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brightspark
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will be a shame to get it dirty . verry nice
MattF
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Cheers. I'm just hoping it'll work okay when it's done. 
Made a rubber gasket for that little reservoir when I refitted it, to go between the mating faces of the flange and the underside of the bed. As it is the flange seal should be sealing it against liquid leakage, but there's a gap around the rim where it goes up through the bed. Thought it might be feasible to seal that with glazing putty? Not fussed on using silicone sealant unless I really have to, so I'm guessing putty should be fine once it's cured a bit and had a lick of paint on it? It's only to stop crap getting into that gap, not for sealing as such.
That damper works well. Filled it by keep pouring a bit of oil into that reservoir on the top of the cylinder and letting it run down through the openings for the rods. Took a while but got there eventually. With the valve fully open, the slide assembly as is lowers extremely slowly, so closing the valve up a tad once the rest of the assembly is on there should lead to a nicely dampened drop.
Made a rubber gasket for that little reservoir when I refitted it, to go between the mating faces of the flange and the underside of the bed. As it is the flange seal should be sealing it against liquid leakage, but there's a gap around the rim where it goes up through the bed. Thought it might be feasible to seal that with glazing putty? Not fussed on using silicone sealant unless I really have to, so I'm guessing putty should be fine once it's cured a bit and had a lick of paint on it? It's only to stop crap getting into that gap, not for sealing as such.That damper works well. Filled it by keep pouring a bit of oil into that reservoir on the top of the cylinder and letting it run down through the openings for the rods. Took a while but got there eventually. With the valve fully open, the slide assembly as is lowers extremely slowly, so closing the valve up a tad once the rest of the assembly is on there should lead to a nicely dampened drop.
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Made a start on the shims today, finally. Got hold of some 14TPI blades for the fretsaw, (the ones which came with it were 7TPI. They were absolutely vicious if they caught), so cut one out today and got the others marked up. Was going to go with the ply until I happened across an old weight lifting belt, so that's now the donor for the shims. It's 5mm thick leather, so should do the trick.
I'm going to punch the bolt holes with a wad punch.
It's 5mm thick leather, so should do the trick.
I'm going to punch the bolt holes with a wad punch.
MattF
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Don't know if I ought start a different thread for this one else keep them all in the same thread, but being a glutton for punishment like I am, decided to start putting the Major back together too. The main reason is that I needed to make a bit of space, and they take up less room when assembled than in pieces, so I've got two on the go at the moment.
This one is just going to be a quick refurb without any fancy stuff. Decided to go with the black/blue paint for this one, which means that the Minor will likely end up wine red when I get around to that one. Might as well go the full hog with the variation. Just have the bed and base painted upto just. The paintwork ain't owt fancy, but they both had a day or two in the derusting vat before being painted to give them a quick cleanup with regards to any rust, and to get rid of that manky blue paint it had been lathered in previously. Looks like the original paint for these is a green hammered finish in general, (very similar to the colour Meddings used), with a flat cream colour, (very reminiscent of that light yellow/cream which they had in some of the WWII bomber aircraft), on the inner surface of the bed.
This is the colour it was when I got it.
Wasn't sure if the schwarzblau colour would look any good on something this large, but I have to admit that it's growing on me.
The slide assembly upper and lower sections are in the vat at the moment, to get shut of any grease, rust and that manky blue paint.
That circular drill table which can be partially made out in the background, sat on the vice bed of the Minor, is painted in the colour the Minor will be getting treated to when I get around to it.
Just going off on a tangent now that I've mentioned that drill table, that is currently sat on this:
Worth it's weight in gold that little turntable, when it comes to painting smaller pieces. Just a disc made from MDF, approx. 12" in diameter, with the turntable bit being made from the rear section an old vehicle viscous fan assembly, (it's the one I took off the Surf when I converted it to an electric fan setup), with the innards taken out and the shaft cut down to length.
This one is just going to be a quick refurb without any fancy stuff. Decided to go with the black/blue paint for this one, which means that the Minor will likely end up wine red when I get around to that one. Might as well go the full hog with the variation.
Just have the bed and base painted upto just. The paintwork ain't owt fancy, but they both had a day or two in the derusting vat before being painted to give them a quick cleanup with regards to any rust, and to get rid of that manky blue paint it had been lathered in previously. Looks like the original paint for these is a green hammered finish in general, (very similar to the colour Meddings used), with a flat cream colour, (very reminiscent of that light yellow/cream which they had in some of the WWII bomber aircraft), on the inner surface of the bed.This is the colour it was when I got it.
Wasn't sure if the schwarzblau colour would look any good on something this large, but I have to admit that it's growing on me.
The slide assembly upper and lower sections are in the vat at the moment, to get shut of any grease, rust and that manky blue paint.
That circular drill table which can be partially made out in the background, sat on the vice bed of the Minor, is painted in the colour the Minor will be getting treated to when I get around to it.
