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Thread: Alba Metal Shaper
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24th July 2008, 11:30 PM #1SENIOR MEMBER
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Alba Metal Shaper
Finally; the beast lives; well, with a broken fetlock anyway.
Picked up an old "New Alba 1A" at auction some time ago. Outwardly it looked in good condition.
Have part stripped it and and made repairs to the table lift and feed. Have also converted to 1phase. Of course this mucks up the gearing going from 960rpm to 1140 rpm; so new drive pulleys have to be fabricated. Modified and fitted "temporary" alloy pulley to get things running because I need a metal shaper to put the internal keyway in the new custom made steel pulley.
I have cycled the machine through by hand and it is as smooth as silk; so it was run under power. Runs nice except for the crunch, crunch noise. Side plate off and start checking inside with a small torch. A 'waver' on the pinion gear driving the bull gear is visible on each revolution. This gear hides under and behind the bull gear and is very hard to see. After much mucking around I found that the pinion has about 5 damaged teeth. They are not totally broken off but about half of each is chipped away; allowing it to still drive but with the noise.
Oh well; now to gut the rear end and get this double ended gear out. I suppose there are 2 ways to repair it; make up a new blank and cut new gears or bronze over the existing teeth and recut them. This probably means that I had better get into the restoration of the 1890-1900 model horizontal mill. But then again; I need the shaper to face 2 worn pads on it.
At least these old machines can be repaired; unlike a lot of our modern machines.
Ken
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24th July 2008 11:30 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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25th July 2008, 10:56 PM #2
Need pics.
Depends on the size of the gear but......
One method to repair gear teeth is to file or carefully grind the broken teeth down to near the root and drill and tap fine threads into the teeth root .
Then you can screw posts into the threads and then build up with bronze using the posts as a support for the bronze .Makes a stronger repair than just straight bronze.
I have done this a few times and it has been very successful.
The other repair option is metal spray powder , a fair bit more expensive .
Of course making the new gear option is a good project ,but one needs the correct profile cutter and a mill to achieve the end result .
You could make your own cutter ,another project in its self.
It just goes on and on ,one project to fix one machine to make another project etc etc etc....
Kev."Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend ,inside a dog it's too dark to read"
Groucho Marx
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25th July 2008, 11:53 PM #3SENIOR MEMBER
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- Kyabram. Vic
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Woodlee, I decided to totally strip it today. She has had a major bustup in the past. The damaged gear is actually the intermediate gear that drives the bullgear. The high speed gear couples to the rear of it. It looks like the gears have been changed with the machine running and the shock has torn the teeth apart. The bullgear is undamaged, but was wavering under power. Has ovaling in the bushes and also 1 mounting stud on its shaft had been torn out. The slide drive yoke has some wear also. It seems that all damage & wear coincide at the bottom of the stroke. Originally the yoke was of built up construction; but has been all welded up. Makes for a real hard time to disassemble.
As you say; pin & build up the teeth. Another option is mill out the damaged section, drill & pin and silver solder in another piece of cast iron; then recut the teeth.
A local retired engineer will most likely have the correct dp gear cutter. He has quite a collection. Failing that a slow fly cutting job might be the go. I have a metal lathe and brand new vertical mill.
At least the new motor runs well.
Ken
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26th July 2008, 03:49 PM #4
Sounds like you have it in hand and a bit more work to do .
Used a Invicta shaper during my apprenticeship think it had a 10" stroke as far as I can recall .
They are a very handy machine to have access to .
I remember one of the other apprentices in my year , actually "rode" the machine one time ,must have been the original bucking bull machine .
Dangerous but very funny to watch.
Kev."Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend ,inside a dog it's too dark to read"
Groucho Marx
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26th July 2008, 09:52 PM #5Senior Member
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- Sydney
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You may have found it cheaper to purchase a 950rpm single phsase motor than make new pulleys.
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26th July 2008, 10:17 PM #6
Making new pulleys is half the fun of restoring old machines.So many people seem to think that the cheapest way is the best,but I think the longest way is often the most satisfying
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26th July 2008, 11:35 PM #7SENIOR MEMBER
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- Kyabram. Vic
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I have cleaned all the parts up today. It appears that the damaged gear may be cast steel; not cast iron. Now making sidelong glances at the mig for building up the damaged teeth.
I found some articles by a Canadian chap. It's uncanny; nearly every problem I have; he had. My slide drive arm is non standard and must have been fabricated after the big bang. My bottom pivot shaft is worn, but it can be rotated to give a new pivot surface. The drive arm can be welded up and re-machined. 30 thou clearance is a bit much
Already priced a 6 pole 1ph motor. $500. More than the cost of the machine. I have a slab of crs for the pulley. It is really only a straight turning job. Will probably bore to shaft size then sling between centers for od's & v's. I have already fitted an alloy pulley to get it running to cut the internal keyway.
Took some photos today so will try & affix them in the near future seeing as there is a bit if interest.. It may be of help to somebody in the same position.
I bought the shaper from an old toolmaker and he was thrilled that someone (fool) was going to 'love' it. Somewhere along the line I think some just plain tools may have got their hands on it.
Ken
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