Elliott 10M Shaper

[RobCox]

Nice one, I thought I saw you down my way did you get the vice that was on it on it I have the same machine

Yup, it came with the vice. I dismantled everything that would make it a bit lighter before moving that would come off easily, such as the base and the vice. I'd love to get started on the resto, but I've got the Eagle SG to finish first. I'm saving the shaper up for retirement, which isn't far away, hopefully.

 

[jordhandson]

nice one Rob I almost bid on it for the vice no money really well done. When you fire it up and make your first cuts make sure it on a slow speed (belt on motor) and dont take to much depth, I didnt listen to myself and busted the rocking bar on mine but I fixed it. I have done a post on here somewhere lovely machine now although I would like a bigger one now ha ha

Yup, it came with the vice. I dismantled everything that would make it a bit lighter before moving that would come off easily, such as the base and the vice. I'd love to get started on the resto, but I've got the Eagle SG to finish first. I'm saving the shaper up for retirement, which isn't far away, hopefully.

 

[RobCox]

I've had this machine sitting in my garage for 6 months and have finally freed up some time to restore it. It's going to get a full strip down, clean, fix paint and reassemble, whether it needs it or not!

First concern was the condition of the ram ways, as the ram didn't want to move at all when I first got it. So, off with the gib, a light tap with a soft-blow hammer to break the rust seal and all was revealed:

Despite the staining, they're actually in very good shape. No scoring or wear ridges!

The whole maching will get moved piece by piece into the workshop and fixed up once there, so I've started with the ram as it's off first. It came apart with difficulty - the swivel base didn't want to turn easily or pull out of the ram body, so a bit of brute force was needed. Once out, the problem was identified as the locking cam having mushroomed the spigot a little, and after a light stoning it now fits and rotates like it should.


The tool slide handle and dial looked to have been made a right mess by the rust:


So into the rust remover for a night, followed by emery cloth on the lathe and in the vice. Once polished up - not perfectly as the rust had eaten into the surface a bit and pitted it deeper than I wanted to abrade away - I gave them a coat of nickel plate in my cheapo electroplating setup. Here's the end result, which I'm chuffed with:



The ways of the ram up close aren't too bad given the age of the machine. You can still see the original milling marks if you look closely:

So degrease, strip the paint off, add filler...



rub down till it's smooth...



then a coat of oxide primer.



Once that's dry, it'll get the same bridgeport blue/grey that I've used on all my machines apart from the lathe.

Rob

 

[God mode restorations]

I've had this machine sitting in my garage for 6 months and have finally freed up some time to restore it. It's going to get a full strip down, clean, fix paint and reassemble, whether it needs it or not!
View attachment 232435
First concern was the condition of the ram ways, as the ram didn't want to move at all when I first got it. So, off with the gib, a light tap with a soft-blow hammer to break the rust seal and all was revealed:
View attachment 232436
Despite the staining, they're actually in very good shape. No scoring or wear ridges!

The whole maching will get moved piece by piece into the workshop and fixed up once there, so I've started with the ram as it's off first. It came apart with difficulty - the swivel base didn't want to turn easily or pull out of the ram body, so a bit of brute force was needed. Once out, the problem was identified as the locking cam having mushroomed the spigot a little, and after a light stoning it now fits and rotates like it should.
View attachment 232437

The tool slide handle and dial looked to have been made a right mess by the rust:
View attachment 232438 View attachment 232439

So into the rust remover for a night, followed by emery cloth on the lathe and in the vice. Once polished up - not perfectly as the rust had eaten into the surface a bit and pitted it deeper than I wanted to abrade away - I gave them a coat of nickel plate in my cheapo electroplating setup. Here's the end result, which I'm chuffed with:

View attachment 232442

The ways of the ram up close aren't too bad given the age of the machine. You can still see the original milling marks if you look closely:

View attachment 232441
So degrease, strip the paint off, add filler...

View attachment 232443

rub down till it's smooth...

View attachment 232445

then a coat of oxide primer.

View attachment 232446

Once that's dry, it'll get the same bridgeport blue/grey that I've used on all my machines apart from the lathe.

Rob

I got the same machine buried under all the gear in this place

 

[RobCox]

Fast forward a couple of weeks and the ram is now resplendent in its new coat of paint and has been reassembled. Here it is perched temporarily on the surface grinder. I'm running out of space to put the completed parts:

I replaced the gib screws with some off the shelf 1/4-20 UNC grub screws, but in time I'll make some new slotted end screws to keep it looking original. The ones that came out are a bit chewed up.