Just going off on a tangent now that I've mentioned that drill table, that is currently sat on this:
Worth it's weight in gold that little turntable, when it comes to painting smaller pieces. Just a disc made from MDF, approx. 12" in diameter, with the turntable bit being made from the rear section an old vehicle viscous fan assembly, (it's the one I took off the Surf when I converted it to an electric fan setup), with the innards taken out and the shaft cut down to length.
MattF
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It's definitely one worth doing is that Norm. It saves having to phaff moving something and risking catching your fresh paintwork. Those viscous assemblies take a fair bit of weight too. That drill table it's supporting at the moment is about 16" diameter and made from cast, so you can fair imagine the weight of that thing. It spins round smooth as owt with no effort, even with that sat on there. Any vehicle scrappers should have more of those viscous units knocking about than you can shake a stick at for practically nowt, money wise. I'd have made one years ago if I'd known just how handy it would be.
It spins round smooth as owt with no effort, even with that sat on there. Any vehicle scrappers should have more of those viscous units knocking about than you can shake a stick at for practically nowt, money wise. I'd have made one years ago if I'd known just how handy it would be. 
MattF
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Aye, you can't turn your back on the beggars for five minutes. There's about three years of patient waiting there. Kept an eye on Ebay for all of those, just waiting for those occasions where a bargain is likely. Not oft it happens, but pick the right time and the right location and the odds usually increase notably. The Major was actually the first one to come here. It's just been tucked away under a bench in bits until recently though.
Made a bit more progress on the large one. Finally got around to getting those shims cut and punched. On a side note, does anyone else tend to forget that a mallet head is a lot larger than a hammer head, when they haven't used a mallet in a good while? Without fail, I always hold my hand too far up the piece I'm holding on the first whack and end up with a knuckle which aches for ages.
On another side note, was dragging out the slides for all these machines the other day and took a photo of the ones from this large saw against the ones from the Major/Minor, (they're the same dimensions on those two models), just to give an idea of the difference in size. The Minors bars are both wrapped up side by side in that paper package at the side of the two bars from this machine in the photo, but you can see the size difference well enough even so.
Anyhows, back to the shims.
Did have to slice a gnats off the inner edges of those shims when I fitted the slides, for as soon as I started compressing them, they started binding the slides.
The leather is quite hard, so need to find a way of softening it up a bit. Can't get enough compression on the shims as is, unless I start putting silly amounts of pressure on the nuts to tighten them, which I'd prefer not to do. So, seeing as I'm going to be using an oil lube system rather than keeping with a grease setup, (I'm really beginning to detest grease on open systems due to the amount of problems it can cause, especially if it gets the opportunity to dry up to any degree, plus due to it's ability to hold no end of crap in suspension, hence causing further damage), would soaking them in oil soften the leather, or would that just cause them to swell but still not allow them to compress more easily?
The backplate for the bow fitted to the slides.
There's about three years of patient waiting there. Kept an eye on Ebay for all of those, just waiting for those occasions where a bargain is likely. Not oft it happens, but pick the right time and the right location and the odds usually increase notably. The Major was actually the first one to come here. It's just been tucked away under a bench in bits until recently though.Made a bit more progress on the large one. Finally got around to getting those shims cut and punched. On a side note, does anyone else tend to forget that a mallet head is a lot larger than a hammer head, when they haven't used a mallet in a good while? Without fail, I always hold my hand too far up the piece I'm holding on the first whack and end up with a knuckle which aches for ages.
On another side note, was dragging out the slides for all these machines the other day and took a photo of the ones from this large saw against the ones from the Major/Minor, (they're the same dimensions on those two models), just to give an idea of the difference in size. The Minors bars are both wrapped up side by side in that paper package at the side of the two bars from this machine in the photo, but you can see the size difference well enough even so.
Anyhows, back to the shims.
Did have to slice a gnats off the inner edges of those shims when I fitted the slides, for as soon as I started compressing them, they started binding the slides.
The leather is quite hard, so need to find a way of softening it up a bit. Can't get enough compression on the shims as is, unless I start putting silly amounts of pressure on the nuts to tighten them, which I'd prefer not to do. So, seeing as I'm going to be using an oil lube system rather than keeping with a grease setup, (I'm really beginning to detest grease on open systems due to the amount of problems it can cause, especially if it gets the opportunity to dry up to any degree, plus due to it's ability to hold no end of crap in suspension, hence causing further damage), would soaking them in oil soften the leather, or would that just cause them to swell but still not allow them to compress more easily?
The backplate for the bow fitted to the slides.
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Assuming they are the original nuts on the top of the cross slides, how did you clean them up Matt?
brightspark
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rub surgical spirit in then petrolium jelly to soften the leather and shorten your shims. it might help. i just oil the guide bars on mine when in use after its been stood i just wipe the dust of them and re oil
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Aye, they're all the original nuts. Even that totally out of scale one on the bow backplate.
