Elam Works
Aluminum
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2007
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
The computer illiterate brother bought a Brown & Sharpe No.1 Universal grinder, so I am posting it for him. The serial number is 5426, so according to our Used Machinery Guide, that would date it to 1945-46. 1947 seems to have been the last year for these.
A friend of ours bought it at scrap price from a local shop that had been closed for years. He had a identical 1947 model with some power feed issues, and the idea was to use this one for spare parts. But he had second thoughts about junking it so decided to sell. Also, I think the trouble of tearing his apart to fix it, versus feeding manually for the few times he uses it, was a deciding factor! He had partially dismantled the machine to facilitate moving it to his place and storing it. So one trip to load up the smaller parts, and another with trailer for the base. It was a little bigger than what he was looking for (a #1 Cincinnati T&C grinder would have been ideal), but what the heck - the price was right!
It was absolutely filthy, no reflection on our friend as that is the way it was when he bought it. It seems to be cleaning up o.k., and despite the filth and probable neglect of maintenance, it does not seem to have been used much and the filth has not had the hours to work in and wear out all the joints and bearings. An example is the oil scrapping on the bed ways. These seem uniform along the entire length; wear would be indicated by the scraped areas getting smaller or disappearing at the ends.
First order of business was a dose of Gunk, and a power wash. Then dismantling to clean it out and check it over. Before someone starts yapping, we would not power wash a machine tool unless we were planning on taking it all apart anyway. It does make the process of stripping it so much more pleasant when the machine is not encrusted in a quarter inch of muck!
First three pics show it on arrival. All I can say is 'yuck!' The last photo shows the wheel head slide. Note congealed grit and rust at the end. This is not as bad as it first appears as the slide runs clear of the surface by a slight amount. Oil galleries are choked up with mud, and part of the reason a full strip down is required. There is one mechanical problem in that the hand wheel turns but the pinion that advances and retracts the wheel head does not. There is a worm on a shaft and a small right angle gearbox under the pinion and suspect there is a key or cross pin sheared. So far, drained the oil from the gearbox (looked o.k.) and next step is to drop the gearbox out and have a look inside.
-Doug
A friend of ours bought it at scrap price from a local shop that had been closed for years. He had a identical 1947 model with some power feed issues, and the idea was to use this one for spare parts. But he had second thoughts about junking it so decided to sell. Also, I think the trouble of tearing his apart to fix it, versus feeding manually for the few times he uses it, was a deciding factor! He had partially dismantled the machine to facilitate moving it to his place and storing it. So one trip to load up the smaller parts, and another with trailer for the base. It was a little bigger than what he was looking for (a #1 Cincinnati T&C grinder would have been ideal), but what the heck - the price was right!
It was absolutely filthy, no reflection on our friend as that is the way it was when he bought it. It seems to be cleaning up o.k., and despite the filth and probable neglect of maintenance, it does not seem to have been used much and the filth has not had the hours to work in and wear out all the joints and bearings. An example is the oil scrapping on the bed ways. These seem uniform along the entire length; wear would be indicated by the scraped areas getting smaller or disappearing at the ends.
First order of business was a dose of Gunk, and a power wash. Then dismantling to clean it out and check it over. Before someone starts yapping, we would not power wash a machine tool unless we were planning on taking it all apart anyway. It does make the process of stripping it so much more pleasant when the machine is not encrusted in a quarter inch of muck!
First three pics show it on arrival. All I can say is 'yuck!' The last photo shows the wheel head slide. Note congealed grit and rust at the end. This is not as bad as it first appears as the slide runs clear of the surface by a slight amount. Oil galleries are choked up with mud, and part of the reason a full strip down is required. There is one mechanical problem in that the hand wheel turns but the pinion that advances and retracts the wheel head does not. There is a worm on a shaft and a small right angle gearbox under the pinion and suspect there is a key or cross pin sheared. So far, drained the oil from the gearbox (looked o.k.) and next step is to drop the gearbox out and have a look inside.
-Doug