Your a star Vann, just what the doctor ordered !!
Fantastic!!
Melbourne Matty.
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Your a star Vann, just what the doctor ordered !!
Fantastic!!
Melbourne Matty.
I picked up a bunch of original photos recently and I thought you would like this one.
https://i.imgur.com/oC8qWnk.jpg?1
Ah-ha. The LR - big brother to the LQ - which is big brother to the LP. Actually, I suspect the LP and LR are contemporary - with the LQ coming later (and probably replacing both of them).
Attachment 446885 I think I stole this off the internet - maybe one of Matty's?
Interesting that the two idler (90 degree) pulleys don't have flanges to keep the belt in place, like the LP does. And it looks like there's a lever to slightly raise or lower the two idler pulleys, depending on which step of the front pulley is being used.
Cheers, Vann.
In December last year I wrote:I still feel it must have been intended to be flat-belt driven. The 1¼” hole for the shaft for the pulleys was faced-off and bored. The hole for the ½” locating set screw was drilled and tapped, and a set screw fitted (that set screw is about 100mm long, and especially manufactured for this purpose). The two lugs for the shifter are present and their ¾” square holes are clean, ready for the shifter shaft.
Attachment 447378 Attachment 447379 The shaft is a ring-in.
So everything necessary to line-shaft drive the machine was done. Maybe the customer wanted a motor driven recessor and Wadkin had to convert this one at short notice?
It took the Test Sheet to convince me it came in this format...
Attachment 447381
Cheers, Vann.
The LP sits quite low. I'd like to mount it on 4" x 4" beams (6" x 6" if I can get them in anything other than pine). The beams would extend out the back so I can eventually mount the motor there (see the final illustration in the previous post).
I've sourced four square-head 4" x ⅝" coachscrews to tie the machine to the beams. I wanted square-head, as that's most likely what a carpenter would have used back in the 1920s. Modern hexagon-head coachscrews are available galvanised - but these recycled square-head screws are bright steel (now that I've removed the rust :roll:).
Keeping bright steel rust free long term is always a problem - and down at floor level they're unlikely to receive even an occasional wipe with an oily rag. In the past I've painted nuts and bolts in this situation. Wallace now chemically blackens his bright fittings.
Traditionally, blacking was done by heating and dipping in oil. I thought I'd give that a go.
I could only find a small amount of used engine oil (I have succumbed to the trend of having someone else do my oil changes :B). Enough to fill a baked-bean can, but not much more. I started by heating some flat washers, red hot, and dropping them in the oil. It was messy fishing them back out, but the finish looks good. I then tried the first coachscrew - not quite as nice as the washers, but still nice. Lots of smoke :;. The second coachscrew went well too, but by this time the small amount of oil had got very hot and ignited. Nothing dangerous, and the second larger tin I had on hand snuffed the flame. But I didn't want to tempt fate and so I stopped at this point. I'll either have to find more oil, or do the last two one at a time.
Attachment 447461 Two down. Two to go.
Cheers, Vann.
I got the last two done.
Attachment 447641
And I found some larger washers. These washers were zinc plated - not 'bright' steel like the smaller washers. I wire-brushed the plating off the upper face of each washer, but only gave the underside a cursory brush. The 'blacking' didn't like the contaminated face.
Attachment 447640 The blotchy underside of the washers.
Doesn't matter. I've got the finish I wanted on the upper face, and on the coachscrew heads. I can always add a bit of paint to the underside if I feel it needs it.
Cheers, Vann.
And here's a clue I missed earlier...
Attachment 448856 Bottom line: "Speed of driving pulley 900 r.p.m." :doh:
No wonder I thought it was belt driven - obviously it was - until a customer wanted a motor driven version.
Cheers, Vann.
The table was very slightly bowed/twisted, so I sent it away to be surface ground.
Attachment 449221 Attachment 449222
They took ~0.7mm off - which fortunately was enough to take out that rectangle. It's certainly highlighted the "arc of shame" marks, but they'll merge into a new patina in time. The main thing is it's now flat. I won't say how much it cost :C.
