Brown and Sharpe 7743 Restoration

Hey guys, I just "restored" a Brown and Sharpe 7743 dial indicator mag base and thought some would be interested.
Here are some pics:
Before

Before

Before

Before

After

After

After


I polished everything with 1k (about) paper when put parts on the lathe to polish with scotchbrite, which gave it a more matte polish and fewer sanding marks.
Then hit everything with gun oil. Springs and spring plungers got white lithium grease and the screws got coated in anti-seize.
I think it cleaned up nicely, now I wish I could know it's story of where it's been.

Hope some of you found this interesting or possibly helpful
Cheers!

I seem to remember having a bugger of a time getting mine back together when I took it apart for cleaning. It was tough to get the screw lined up with the hole in the main body and the fine adjust arm.

Looks good though. Mine looked about the same when I bought it, but it had brown crinkle paint, which wasn't in bad shape. The Indicator clamp was rusted onto one of the stems, had to soak in oil then hit on a wooden work bench edge to dislodge it. They are nice units and mine has a strong mag...they are hard to find in good shape let alone find...and the knob is usually broken or missing.

Once again, very nice

davethorik said:

I seem to remember having a bugger of a time getting mine back together when I took it apart for cleaning. It was tough to get the screw lined up with the hole in the main body and the fine adjust arm.

Looks good though. Mine looked about the same when I bought it, but it had brown crinkle paint, which wasn't in bad shape. The Indicator clamp was rusted onto one of the stems, had to soak in oil then hit on a wooden work bench edge to dislodge it. They are nice units and mine has a strong mag...they are hard to find in good shape let alone find...and the knob is usually broken or missing.

Once again, very nice

Click to expand...

Yes....that part was very tricky. I had to put it in a vise and line up the little arm with the hole with a small punch then try and out the screw in.
After 10 tries it worked
Cheers!

Nice clean-up, Spyder.

I have a couple of #743s, which may be an older version.






Rex

bjorn toulouse said:

Nice clean-up, Spyder.

I have a couple of #743s, which may be an older version.

Click to expand...

Rex- I am guessing those are made in Providence, RI? My 7743 is marked North Kingstown.

Here is mine, fresh from the gun show (I love gun shows for screaming deals on machinist tools).

Spyderedge --

Nice restoration, but you said one thing that, to me, raises a bit of concern: "white lithium grease".

A fair number of white greases harden, over time, to a fair approximation of limestone. If I recall correctly, Pennzoil 705 was especially prone to such hardening, but it isn't / wasn't the only one by a long shot. And, on the other hand, some white greases seem to hold their consistency for decades.

Probably the best I've found for holding up over time is the calcium-soap-thickened Lubriplate 100 series, with the very soft (NLGI 0) Lubriplate 105 one of my favorites for tool,-instrument-and-fixture lubrication. (I'll point out that although "Lubriplate" is often used as a generic term for "white grease", the Lubriplate company probably makes at least as many different types of oils and greases as a Major Oil Company, and they have widely varying properties in terms of water resistance, temperature resistance, ability to withstand pressure, and other factors.)

If you're not familiar with it, the Lubriplate 105 I mentioned earlier is widely sold through auto supply channels as an engine assembly lube.

John

John Garner said:

Probably the best I've found for holding up over time is the calcium-soap-thickened Lubriplate 100 series, with the very soft (NLGI 0) Lubriplate 105 one of my favorites for tool,-instrument-and-fixture lubrication.

Click to expand...

I love Lubriplate 100! It's the consistency of snot -- it's also great for rotary tables.

davethorik said:

Rex- I am guessing those are made in Providence, RI? My 7743 is marked North Kingstown.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are marked Providence, RI.
No stop pins for the lever, which travels from 10 o'clock (off) to 2 o'clock (on).
The unit in the pics is the nicer of the 2, as shown it's in "as bought" condition. I need to do some renovation work on the other, as it's somewhat grungier than Spyder's "before" pics.


Rex

Interesting, I have never seen the older version. I wondered why the opposide end of the knob had a ground finish, now I know why.

My friend has one and it looks like it went through a battle, he did get it for free though.
My boss's father has one (he works in our shop part time) but it is totally bereft of any paint. It has an aluminum tag but the paint is gone off that, as well. Years of coolant spray...

I got mine at the gun show...guy had a lot of nice stuff, but wanted too much for most of it and wouldn't dicker on a price. I got the surface gage for $20 and this neat little retro Starrett Webber gage block stone for $1. It is an arkansas stone.

Hi

I pickle my restored steel tools in phosphoric acid. It produces a somewhat rust resistant surface and adds a nice patina that makes them look old.