Next for a bit of TLC was the table and cross slide arrangement. Didn't get any pictures before I started cleaning it as it was a bit mucky, as was I. Here's a view of the wear on the cross slide body where the leadscrew bears on the end. Obviously been run without adquate lubrication:



I'm going to reassemble it as is and see how bad it feels, rather than start removing metal yet. I don't want to mill down the whole face as that will affect the alignment of the table height gears, which are driven off the shaft that has the other wear ring. The simple option is to turn a thin bronze washer and fit that over the galled area. The third hole isn't used on this machine and has a plastic blanking plug.

In the above picture the bottom left corner has a chunk missing. Not sure if there was an end stop here which was crashed in to but the end of the way was chipped:



It's not going to affect the machine's function if its not built up but it does look a bit unsightly, so I milled it out to leave a clean notch:



So on to filler, primer and two coats of enamel. I'm painting it Bridgeport Blue/Grey on the outside and red on the inside, as well as red highlight on the inside of the T slots (which will only last for 5 minutes but will look nice when the machine is first done. Here they are after completion along with the other castings that needed a coat of paint:

Several other parts needed attention. The table support leg had been abused so it didn't slide in the bracket, until it had been stoned and polished. The brass plug that is supposed to stop the locking screw from galling the table support had jammed itself in and needed drilling out. Its replacement has been fitted to the end of the bolt (small hole in the bolt, spigot on the brass plug turned to an interference fit). The pawl for the cross-slide feed ratchet mechanism had a groove worn in it,, which explained why, when I tried out the feed before disassembly, it didn't ratchet. The pawl is hardened, so I got to use my SG in anger for the first time, skimming off just enough to clean up the bevel:





As usual, the dialling in to make sure the bevel was level took longer than the machining.

And finally, here's the cross slide after cleaning up and paint:



Rob

 

[RobCox]

As I'm running out of surfaces and places to put the components I thought I'd get the base sorted out so the completed parts can stay on that until I'm ready to reassemble everything. The manual suggests putting lifting straps around the ram to lift the machine, but that's in the workshop, so a strap through the access hatch cover and up she goes:



Once the main casting was blocked up on the garage floor, I thought I'd take off the part I had originally intended to do next, the side cover over the end of the main spindle with the "self-act disc" as the manual describes it. This cover is secured on with 5 screws. Not only have these been painted over (I hate painting fasteners, they'll have shiny heads on reassembly) but they've been buried in filler too, so this cover hasn't been off since the day the machine was made. It took a stanley knife to clear the slots, then (cringe) an impact driver to break them loose. They came off fairly easily though.

To get the cover off I needed to remove the high-low gear selector knob. It just screws on to the shaft, but I didn't know this at the time so I set about removing the whole selector shaft. The fork that moves the gears is secured with a grub screw thats accessed from the back, so the rear access panel had to come off here. No filler on these screws, only paint:



The grubscrew came off easily enough, but the fork was ridiculously tight on the shaft. Why? Theres a dimple drilled into the shaft so the fork won't go anywhere! Anyway, while rotating the shaft to try and ease it off the fork, the knob unscrewed. Well, at least I didn't break it trying to get it apart. Trying to get this apart led me to discover a couple of things that'll need attention. 1) the gear pair that slides side to side is too tight over the keyway so excessive force is needed to change gear, and 2) the excessive force in the past has bent one of the "wings" of the fork:



Here's a better view of the fork once removed:

Plan of action here is going to be to measure it (in case it needs remaking), heat it to try and soften the material before gently squeezing it is a vice to make the wings parallel again. Without heat I bet it'll just crack (not straight away of course, probably 6 months after reassembly).

That little diversion over for now, the base was cleaned up. Paint stripper, scraping and wire wheeling. I took all of the filler off. Once you've lost a bit (the paint stripper softens it) it either needs refilling, rubbing down etc, or as this isn't going in a showroom and will get dinged and scratched in use, get it all off and accept the metal surface finish under the paint.

