). Fortunately VFDs can be set up with soft start which should overcome that. But I doubt you'll be able to run anything else of that circuit at the same time.

But like Auscab says, go to the Electronics section where people know what they're talking about .

I know nothing about dating LS Barker machines, but the styling looks 1960s to me (give or take a couple of decades ). I'm looking forward to following your progress (I'm ordering in the popcorn as we speak ).

Cheers, Vann.

There should be a tag on the jointer giving you a date.
Matty did up a similar plainer a few years back, I can’t post a link but was titled.

L.S..BARKER 1955 Plainer

We had similar at Civeng at Sydney Uni in the model shop.
It was specially equipped with scoring knickers for rebating on the end of the cutter block.
I had one myself for a few years but moved it on, nice machine.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

...was titled.

L.S..BARKER 1955 Plainer...

1955 L.S.Barker Planer.

Cheers, Vann.

Take a look at: VFDs for Newbies - not all 3-Phase motors are compatible with VFDs.

A new 3HP single phase motor will cost you about $230: 2.2kw 3HP 2800rpm shaft 24mm Electrical motor single phase 240v Hoists which is probably on par with a cheap Chinese VFD.

Thats good advice from Auscab - I went down the path of restoring machines and went to hard to fast and ended up with 4 machines in pieces and tripping over myself + did a house move and now have these machines in storage.

Hey Charlie that is another good option to consider. I could even up the HP to 4 if I wanted to, or would it be wiser to just stick to the original motor specs as much as possible?

Originally Posted by clear out

There should be a tag on the jointer giving you a date.
Matty did up a similar plainer a few years back, I can’t post a link but was titled.

L.S..BARKER 1955 Plainer

We had similar at Civeng at Sydney Uni in the model shop.
It was specially equipped with scoring knickers for rebating on the end of the cutter block.
I had one myself for a few years but moved it on, nice machine.
H.

Hey clear out, I haven't found a tag with a date and if it was there I would have found it by now, perhaps some of the tags are gone. Thanks for the link to that restoration.. I think I like the sharp corners of the ends of his beds even better. My one does actually have the scoring knickers of the block! Maybe its the one from Sydney Uni

Give us a look at the scoring knickers if you can get a picture and its easy . Ive never seen scoring knickers on a buzzer head. Do they have to be fitted when your doing that particular kind of work and left off most of the time ?

Originally Posted by auscab

Give us a look at the scoring knickers if you can get a picture and its easy . Ive never seen scoring knickers on a buzzer head. Do they have to be fitted when your doing that particular kind of work and left off most of the time ?

Yeah no worries ill take a snap of it next time in down in my workshop, I've actually used this jointer only twice, but my understanding is that the knickers were always left of the block

IMG_0486.jpgIMG_0487.jpgIMG_0488.jpgIMG_0489.jpg

When rebating with a jointer you get better results if you sharpen the end of the knifes