Die Filer Questions?

Hi All,

I just received this DoAll Die Filer which I bought on Ebay. It seems to be in good shape.
DoAll Die Filer
This is my first die filer and I have all kinds of questions.
1. Does anyone have a manual for it? (Probably not, so I'll ask the following )
2. I realize the file attaches to the lower recipricating device, but what do the upper attachments and adjustments do?
3. Is that copper tube a breather for the gear box?
4. What is the thing on the vertical front face of the gear box?
5. There is a vertical threaded boss (about 1" high) on the base. What is this for?
6. What size and type files do I look for?
7. What type oil do you reccommend for the gearbox?

I would appreciate any advice and suggestions for
using this neat machine.
Thanks,
Jay

The copper pipe is from the air pump and has been snapped off..there maybe should be a rubber hose attached to it.
you then direct the air
the air is pumped towards the file to clear the filings away.

The top bracket ........well the bent arm thingy is a hold-down ...that you manouver onto the work to stop it lifting when you are filing...there should be two of them.


all the best...mark

I wonder if you don't have parts of two different machines there???

Anyway for files you can try these folks and look under "Machine Files" then "Parallel Files" and then maybe Parallel Machine Files (Tension)- I think these will be correct for your machine but satisfy yourself on the direction of cut.
http://www.fedfile.com/

One thing, I suspect you should only have one hold-down.

My Oliver is extremely similar to that, and has one hold-down to the right of the file. Really needs a forked or ring hold-down system.

The oliver does not have the filings-puffer system for clearing chips. That would be slick.

Looks like yours has a screw for table tilt adjustment, and possibly another for belt tension?

I owned the same die filer once many years ago. Its a good machine. The file clamps at the bottom as you mentioned. The square box at the top has a clock spring in it. The vertical square (maybe 5/8 square) piece at the front of that box travels up and down with the file. The clock spring is fit into the end (inside the box) and pulls up on the file. If you take the cover off the side you will see exactly what I mean. You are missing the clamp that goes on the end and holds the top end of the file. I believe the end of that square piece is drilled and tapped something like 3/8. This is where the clamp attaches. I can't recall what that threaded boss is for.

Alan

I don't think he is "missing " it, it looks actually like the clamp is at top, facing back!

Possibly the spring is no more, and they put the plunger in the top of the box to keep it with the machine... nice of them, some wouldn't have....

I think the entire box can be rotated and then the clamp can be used in the lower end. May be mistaken about this.

Isn't it interesting that two companies claim that machine or are they one in the same and I missed the notice. No comments???

As long as I'm guessing about things - It's my guess that the one crank that JT refers to as belt tightening is in fact a sort of belt tightening of the variable speed drive sheeve.

What you have is an All American Die Filer model 1500. It was made in Skokie Illinois and they are long gone. DoAll sold them under their name for several years. Unfortunately DoAll is just about gone and they have nothing on this machine.

The front knob is the variable speed adjustment. The Round knob is the table tilt.

The little brass nozzle is the chip blower. The crankcase puffed out the tube to blow away chips. If it does not puff, the bellows is probably broken. That is the rubber protector above the gearbox, that guards the crank rod. Keep it tight and in good order. Fill the gearbox with 30 wt "SB" oil to the middle of the sight glass.

The two little knobs, below the table and on the crankcase, control bearing tension on the slide assembly. They control backlash and slop.

It looks like you are missing most of your overarm attachments. I would need a better picture to see what is there.

That is the best of the die filers and there was none better. You will learn to love it and your fingers will like the rest.

Charlie Biler
www.molineparts.com

I'll add - if the threaded boss on the base is about center bewtween the motor & die filer, it was to hold a guage that set angles for filing die reliefs.

Charlie is right, these are the best. I have both a DoAll & an AllAmerican. They were made by the same people, just AllAmerican was made with AL guards and the DoAll had a more box like overarm. AllAmerican went t!ts up several years ago, the oufit that bought them out for the spare parts biz went under as well. Like much of what was, they are ashes in the wind.

You want to look for type F files, they have a shank at the top & bottom. I think they other type is type E, just a shank on the bottom. You cannot use 4" short files in this machine, 6" min with 8" being better. The good news this type of die filer does not mind using regular hand files upside down. You can make a shank from drilled square stock or use a strip of soft sheet copper to prevent damage to the holder. Remember to check your angle to the table when doing this.

Ted

You Guys are Great!!
I had more time to play with it.
J Tiers is right, the square vertical piece that
holds the upper clamp was installed upside down
to get it out of the way. When I removed the cover plate there was a little lever that was attached to a spring. The end of this lever fits into a hole in the vertical square piece so this allows the square piece that holds the clamp to recipricate up and down. If he had not mentioned this I never would have figured it out, thanks!
I have a question, why is the spring needed? Since the motor drives the file up and down and the upper clamp would hold the top of the file and allow it to slide up and down, what purpose does the spring serve?
Charlie, thanks for the info about the purpose of the two little knobs on the front of the crankcase. I will have to investigate this. Also,
what is "SB" oil?
Steve, you are right about the crank that adjusts the belts, it is for adjusting the variable speed sheeve.
William, how did the guage that set angles for filing die reliefs work? Also, what do you mean
by "Remember to check your angle to the table when doing this"?

Thanks again to everybody who replied, I will report again when I get into using this neat machine.

Jay

The spring would tend to maintain loading on the crank mechanism more constant/balanced - eliminate or reduce any slop in going from full load (filing) to no load (return stroke). It may have the added function of keeping a flimsy scroll saw blade taunt (under tension) for sawing operations as some of these file machines were born out of earlier wood cutting jig or scroll saws.

JHW -
The guage was 4 sided, looking more like a knob with 4 long splines than a guage. The 4 long sides were ground at 0, .5 and 1 degrees. The fouth side had a 0 degree v grove in it. You would loose the table lock, move the side to the file to match the angle and lock the table. I cannot find my digital camera right now, as soon as I can I will post a pic.

If you make your own die files by mounting hand files in a square or round shank, check the table to file angle as your shank could be off.

SB oil - non detergent grade oil. Has about 3x the lubraction capacity of 30 detergent oil. The diff between the 2 is that non-detergent oil allows gunk to settle out, while detergent keeps it in suspension. The latter quaulity is disired for auto engines to keep them from plugging up with dirt & gunk.

Ted