And finally, at the end of a long day's work, get a coat of primer on it. Application by brush of course. I don't have any spraying facilities, nor a compressor for that matter:

Thanks for reading,

Rob

 

[fizzy]

I have had my 10m for 20 years now and still not got around to even fitting a plug

I will have to get it up and running. I want to make a new lathe topslide I think it would be perfect for the job!

 

[phm87]

Whats your cheapo electroplating set up? it looks good.

 

[RobCox]

I did say it was basic...

All based on a Youtube video by Geoffrey Croker. Bought a few nickel electrodes (hanging in the jar at the front) off ebay - £15 for 300g - that'll go a long way for a few thou thickness. Green liquid is a nickel acetate solution. Hang two nickel electrodes in some vinegar, bit of salt to up the conductivity, and pass current through it until it turns green. It gets more concentrated with use. Power supply is a fancy lab supply that enables you to set a fixed current. Cost a lot new - I got it in a used kit sale at work for £10.

To plate, dangle the part in the solution. Dangle one or more nickel electrodes in too. Nickel to +ve, part to -ve. Turn on current and wait.

Everything has to be clean and grease free. The other clear jars have IPA and white spirit in for cleaning. I've avoided acids for cleaning so far and am happy with the results to date.

I used it for the shaper parts plus some fittings for a Rabone Machinists level that I got cheap and had to replace the vial in. That was on brass, the shaper bits were steel. Both plated well.

Rob

 

[Seadog]

I used it for the shaper parts plus some fittings for a Rabone Machinists level that I got cheap and had to replace the vial in.

Funny that, I've a Rabone that needs a new vial and plating, too. Ordered the electrodes after watching the Croker video. I need to strip the remains of the old plating first. I'll do a post when I do the job.

 

[Ton-up]

Someone else who likes their pickles!!

 

[RobCox]

More progress. I finished painting the base. I also finished off the recessed areas under the table support bar. Bit OCD - I doubt if anyone will ever see this:



It's tucked into the corner of the workshop where it's going to stay. Had to rotate it round a bit so it's not going to clash with the surface grinder table, also to make access to the clutch lever easier eventually. The finished assemblies are piled up on top of it. I'm running out - no, have run out - of space.



All the bits that have been reassembled have been fettled to make them fit and run together as they should.

I was going to strip the rest of the shaper down gradually, but got carried away and took everything I could off of the main body. After I took the motor off, I thought I'd check if it might be a dual voltage type (yeah, right) and it was just as well I hadn't tried plugging it in and running it, as this was the wiring I found when I took the terminal cover plate off. Disabled to make it OK to auction?



All this wiring is going straight in the bin. I'm going to replace the contactor with a plate with start-stop switches on and run them to a VFD in the base.

Nothing came apart easily. Every shaft etc seems to have burrs or dings. When the shaper was made it seems they didn't believe in breaking sharp edges - this thing was full of them. Was - I cut my fingers often enough without offering up more opportunities. So I got to the clutch driving pulley. A lot of this looks like it hasn't been apart since the day it was made if the solidifying grease around the bearings is anything to go by.



On inspection, it appears that the outer bearing may have been a slightly loose fit, so it was rectified by a highly skilled mechanic:

The bearings were clogged up so I washed them out. When clean, they're as rough as a badger's backside, so I pressed them out. Guess what happens to cast after its been dinged like the picture above... this:



So I've ordered some new bearings. No point in putting the rough ones in as they'll just grumble and fail when I least want them to. They're XLJ1 3/4's, about £50 the pair.
Much paint stripping and grease removal later, I cleaned up the parts with a wire wheel.




All the shafts have been cleaned up to remove burrs. The speed selector gear had previously been difficult to slide on the shaft, resulting in the bent selector fork. I took out the key and stoned it on the sides after which the gear flops from side to side without binding. The side cover and rear access plate got a bit of filler to smooth them out, and on woth the primer. Red oxide where I'll paint it red inside, grey for the outside faces. So this is where it is for now. I'll be painting all week, as several parts have inside and outside faces making six coats to go on in total:



Rob

 

[RobCox]

Another two weeks on and the activity has been mainly cleaning, paint stripping and repainting. I finished off the access hatch for the base, highlighting the letters, which I thought came out OK:



Then on to the bit I hadn't been looking forward to, the main casting. The gears that came out of it were well lubed up with what looks like moly grease and large amounts of that had spread to every inaccessible corner of the insides. This is the view of the insides after cleaning, looking up from the bottom as the access is easier from below:



