• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Wadkin LQ restoration

W

wallace

Old Oak
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Here we go again folks. This is a wadkin LQ recessor. I think this to be one of the most overlooked machines out their. They generally sell for peanuts and are really useful machines which can bore, mill, rout and even be fitted with moulder tooling.

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This one dates from 1950

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Time to tear it down

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Now that is a lead screw

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I dont think I will take musch notice of the wiring, why would someone get some 4 core cable and use the earth wire for one of the phases.

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I've never done one of these and was really surprised when I undid the bolts that attach the foot lever to the head and the head slid out with a wollop.

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To get the rest of the assembly out I needed to tip the casting over.

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All big bits removed

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Luckily when people do the hammerite clown paint job they dont normally prep things properly which makes it easy to remove the paint with a scraper.

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While it was on its side I thought I may as well start the prep.

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Blimey Wallace, things are moving at a pace. Are you in a rush to clear a back-log?
 
Mike G":3a1zz6qa said:
Blimey Wallace, things are moving at a pace. Are you in a rush to clear a back-log?
Click to expand...

I sold a saw bench to a guy and then he said can you do another 5 machines :shock:

I still have my own backlog to do which I'm realy keen to get sorted so I can get back to doing some woodwork. I haven't done any woodwork for 15 months which sort of defeats the object of having these machines
 
wallace":htvtp7lo said:
Mike G":htvtp7lo said:
Blimey Wallace, things are moving at a pace. Are you in a rush to clear a back-log?
Click to expand...

I sold a saw bench to a guy and then he said can you do another 5 machines :shock:

I still have my own backlog to do which I'm realy keen to get sorted so I can get back to doing some woodwork. I haven't done any woodwork for 15 months which sort of defeats the object of having these machines
Click to expand...

You're getting paid to do restorations? Well done!

I don't know if you need a manual, but you can find one here:
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=15045

Kirk
 
Kirk I reckon if I wasn't caring for my wife I would probably be able to do the machine thing full time. I get a lot of requests which I just don't have the time to do. I think I must be too cheap
 
wallace":1x1lhiud said:
Kirk I reckon if I wasn't caring for my wife I would probably be able to do the machine thing full time. I get a lot of requests which I just don't have the time to do. I think I must be too cheap
Click to expand...

Putting a market value on your time is one of the most difficult things when I was working from home.

I tried to be consistent in my methods but sometimes the customer bit my hand off and other times I did not get the job or repeat business.
In your line of work I doubt that it is easy for customers to make comparisons on your prices. How many people have the self same model done more than once or indead from the same sort of starting point.

No right thinking person can possibly be disappointed by the quality of what you produce so in your shoes I'd be inching up your prices until they start reducing the flow of work by just a bit. ie the odd refusal.
As a sanity check, time a project and see how your price compares to minimum wage plus expenses at cost. Might be an eye opener.

In my line, if I had a customer who I felt genuinely needed a cheap job, I'd say that I can't guarantee when it will be done but I can have it here in the shop to work on when get down time on other jobs.

Bob
 
When I compare my prices to what dealers charge I am way underpricing my efforts. But then again I've seen dealers with the same machines for years. I know if I worked it out properly I would be getting a pittance as an hourly rate.
 
Heres a pic of the first version of the LQ, this one dates from around 1910

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I have the next machine after this the LP which I will get to one day

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I had to get some more paint supplies so whilst their I treat myself to a new spray gun. Works lovely for £24.

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I got the main casting prepped and primed.

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I thought I'd give this magic stuff a go, it seems to all the rage on youtube

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This is how they came out after a nights soak

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Then a quick wire wheel, I'm quite impressed. A lot less hassle then electrolysis but quite expensive

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Some bits in the blackening solution

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Shiny handwheels

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I couldnt find a container to put these bits in so tried this

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Thanks for posting the details from the Wadkin catalogue. I like the picture of the housings being cut for the stairs, that must of been much quicker than cutting them by hand.
 
This is the column the table rotates on and also the raising gear

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Somewhere in their is a tapered pin that needs removing to allow the shaft and gear to come out

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A bit aluminium bodge

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The spring that lifts the head back up.

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Mmm shiny

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The spindle assembly

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Bronze pulley, on the inside is a square hole which takes the drive to the spindle

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Now to pick the brains of the learnid, This is the main spindle which has an insert to hold a chuck. The insert is morse 4 taper and is stuck. Normally if its stuck I would just stick some big stilsons on and a long pipe and that would pop it out. Not with this though. I've tried heat with no success. I also tried making some wedges.

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You've had one of those off before, have you Wallace? I mean, there isn't some hidden pin or the like, is there?

Brake fluid is the normal go-to when things are stuck, but if it is so stuck that heat won't free it, then I doubt brake fluid will do any good.
 
I have never done it on something that big or with a morse taper but have often used the following to get tapered track rod end out. A large hammer held one one side of the tapered socket and hit the other side with another large hammer. It does not always work first time especially when working laying under a car with restricted space but has always worked for me in the end. Good luck.
 