Methinks one of the nuts must have gone walkabouts at some time in the past, judging by that one.I pop them in the electrolysis vat for a few hours or overnight to loosen any paint, rust and grease, then give them a firm scrubbing with a brass bristle brush when I take them out of the vat. Then they're left in a tub of oil for a day or so as soon as they're scrubbed and dried, (different metals seem to react slightly differently after electrolysis, so if it's not something which is going to be painted, it gets either dropped in the oil tub else lathered in oil, if it's a large piece, for at least a day which usually lets the metal get back to normal. Spring steel is a prime example of the scenario. That stuff is quite stiff when it comes out of the vat, but is generally back to normal after a day or so. The oil merely prevents any chance of rust formation within that time), then finally I get a quite fine finish file and take off any sharp burrs and deformation which could cause them either not to seat properly or which could prevent the spanner fitting snugly.
I take off just enough metal to get the faces spanner friendly again, (I dread to think what tools some of these nuts get tightened/loosened with on occasion, judging by the state of their surfaces
), and to get the mating surface generally smooth. Final step is to run the tap through them to clean all the crud out of the threads and to smarten the threads up if necessary.Cheers. I'll give that a whirl. If they won't soften up enough, I'll try shortening them. I'll leave that option as the last course.
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The beggars weren't giving in without a struggle. Could I hell as get enough compression on them as was, so ended up compromising in sorts. Rather than shortening them, I punched 4 1/4" holes in each one to reduce their surface area somewhat, then manually thinned them with a Stanley blade and tapered the last 1/2" or so at the ends, then dunked them in oil overnight. Anything else only went surface deep, so I just let them soak. Managed to get them now so that there's only a gnat's of clearance and sidewards/upwards movement on the square rod when they're waggled, which I'm assuming is about right?
You can see the oil literally oozing out in that second photo. Not the best photo, but gives an idea of the clearance now.
I'm assuming I'm abouts right at that setting, and don't need to clamp down excessively so that they only just slide without binding? All of the saws have been that acked up with grease and crap on the slides when I got them that I've never been able to get a clear idea of how much clearance they had in general, as standard.
The shims for the other side have had the same process applied. They're soaking at the moment, and then I might just need to thin them a tad more when I try them tomorrow.
You can see the oil literally oozing out in that second photo.
Not the best photo, but gives an idea of the clearance now.
I'm assuming I'm abouts right at that setting, and don't need to clamp down excessively so that they only just slide without binding? All of the saws have been that acked up with grease and crap on the slides when I got them that I've never been able to get a clear idea of how much clearance they had in general, as standard.
The shims for the other side have had the same process applied. They're soaking at the moment, and then I might just need to thin them a tad more when I try them tomorrow.
wheresmejumper
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its fairly straightforward to find the sweet spot once its up and running.
i know my shims are a different material,thickness,but theyre only about a full turn or two beyond finger tight
i know my shims are a different material,thickness,but theyre only about a full turn or two beyond finger tight
MattF
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Lovely. I take it they tend to be a either binding, a bit noisy else just plain sloppy when running if they're set incorrectly?
wheresmejumper
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if you go to binding and then just back off a bit
mine was even fairly quiet when 'too loose',its even suspiciously quiet when going full tilt through something solid.
mine was even fairly quiet when 'too loose',its even suspiciously quiet when going full tilt through something solid.
brightspark
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leave them slightly slack fit the crank pulley and turn the saw by hand it will run easily . slightly tighten the nuts down evenly and keep cranking by hand. if it stiffens up back them off till it runs freely and your then set
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Cheers chaps. 
Hopefully I'll be able to get enough compression on them as is. If not, I'm going to be thinning shims again. Leather definitely ain't the easiest of things to compress. It's quite surprising just how tough that stuff is.
Hopefully I'll be able to get enough compression on them as is. If not, I'm going to be thinning shims again. Leather definitely ain't the easiest of things to compress. It's quite surprising just how tough that stuff is.
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Well, I think I've got it setup on the slides now. Set them so that it doesn't bind at the end of the strokes on the slides, and it's smooth inbetween. There is slightly more slop than I thought there would be when you waggle the bars, (we're not talking vast amounts mind), but some of that is obviously due to the fact that there is some slight wear on the slides.
It's an absolute cow to set these up with there being a separate cover per slide, rather than a single cover for both. The amount of times I've had to back off the nuts on one or the other to find which was causing the bind, then have to nip them up yet again and find the sweet spot again. Hopefully they're not something I'll need to adjust often.
It's an absolute cow to set these up with there being a separate cover per slide, rather than a single cover for both. The amount of times I've had to back off the nuts on one or the other to find which was causing the bind, then have to nip them up yet again and find the sweet spot again. Hopefully they're not something I'll need to adjust often.
