StrayAlien
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2014
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
And so it begins. A new piece of machinery history to fit into the shop (aka 'garage'). It is an Alba 1A 10" shaper.
I am not sure of the year. So, first things first, lets see if we can establish some history. A 'full nude' and a serial number might help if anybody out there knows more than lathes.co.uk. Here it is when picking it up:
I aim to give it a teardown and cleanup and document what I can for other current or future 1A owners. I doubt I'll give it the full paint treatment because, as you'll see, despite nicks and dings, some paint missing here and there and a lot of ground in oil and dirt the paint is original and holding up. I've done a 1941 South Bend 10L lathe and a late-80s Taiwanese mill in the last couple of years that where painted in some non-original custardy puke that was not worth preserving. Original paint is.
I'll have questions along the way so hopefully I can ask here.
My Jedi skills as a machinist are still pretty darn sub-padawan so, if need be, I fix or make what I can with my current skills and, if outside of my scope at the moment, I'll park it and come back when I've got the skills and/or equipment. Like cutting gears for example (peering down into it I can see the back-gear teeth look pretty sharp!)... I am also kitting up for some scraping.
Pic of Alba on the trailer:
and finally off the trailer and into the shop:
I'd like to say that the Alba 1A 10" shaper "followed me home" but it would have had to have travelled almost 1200klm (about 750 miles) one-way by itself to have done so. Yes, bless her, the wife and I drove a round trip Melbourne-Newcastle-Memlbourne of about 1500 miles in two days to pick the Alba up and bring it home. Bless.
As a side note, the shaper does not need a name. If Alba wasn't feminine enough, my (Spanish) wife informs me that Alba in Spanish means 'dawn'. Nice.
Finger-snap - back to business. lathes.co.uk has a picture that looks similar to this one. It labels it "as it was by the late 1940s" but there are are few notable differences:
* the clutch lever on lathes.co.uk is a cast-looking unit. Mine, and the later 10M model have a machined unit. Suggesting, perhaps that mine is later than the photo there. I figure maybe the machined one was cheaper to make thus suggesting a later machine.
* the gib adjuster screws on lathes.co.uk look flush with the casting. Mine are recessed. I am guessing the recessed gib screws is a refinement on flat-with-casting, so that also suggests something later.
* lathes.co.uk also shows the stroke indicating pointer and plate on the right of the late-40s machine. Mine is on the left. Not sure if that carries any signifigance.
... so, I am not too sure really. lathes.co.uk does not say when they stopped making the 1A. All help appreciated.
The fellow I bought it from (nice chap) had it for 20+ years and he bought it from a small factory or something up there. He said he gave it very little use in that time.
A vid of a quick walk around:
When I make reference to the shiny bit on the pulley cover in the video above it is to show a first pass at using a paint 'cutting' paste with a cloth to remove the top layer of paint with its grime and crap. Looks okay. And yes, I did start it with the clutch not engaged momentarily. Second time starting. I learned quickly.
A little bit more - also showing some of the wear evident:
And I thought this was cool. After 60 or 70 years, the pulley spins nicely (though yes, I do see it is slightly unbalanced - so maybe I'll address that):
continued ...
I am not sure of the year. So, first things first, lets see if we can establish some history. A 'full nude' and a serial number might help if anybody out there knows more than lathes.co.uk. Here it is when picking it up:
I aim to give it a teardown and cleanup and document what I can for other current or future 1A owners. I doubt I'll give it the full paint treatment because, as you'll see, despite nicks and dings, some paint missing here and there and a lot of ground in oil and dirt the paint is original and holding up. I've done a 1941 South Bend 10L lathe and a late-80s Taiwanese mill in the last couple of years that where painted in some non-original custardy puke that was not worth preserving. Original paint is.
I'll have questions along the way so hopefully I can ask here.
My Jedi skills as a machinist are still pretty darn sub-padawan so, if need be, I fix or make what I can with my current skills and, if outside of my scope at the moment, I'll park it and come back when I've got the skills and/or equipment. Like cutting gears for example (peering down into it I can see the back-gear teeth look pretty sharp!)... I am also kitting up for some scraping.
Pic of Alba on the trailer:
and finally off the trailer and into the shop:
I'd like to say that the Alba 1A 10" shaper "followed me home" but it would have had to have travelled almost 1200klm (about 750 miles) one-way by itself to have done so. Yes, bless her, the wife and I drove a round trip Melbourne-Newcastle-Memlbourne of about 1500 miles in two days to pick the Alba up and bring it home. Bless.
As a side note, the shaper does not need a name. If Alba wasn't feminine enough, my (Spanish) wife informs me that Alba in Spanish means 'dawn'. Nice.
Finger-snap - back to business. lathes.co.uk has a picture that looks similar to this one. It labels it "as it was by the late 1940s" but there are are few notable differences:
* the clutch lever on lathes.co.uk is a cast-looking unit. Mine, and the later 10M model have a machined unit. Suggesting, perhaps that mine is later than the photo there. I figure maybe the machined one was cheaper to make thus suggesting a later machine.
* the gib adjuster screws on lathes.co.uk look flush with the casting. Mine are recessed. I am guessing the recessed gib screws is a refinement on flat-with-casting, so that also suggests something later.
* lathes.co.uk also shows the stroke indicating pointer and plate on the right of the late-40s machine. Mine is on the left. Not sure if that carries any signifigance.
... so, I am not too sure really. lathes.co.uk does not say when they stopped making the 1A. All help appreciated.
The fellow I bought it from (nice chap) had it for 20+ years and he bought it from a small factory or something up there. He said he gave it very little use in that time.
A vid of a quick walk around:
When I make reference to the shiny bit on the pulley cover in the video above it is to show a first pass at using a paint 'cutting' paste with a cloth to remove the top layer of paint with its grime and crap. Looks okay. And yes, I did start it with the clutch not engaged momentarily. Second time starting. I learned quickly.
A little bit more - also showing some of the wear evident:
And I thought this was cool. After 60 or 70 years, the pulley spins nicely (though yes, I do see it is slightly unbalanced - so maybe I'll address that):
continued ...