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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Petone, NZ
    Age
    68
    Posts
    2,808

    Default Electrical Fittings on Older Machines.

    Following Bunya Pine's thread on period appropriate electrical gear for vintage machines, I thought I'd do a bit of a WIP on changing the isolating switch on my Wadkin PK.

    When I first bought the machine it had just the bottom of a PDL industrial enclosure, and as I wanted to get it tested I bought a lid for the enclosure, and mounted a 3-phase mains switch I had laying about. An ugly solution.

    E1.jpg

    After a few successful test runs I needed the cord for my second 3-phase machine (my Preston bandsaw) and others still to arrive. I cut off the cord and attached a cord connector (female plug) so that each machine now only needs a short cord. Anyway, the PK hasn't run since then (~24 months). It's now time to do something about that.

    Rather than attach a short cord to the existing PDL enclosure (did I mention it's ugly?), I decided to fit one to this lovely old MEM isolating switch.

    E2.jpg

    I decided to use this gland because... well I had it, I didn't want to use a modern gland, and it fits the opening in the bottom of the isolator case. It has a flare which is designed to capture a braid (but my flex is un-braided).

    E3.jpg

    The flex cord had about 1mm of slack in the gland.

    E4.jpg

    So I cut a length of 12mm shrink-wrap.

    E5.jpg

    After which it was a snug fit.

    E6.jpg

    The place a flex will often fail is just outside of a fitting such as a gland, as this is where flexing is concentrated. By extending the shrink wrap a short distance down the flex, this stiffens the flex and thereby spreads the area where the flexing occurs - hopefully extending the life of the flex.

    I cut a length of 20mm shrink-wrap and positioned it up to and including the flare on the end of the gland fitting - ensuring it was long enough to extend past the end of the previous piece.
    E7.jpg E8.jpg

    The nut didn't tighten on to the flare, so I added another, very short, piece of shrink wrap.

    E9.jpg

    Which resulted in a nice tight fit.

    E10.jpg

    All ready for fitting into the isolator.

    E11.jpg

    Cheers, Vann.
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Petone, NZ
    Age
    68
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    Default The Plug.

    Nearly two months have gone by since my previous post - and almost no progress. I did try a couple of conduit fittings between the isolating switch and the electrical opening in the PK body, but it didn't fit. I've been too distracted by other small projects to work out a solution.

    One problem is I didn't have a plug (it had been snaffled for another machine).

    I've long had a desire to keep with vintage switchgear, and in that vein, over several years I'd picked up a few plugs and a socket by Reyrolle (the socket mounted on a PDL box)

    elec1.jpg

    Unfortunately I hear that the Reyrolle plugs and sockets have an inherent problem with earthing - and are no longer allowed to be installed. My sparkie was wisely unwilling to fit them. So I'm stuck with modern plastic fittings at that end of the cord.

    I'd been looking for another PDL/Clipsal 32amp socket on Trademe for several months. Why 32amp? The PK, with it's 4hp motor, is my largest machine (so far ) and draws under 10amps per phase. It's because the only three phase outlet in the garage when we bought the place was 32amp - and I was able to pick up a couple of 32amp plugs and the cord connector at good prices in the ensuing years. But there's been a drought of cheap ones lately. Finally, three weeks ago I won one for the fantastic price of $5 (I aim for $20 - $25). The seller was always busy and failed to send his bank details, and I was getting exasperated when the plug turned up one day in the mail - and he emailed me to say not to worry about paying for it . Good feedback coming.

    It needed a clean, so I disassembled it.

    elec2.jpg elec3.jpg

    I then masked up the threads in the two orange components and sprayed them black (I was going to go grey, but had no spray enamel that colour).

    elec4.jpg

    Well, at least it tones it down a little. I probably should have painted the clear components too, but felt that they are a safety feature - so I didn't. I don't know that I'll do this again for any other machines, but I wanted to try it at least once.

    Waddaya think?

    Cheers, Vann.
    Gatherer of rusty planes tools...
    Proud member of the Wadkin Blockhead Club .

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    1,813

    Default

    Looks the goods to me! I love using original components too but sometimes safety has to trump keeping things original.

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