Cheers, Vann.
My LP table is in a similar state so I was going to do the same. I also picked up a rotary table to put on which should be fun
I received a PM from Wallace (and have his permission to copy it here).
Attachment 455143Quote:
Originally Posted by wallace1973
Thanks Wallace.
I thought mine had a high serial number (LP 410) for what appeared to be a new machine (the contemporary LP brochure suggests it's new). Maybe they'd already made a few hundred in this earlier style?
Cheers, Vann.
I was shown these pages in a Wadkin catalogue.
Attachment 460197 Attachment 460198 Courtesy of Chris in Auckland.
Under the heading "Cutting Housings in String Boards", the third paragraph adds "...should be specially mentioned when ordering, to enable us to supply the table with pivoting motion." This suggests to me that the pivoting table had just been introduced, while Wadkin still had stocks of fixed table machines like mine.
That would date the catalogue to the mid-1920s (my LP was tested in 1925). Also in the catalogue is the 6" RA buzzer, and 12" and 16" RC buzzer - but not the 9" RC. I would suggest that this means the final batch of 9" RC buzzers were out of stock, but the new 9" RB buzzers were not yet on the market. Therefore somewhere between 1926 and 1928. Just educated guesses.
Cheers, Vann.
Spurred on, partly by wallace refurbishing his LP, and partly because SWMBO is complaining about the amount of space the parts are taking up, I've decided to try to progress my LP a little. It's been nearly 18 months since I started dismantling this machine, and a year since I've made any significant progress.
In tearing the machine down, I ran into two problems. One at the top where I can't figure out how the remove the spindle bearings. The other is the pivot rod for the foot peddle. This was 16 months ago...So today I had another go and, with the help of my daughter, got it out at last. It took heat and a sledge-hammer (against a brass drift) to slowly inch it out.
Attachment 467237
I hadn't painted that local area because I knew I'd need heat (after several previous aborted attempts). Since this photo I've wire-brushed and primed that area.
Tomorrow, time and weather permitting, I hope to put on a first coat of dark grey enamel. I also hope to get the table column back into the main frame.
Attachment 467238 It's been ready and waiting since September, 2018 :B.
I don't think I'll be able to put the table transverse section on as, if I remember correctly, the long spindle has to go into the top of the machine first. I will however be able to fit the column raise/lower handwheel assembly
Attachment 467239 This too has been ready since September, 2018.
I've been holding off fitting these in case I damaged something getting that damned foot-pedal shaft out.
Cheers, Vann.
Vann to get the spindle assembly apart took a big hammer on the top of the spindle protected by wood of coarse. The bearings were very snug, I heated the bottom portion where the bearings are.
Hi wallace. I had a look at the top of yours.
Attachment 467244
The top of the main casting on mine is a little different.
Attachment 467243 Attachment 467242
There was no screw holding the top pulley on. The sleeve the inner race sits on appears to be brass. The top race is off, then there's a collar which I believe will come off with minor persuasion. The remaining bearing will probably need heat to shift it.
Is it the brass sleeve you drove out with the big hammer, and did you drive it down through the head to get it out?
Mine has a slot down the side. I'm not sure whether to just get the bearings off and replaced, or to try to remove the brass insert (with wedges into that slot). Probably better to leave it alone (in case I break something :C).
Cheers, Vann.
I'm a bit slow sometimes...
Attachment 467254 Wallace's photo.
I hadn't clicked as to where those two tapered pins were :doh:.
Mine had a single taper pin. There was also a screw hole in the front of the lever casting for a bolt/set screw (long gone) which would have located into that notch in the shaft.
Attachment 467253
The tapered pin had sheared off (or fallen out). The spindle could still be raised and lowered via a handle in the head of the machine, so the missing tapered pin was never replaced. As a result the foot pedal shaft was left unused - and eventually rust seized it in place.
Cheers, Vann.