Rapidor 6" saw - work in progress

[MattF]

This is the current piece of kit I'm working on. This is the only photo I have of it as was, before it was disassembled.

There's no way I could have got it down to the shed intact, so I had to strip it apart at this end, before I could shift it. Few photo's of when it was in the back of the truck, just to give an idea of the type of condition it was in.

With it taking up quite a bit of space in pieces, decided to get it sorted so that it's not hogging loads of floor space. The bed, base and slide assembly I still need to derust and repaint, but they're on hold until I can make or appropriate a container large enough to hold them. Been working on the smaller pieces over the last few weeks though, derusting, (electrolysis bath method), and repainting, so it's coming on steadily.

The bow I may end up redoing though, once I have the container sorted. I only stripped that one, and whilst it wasn't badly rusted, I think there may be a spot or two where the stripper is still lurking, in the rough cast, as a few small spots of the new paint don't seem to be curing, so that may end up going in the bath and being painted again. Photo's in no particular order of some of the bits.

Some of the parts after a bit of fettling. Brush painted with Mid Brunswick Green synthetic enamel, two coats, no primer. The machined surfaces need scraping to remove any overlap of paint. Prefer scraping them clean after painting over using masking tape though, as it stops any little paint ridges occuring where paint settles at the edge of the masking tape.

 

[brightspark]

nice job

 

[MattF]

Cheers. It's going to be fun doing the bed and base. They aren't exactly lightweight.

I'm working on that suds pump at the moment, until I can get the vat sorted for the larger pieces. Need to make some new gaskets for it, and going to knock up some new pipework and nuts for it. I've nicked the pipe clamp and the brass tap off the Major for this one too, seeing as that one's still in bits. That saw's quite a bit smaller than this one though, so that's under a bench out of the way.

 

[brewdexta]

Thats a big un., looking good. Jus starting using my Rapidor in anger after refirb, great bit of kit.

 

[MattF]

It's definitely large. Ironically though, the cutting capacity is pretty much the same as the Minor and Major models. I think with this model they built it like a tank both due to its intended areas of usage, and to allow for different size bows being fitted.

Glad to hear yours is serving you well. There should be a good few more years use in yours now its had some time spent on it. I hope it's living upto expectations?

 

[brewdexta]

Glad to hear yours is serving you well. There should be a good few more years use in yours now its had some time spent on it. I hope it's living upto expectations?

It cuts fine, but still needs some adjustment, it doesn't cut straight vertically yet, slight angle, which I think is caused by the blade being thinner then the old 6tpi one an my need a shim.

Belt dressing made a big difference to cutting things like box where it tended to slip when only cutting the vertical section. Now sails through.

Basically I think it just needs a bit of tuning. I checked the spindles when I got it and they looked OK so I left alone, I'm hoping that I didn't miss something and have to go back and fettle it, no big deal if I do.

 

[brightspark]

It cuts fine, but still needs some adjustment, it doesn't cut straight vertically yet, slight angle, which I think is caused by the blade being thinner then the old 6tpi one an my need a shim.

Belt dressing made a big difference to cutting things like box where it tended to slip when only cutting the vertical section. Now sails through.

Basically I think it just needs a bit of tuning. I checked the spindles when I got it and they looked OK so I left alone, I'm hoping that I didn't miss something and have to go back and fettle it, no big deal if I do.

is there any wear on the vice bed making it cut slightly off ? i had to build mine up with cast rods and grind it flat

 

[brewdexta]

is there any wear on the vice bed making it cut slightly off ? i had to build mine up with cast rods and grind it flat

There is a little but doesn't look enough to make the difference, I'll have a bit of a measure and confirm.

 

[MattF]

Cut some new gaskets for the suds pump today and got that generally reassembled. Still needs either the grease nipples refitting else other fittings, depending on whether I go with grease or oil lube for it, and need to sort the front shaft seal out. The original was some type of hemp string type seal, so need to find out what I can replace that with. I've also used a couple of 3/8" to 1/4" BSP adaptors I knocked up in place of the original fittings, so that I have leeway in how I work the pickup and outlet tubes. This is the suds pump before I disassembled it:

Its current, almost finished state:

 

[barny]

Great restoration project. Keep the progress coming, can't wait to see more.

 

[MattF]

Cheers and will do. Reassembled the hydraulic damper unit today. That needed some work other than just derusting and repainting. The threaded portion of the adjuster bolt was bent, as was the adjuster rod. Not sure how someone had managed to achieve that, but nonetheless, they had. The adjuster bolt I cut off the original threaded portion and just drilled and tapped the thumb nut to take a length of 1/4" BSW threaded brass rod. Figured I'd rather have the adjuster bolt bend than the rod if the scenario arose again.

The actual adjuster rod, I used a basic method similar to how shaft straightening presses work, but using the vice instead. A piece of copper sheet against the rear jaw to protect the surface of the adjuster rod, placed horizontally to seat the concave surface of the bent portion against the jaw, and then a short piece of brass rod, set vertically within the jaws and seated against the front jaw, pressed against the bent portion of the adjuster rod when I closed the front jaw. A bit of moving that brass piece around to work the kink out soon got the adjuster straight again, with minimal physical effort.

The photo's of that unit before I sorted it are in the first post. This is how it looks now:

I also made a new pivot pin for the adjuster arm out of a piece of smooth brass brazing rod. Fitted standard bolts rather than the flat head bolts too. I've sliced my hand too many times with a flat tip screwdriver due to removing rusted solid screws to be much of a fan of those, so if I can get away with using something else...

 

[barny]

Damn it! Look what you made me buy!

Looks to be a smaller one than yours but should keep me out of trouble getting it back to newish condition.

I collect it on Thursday, can't wait to get started on it. I'll post up a thread once I get into it.

 

[graffian]

They should rename this site the Rapidor owners club.

 

[MattF]

Damn it! Look what you made me buy!

Looks to be a smaller one than yours but should keep me out of trouble getting it back to newish condition.

I collect it on Thursday, can't wait to get started on it. I'll post up a thread once I get into it.

Nice. Can't wait to see your progress with it.

They should rename this site the Rapidor owners club.

 

[wheresmejumper]

seeing all these lovely machines made me jealous
picked this up yesterday.needs a bit of cleaning and painting,and one or two bits adjusting

 

[MattF]

Sweet, another member. That one looks like it's been fairly well looked after in general, judging from the condition some of them turn up in.

 

[wheresmejumper]

i was going to just buy it and use it,but it cuts nowhere close to square.so while looking at how to correct it,i just decided to strip it down,and go the whole way.

you are getting a nice finish from a brush.trying to decide what colour to pick.cant find it now but saw one dark green,gold lettering.very nice

 

[MattF]

A supposedly simple job always ends in a strip down, doesn't it. It's worth checking out Bredexta's resto thread. He had a problem with it cutting off kilter. He ended up shimming one of the square guides to get it cutting true, so might be relevant to yours.

It's the paint rather than my technique. The enamel paint does tend to flow and settle quite well, so is quite forgiving, especially on rough cast. Stopped using primer because that makes the finish look a dog, IMHO, so it's enamel straight onto cast. Makes it better for touching up too, without primer, as it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb if you have to touch an area up.

Just on a slight sidetrack, I assume the legs are easy to remove from the beds on the Minor model? Are they just bolted to the bed? Also, what are the approximate dimensions of the unit, excluding the legs?

 

[wheresmejumper]

from front of vise bed to rear of large pulley is 38.5 inches
14 inches at widest point

 

[MattF]

Cheers.