As my intention was to repaint the insides in red, I set about removing as much of the old paint as I could. To do it with paintstripper was going to cost a fortune, so I resorted to mechanical means. The extender I put a wire brush on was originally intended for long hole boring on a woodturning lathe with a spade bit. Its a bit more difficult to control the wheel on the end of this but as it was separated from me by a half inch thickness of cast iron, it was quite safe:



The outside was done with an abrasive disc rather than paintstripper. This had the advantage of not softening and making a mess of the generous coat of filler this machine had. I reduced the amount of filler where I could - the machine had clearly been filled after assembly as the various castings that bolt on the main body had the joints smoothed over. I'll be going for less filler, just enough to smooth out the worst of the casting defects. After all, if you get it looking showroom perfect, it'll hurt all the more when it gets it's first ding in use. Here's the result of a day's wire wheeling in the baking hot sun:



The insides got a coat of red oxide followed by 2 coats of red. The red paint seems thinner than the grey and shows through whatever is underneath. The outside got a coat of primer then filled where it needed it to make it look good:



And after more primer and 2 coats of enamel the main body is done:



Rob

 

[RobCox]

The motor was the next part to be sorted out. I cleaned off the paint from the outsides and stripped it apart. Before repainting I wanted to reconfigure the windings to delta so it would run at full torque on 220V from a VFD. Unlike the last motor I reconfigured, this one had the star point at the other end of the motor from the winding starts:


These windings had been saturated in varnish. Getting the ends of the winding exposed was difficult as the wire kept fracturing (this is why it didn't get painted first!). These are the wire tails of the star point:



At least with the winding starts at one end and the star point at the other there was no danger of getting one of the windings connected backwards. I connected some wire tails to the star point ends and ran them up one of the cavities, soldered them into a delta configuration, sleeved the solder joints with heatshrink then laced them as best I could and connected them to the terminal block:



The motor was put back together and run from the VFD to make sure all was well:



The bearings, which I'd cleaned out and re-greased, sounded terrible. So while the casing was receiving it's paint job, another order for some bearings, these being mercifully a lot cheaper than the clutch bearings. The result is a motor which runs nice and quietly!



Rob

 

[RobCox]

I finally got round to sorting out the gear change selector fork. Due to the gear not sliding smoothly along the spindle, repeated excessive force had resulted in a bent fork:



This is a bronze casting, so not likely to take kindly to being bent back. I measured it up (in case I needed to remake from scratch if all went wrong), then heated it to red hot before transferring it quickly to the vice to squeeze it back into shape. The inevitable happened:



At least it didn't split into two pieces. So, while it was still warm, out with some silver braze to fill the crack. Hopefully the braze will have run deep into the crack:



And after it had cooled, had the flux chipped off, a good wirebrushing to remove the copper oxide and a reamer run through the hole to make it fit eaily on the shaft, we have the repaired item:



Thanks for reading,

Rob

 

[Seadog]

These are the wire tails of the star point:

Well done finding those. And you've good access to the other end of the motor too.

 

[Matthew Tinker]

I have an M10, a comon failure is the stud that attaches the top of the scotch yolk to the ram pulling out of the cast iron. I ended up brazing the stud in as I didn't have a lathe at the time and the thread is a special inch thread, unobtanium here in metric France (we couldn't buy on line fifteen years ago!) It's the ram position adjuster so it's used a lot, it's a fine thread into the cast iron. It has a 3/4" nut on the top, I'd lock-tight it in if I were you! Did you get the head swivel off? It will only come off in one position!

I've had my M10,which was my first machine tool for over fifteen years, it's done countless key ways!

All the best Matthew

 

[Lurk]

Nice restoration job, I had an M10 for a couple of years, then bought a 14S Elliiot - then starting rebuilding that and things just sprialled out of control aftewards ;-)
ATB Lurk

 

[pressbrake1]

Nice restoration job, I had an M10 for a couple of years, then bought a 14S Elliiot - then starting rebuilding that and things just sprialled out of control aftewards ;-)
ATB Lurk

Well well mr lurk you’ve made it here

 

[Pete.]

Nice restoration job, I had an M10 for a couple of years, then bought a 14S Elliiot - then starting rebuilding that and things just sprialled out of control aftewards ;-)
ATB Lurk

Welcome Lurk. I remember your shaper trials. Do you still have it?