Big chopper

[Screwdriver]

So I picked this up the other day with yet-another-vice.

It has issues!

Not sure how clear it is from the photos but that's not lens distortion, this thing is bent!

First job was to strip it down and throw it in a bucket of acid.

Next job will be to unbend it! Probably a fair bit of Oxyacetylene action required and some creative use of the blacksmith vice and/or anvil.

Anyone recognise the make/model and maybe point me at a "good" one? I am assuming it should be "easy" to see what's bent and how to make it straight but the jaws do need to meet to a very precise tolerance.

 

[Onoff]

Its a HANDY shearing machine according to my sleuthing:

https://www.holdenconcertinas.com/?m=201608

 

[Screwdriver]

Its a HANDY shearing machine according to my sleuthing:

https://www.holdenconcertinas.com/?m=201608

That’s certainly very close and I’m seriously tempted to give it to you but, no. That’s a welded frame, not the more desirable bent frame type.

 

[Onoff]

That’s certainly very close and I’m seriously tempted to give it to you but, no. That’s a welded frame, not the more desirable bent frame type.

Bit 'o gas will straighten the bent frame!

Final offer:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Handy-Shearing-Machine/174001450372?

HANDY make again. I wonder what one's earlier, the bent or welded one?

 

[Screwdriver]

Yes that’s it. Thanks.

Is it my imagination or does the one in the advert look like its cracked right through the nameplate?

 

[Onoff]

Yes that’s it. Thanks.

Is it my imagination or does the one in the advert look like its cracked right through the nameplate?

It does look that way. Can't see the crack on the top in pic 3 though...

Offer the seller a fiver and he covers postage?

 

[Seadog]

I think it's a machined contour. If you look at the first image you can see the change along the top edge.

 

[arther dailey]

reckon yours was used at a concrete yard going by corrosion ,so it will have had a hard life, but there again its a tool to use so only to be expected,should tidy up good.

 

[Screwdriver]

I think it's a machined contour. If you look at the first image you can see the change along the top edge.

I think you're right. Mine should be "done" by now, I'll fetch it out of the dip and see what we've got.

 

[Screwdriver]

Straight out of the dip and it looks rusty but all that rust just wipes off.

I wire wheeled it anyway to finish.

Here's why it was a freebie:

The moving blade hanger has sprung away from the lower blade by a good 5-6mm at the end. It meant this chopper had a fair bit of packing and shimming and other bendy bits to try and keep it going.

Before I do that I needed to make sure I could fix any issues with the rest of it. One adjusting screw would not come out. So I drilled it.

Someone had been in there before and left some hardened material, possibly an easy out or a drill bit. It was a right mare but I got a 5mm through it eventually and tapped it to !/4 20 with my favourite tap.

 

[Screwdriver]

I am so close to having a video editing setup but for now, just this one picture of the main event. An hour of heating with the oxyacetylene and a number of sessions with a massive sledgehammer.

I figured these's not a huge amount of value in this item though it will become hugely useful, I can't afford to spend too much time on it. Just need to get it done. I decided the best plan was to keep the very end as straight and square as possible and never mind the rest of the bodywork, so I clamped the crucial section in the jaws and heated a strip to almost red. It soaked up a ton of heat and needed an outrageous amount of hammering but it worked. I was pleasantly surprised that neither the makeshift vice stand which is freestanding nor the repaired jaw gave me any trouble considering how much force they had to endure. That is 3/4 plate steel which also has a reinforcing bend in it.

The support tangs are also bent I assume from the extreme use and having endured such a hard life. They'll be easy to straighten out.

The knives now are at a very acceptable angle with just the right amount of offset to allow for the washers (not fitted) and a small amount of adjustment to set it up correctly.

I just need to knock up a handle, fix the hold down bracket which is also seized sharpen it and paint it.

 

[arther dailey]

good work.

 

[Seadog]

Great work, Steve