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Thread: Mystery Gilbro piece
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28th October 2022, 04:29 PM #1Member
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Mystery Gilbro piece
Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I posted (April) as I went to the US to finish up my job there and then I took an extended break in the US and the EU.
I just picked up a few items at an auction including some old mechanical (hand powered) drill presses and this odd Gilbro stand with rotating wooden drum.
Anyone have any thoughts as to what it is?
It clearly once had a motor on the bottom plate with a belt driving the V pulley to rotate the drum. Any ideas about what the drum actually did? Maybe a sanding belt was glued/nailed to it? It's not running particularly true at the moment but that may be just age and warping/shrinkage of the wood elements of the drum. Seems an odd orientation for a drum sander and has no table to support the work.
I'd appreciate any thoughts as to it's possible original use.
One of the the cast bearing blocks has a pressed nameplate (and lubrication instructions) riveted to it saying Gillbro Engineering, J & B Gill Bros, 79 Plenty Road Preston.
The frame, which is assembled from two cast leg sections and two cast flat panels, has a larger cast nameplate screwed to it saying GILBRO ENGINEERING, GILBRO, MELBOURNE.
Interesting inconsistency with the spelling of Gillbro/Gilbro between the two nameplates!
Cheers,
Richard
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28th October 2022 04:29 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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28th October 2022, 04:43 PM #2
I reckon it was a power supply for a lineshaft system, the drum is about smack bang on for size for one
Cheers
DJ
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29th October 2022, 02:10 PM #3Member
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Thanks DJ,
That had crossed my mind too. I guess if someone had line shafting in their shop and wanted to install a single, smallish electric motor to power the shop it would have been a reasonable way to do it.
I'll probably use the table to mount an old Power King 10" combination disc and belt sander machine that I picked up in the US when I was living there. It needs a motor and a stand so this will work as the stand and I can mount a motor on the lower shelf.
RG
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29th October 2022, 11:44 PM #4
Definitely intended as a drive unit for something, my first guess was a linisher using a long belt (2.4m x 150-200mm wide) and a turn around at the far end, as used in metal polishing shops. Speed would probably be about right with a 1440RPM motor, but changing belts could be slow with supports on both ends, would need to use tools etc. Other option would be a line shaft drive update unit, but the motor would need a relatively small drive V pulley or the line shaft would need a relatively large pulley to map motor speed to an appropriate line shaft speed.
I suspect that the wooden drive wheel may have been custom made by the original users to sort out speed issues, though it appears to be in the size range for a long belt linisher. I'm leaning toward a line shaft drive unit at the moment.
I have a Gilbro 10inch table saw/ 4 1/2inch jointer combo and have seen a number of these combo's, plus the individual saw or jointer with or without a single unit or double unit heavy pressed sheet metal frame around over the years. The spelling used for these units was always Gilbro. I worked in the metal trade from 2002 to 2006 and Gilbro was still operated by the brothers in Preston then, though they were getting on in years and only doing jobbing work at the time. One of our product ranges was a various size/shape chrome plated plate legs for chairs and sofas, and we were regularly having the plates laser cut elsewhere and having Gilbro grind both faces in their Blanchards, then we were pre polishing them, welding them, dressing and final polishing, then shipping them out for plating.I used to be an engineer, I'm not an engineer any more, but on the really good days I can remember when I was.
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14th February 2023, 05:55 PM #5New Members
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looking for Malb
Hi Malb,
I am trying to make contact with you coz you seem very knowledgeable about Gill Bros in Preston and I was hoping that you might be able to help me with a couple of pieces please. Thanks Jane
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14th February 2023, 10:46 PM #6
Have replied to your message, fire away
I used to be an engineer, I'm not an engineer any more, but on the really good days I can remember when I was.
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24th February 2023, 10:21 AM #7Member
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Update on the Gilbro bench
I thought that I'd post the images of the marriage of the Power King Disc and Belt Sander to the Gilbro modular cast bench.
I glued a couple of pieces of yellow-tongue flooring chipboard together to make a benchtop, attached those to the assembly of the 4 Gilbro cast panels making up the small stand. Then I used a 1hp motor from an Onga pump that I had lying about. I needed to turn up a small bush to fit an old 3" pulley to the shaft and I routed a slot for the belt to go from the drive pulley down through the benchtop to the motor and it was all done apart from the mounting and wiring of an on/off switch on the end of the bench. Et voila!
Now to find a belt in the extremely common 4" x 37 and 13/16 inch long size...
Here's a few pictures.
Power King Belt and Disc Sander Manual-compressed.pdf
Disc and Belt Sander (1a).jpgDisc and Belt Sander (3a).jpgDisc and Belt Sander (2a).jpg
I tried to attach the manual for the sander but I'm pretty sure that the attachment will fail.
Cheers,
Richard
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