How does the macine design provide for extraction of the taper.
Some machines have an auto ejector and others have a hole for a push rod onto the tang of the taper.
On drills quite often there is a slot in the spindle to eject the taper.
I can't imagine that a make in the league of wadkin would make a machine with a blind female taper with no ejector.

Bob
 
Is it a taper that is stuck or is it a piece with a taper bored into it (empty) that is fitted to the larger part and not a tapered joint... but still stuck?

Just thinking that middle piece looks like the sort of thing that could have gone in a fly press top holder and this might be similar with a fixing bolt in that large threaded hole.

Are you looking to break a taper or just pull a parallel fit?

You mention trying wedges. have you tried a single wedge? I'm thinking a custom shaped plate with an oval notch in the middle and ground to a suitable thickness and taper.

good luck :)
 
Wallace - I've been meaning to ask you for some time ' I can see you have some sort of hoist for lifting the heavy bits , but whats up above ? , do you have an RSJ frame / gantry ? just wondering .
Steve
 
Steve, nothing as fancy as a rsj just a bracket bolted through a joist. Luckily when I built this portion of workshop I used some reclaimed 10" timber which is very old. I've lifted main castings of machines which I guess weigh 300kg. I was thinking of adding an rsj with a winch on rollers. That would be very handy. I wouldn't dream of hanging anything off the part of the shop I used modern timber, that stuff is so springy.
 
From the teeth marks, it sure looks like somebody used a pipe wrench on this before.

I think it's time to combine methods. First, make a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Use it liberally around the joint. It should penetrate just about anywhere that air can go. Repeat this over a couple of days. If that big threaded hole in the casting goes all the way to the taper, I'd put plenty in there too.

Next, I'd thread a big damn bolt or long rod into the hole on the insert. You want something stout because you're gonna beat on it with a hammer.

Next, freeze the whole assembly. I'd give it a good hour or more to make sure it's cold all the way to the center.

Take it out, clamp it in your largest vise, and hit the main casting with your torch. Try to leave the insert as cold as you can.

Beat on the bolt to twist the insert. I think you'll find that shock will work better than a steady pull, but you could do both--put a long pipe over the bolt, pull the pipe to tension the insert, and then hit the pipe right where the bolt head is rubbing on the inside of the pipe.

Good luck!

Kirk
 
A bit more done

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To align the table

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Adjustable strip for taking up wear

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primer then more filler

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The main table

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The top is in pretty good shape with very little abuse

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After initial cleaning with Stanley blade and wire wheel, I will give it its final finish when its installed

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The morse taper adapter is not going well. I broke my engineers vise trying to remove it. I tried drilling all the way through the adapter where the grub screw was, inserted a rod and then using masonary chisels which have long tapers. Still no joy.
On a lighter side Mr&Mrs Black bird are back for the 4th year. This nest wasn't there the night before and then at 7:30 am they'd built it. The chicks make a mess pooping up the wall but its worth it.

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What a lovely thing to happen. I've got a pair building, but cannot see them in the bush, even though it's right in front of my 'shop.
 
Wallace...that is an absolute beast!!
If the separation is to occur just behind the fine threaded hole, then, I would try a bearing separator, and a slide hammer. That is all I got.
You do great work...carry on.
bill :text-coolphotos:
 
Malcolm I seem to have different types of birds occupy the same areas each year, Theirs numerous black birds and then a little wren that likes a specific spikey bush and a robin that likes my shed roof and collared doves that like the holly tree, the magpies always seem to find the doves nest and pillage it.
Bill a bearing splitter never crossed my mind, thanks
 
Bit more done

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Its pretty nice to have a few hold downs

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And a bunch of scary stuff

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There are times when you just have to give up and give the item o the big boys to sought out. After god knows how many hours I spent trying to get the adapter out of the spindle, I took it to a local engineering place. They put it in a lathe and bored it out. They said it still wouldn't come out until there was a thin sliver left. The best £20 I ever spent, I wish I'd done it weeks ago and saved 15hrs of trying to get it out.

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The surface had suffered a bit with my attempts at removing the adapter so I put in in the lathe and gave it a skim.

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The keyless chuck came out nice after a night in evaporust and a wire wheel

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The head was fun putting back onto the main casting

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The spindle assembly was a bit easier, I used the table to lift it into the housing

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The hold downs were blackened with frosts blackening solution

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Im quite liking the blackened look

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A little update on mamma blackbird, 3 chicks hatched this morning

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Three shiny hand wheels. A chap's day just can't get any better! :D

Seriously, from someone completely ignorant of engineering machines, your posts are marvellously entertaining and informative, but above all show what incredible restoration skills you have.

My congratulations to Mama BB!
 
When you get to the end of one of these renovations and post the finished pictures I go back and remind myself how it started out.

It is all amazing but the model plate and lube plate under it didn't look like they could ever look as perfect as they do now. Magic!

Right now get going on the next one ;)
 
fiveeyes":jtsafzh1 said:
I plead ignorance....what does one use this beast for?
Looks great!!! :text-bravo:
Click to expand...

Its a pretty versatile lump, you can drill,bore,rout,use it as a spindle moulder, stair trenching and even mill. They were also used in smaller pattern mill shops
 
Wallace
If woodwork machinery restoration was an Olympic sport you just won gold!


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