Hi,
Mornings don't come any better than this whilst working in the garage. Just an update whilst I wait for dinner. It was sheer joy to use my restored Graduate lathe to spin the head-stock gears and pulley block bringing them all to a nice shiny finish which would be virtually impossible to achieve by hand polishing without spending considerable time.
I turned a couple of dummy wooden mandrels making these a friction fit in the respective bores. Wanting to retain all my fingers and thumbs I was extremely mindful of the revolving gear teeth spinning at 1,500 revs; I'm used to operating lathes and would recommend a novice doing such work not to lose concentration because gears such as this won't only bite they will bite hard. Nothing whatsoever should be wrapped around fingers or hands such as abrasive paper or cloth whilst working with a lathe in motion and it doesn't pay to stand in "the line of fire" because a heavy gear or pulley becoming detached at speed won't be a pleasant encounter. Very gently does it and keep checking the tail-stock is nipped up. Again for novices doing similar work for the first time; when turning these dummy mandrels the mandrel doesn't have to be a perfect fit full length in the bore; it can be "wasted" in its middle as long as there is about an inch at each end to allow a friction fit to impart drive.
The back gear metal handle was very rusty so most of the rust was scraped off then it was attacked with abrasive paper and followed up by buffing with a sisal mop in the power drill using Brasso as a polishing medium. this is a very messy operation because the Brasso flies everywhere but it is effective; again keep out of the line of fire because Brasso in eyes will also be most unpleasant. I'm not a wimp but these operations in the garage can so easily inflict long lasting serious injury so personal safety must come first.
The back gear unit is now in position but might need to be removed once I start installing the mandrel and drive pulley etc but it's an easy job to remove it. After dinner I'll have a go at installing the mandrel.
What a wonderful surprise to find indexing indents on the Bull Gear which were completely hidden by dirt. I'll note the numbers of the three rows for future reference.
I most enjoyable morning and a nice result.
Kind regards, Col.
Mornings don't come any better than this whilst working in the garage. Just an update whilst I wait for dinner. It was sheer joy to use my restored Graduate lathe to spin the head-stock gears and pulley block bringing them all to a nice shiny finish which would be virtually impossible to achieve by hand polishing without spending considerable time.
I turned a couple of dummy wooden mandrels making these a friction fit in the respective bores. Wanting to retain all my fingers and thumbs I was extremely mindful of the revolving gear teeth spinning at 1,500 revs; I'm used to operating lathes and would recommend a novice doing such work not to lose concentration because gears such as this won't only bite they will bite hard. Nothing whatsoever should be wrapped around fingers or hands such as abrasive paper or cloth whilst working with a lathe in motion and it doesn't pay to stand in "the line of fire" because a heavy gear or pulley becoming detached at speed won't be a pleasant encounter. Very gently does it and keep checking the tail-stock is nipped up. Again for novices doing similar work for the first time; when turning these dummy mandrels the mandrel doesn't have to be a perfect fit full length in the bore; it can be "wasted" in its middle as long as there is about an inch at each end to allow a friction fit to impart drive.
The back gear metal handle was very rusty so most of the rust was scraped off then it was attacked with abrasive paper and followed up by buffing with a sisal mop in the power drill using Brasso as a polishing medium. this is a very messy operation because the Brasso flies everywhere but it is effective; again keep out of the line of fire because Brasso in eyes will also be most unpleasant. I'm not a wimp but these operations in the garage can so easily inflict long lasting serious injury so personal safety must come first.
The back gear unit is now in position but might need to be removed once I start installing the mandrel and drive pulley etc but it's an easy job to remove it. After dinner I'll have a go at installing the mandrel.
What a wonderful surprise to find indexing indents on the Bull Gear which were completely hidden by dirt. I'll note the numbers of the three rows for future reference.
I most enjoyable morning and a nice result.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
