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Early Hendey

dundeeshopnut

Hot Rolled
Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Hello, first time member here, long time info scavenger. I joined the great minds here with great trepidation, as I am not a machinist.,:bowdown: but just a dairy farmer who does his own repairs but who also has a passion for building/restoring tools, or building equipment from scratch using assorted crap. My latest winter project is a 1903 12" hendey I "rescued"001.jpg from a farm auction. Almost done,001.jpg and no, it is not as bright red as the camera flash makes it out to be!:ack2: Now, I need to find some gears [tall order I know,] or have them made. I have the half nuts figured out and think I can make the holder out of steel and fasten a bronze nut to it. Thanks everyone for making this a great site for guys like me and I hope I can contribute something useful once in a while too.
 
Welcome to the Forum
It’s nice to see another surviving Dominion Auto Drive gearbox on your Henedy .
I have one on a Brown and Sharpe Horizontal Mill and there are a few others that have been posted about in other threads.
I still haven’t managed to see much on line about the Auto Drive company from Walkerville near Windsor Ontatio
I’ll have to repost some pictures of mine that I posted on a photo hosting site and can’t be seen on this site any more.
There are a few other lathes that have been shown on this forum with similar Auto Drive .
If you can post more photos or measurements about the gears you need maybe someone will have some solutions for you.
Regards,
Jim

P.S. added Auto-Drive and Mill Photos
 

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I think you have instant cred here with what you have already shown us there, nice!
I'm not much help, but I think you will find plenty of assistance here. welcome and good luck!
 
Welcome, more pictures please, from the one you posted it certainly looks like you take pride in your work,nice job. As top heavy as the old girl appears I wonder if extending the iron you have on the bottom of the legs would not be a bad idea? Jim
 
Nice job on the Hendey - something you can pass onto the grandkids eventually. (It will outlive you no doubt.)

Um. What's the blue lathe minus the legs behind it on the trailer? That headstock is looking a little familiar.

Joe in NH
 
WOW! Thanks everybody! Jim, L'Original,,, Nice village, I have been there more than once. Nice to see someone close to me. Dominion came with the lathe and after fixing a couple of chipped teeth and new shaft seals works well, no leaks! Photos or measurements are going to be a problem as i don't have the gears anymore. Sent them off along with the half nuts [and money] to be made last October and have got nothing but promises on their return. I have written them off now as I can not even reach him by phone and he doesn't reply to emails. On top of the gears, I have to reverse engineer the castings that hold the half nuts, hopefully,out of steel.:angry: As far as the risers under the legs, I left them out as far as I could without stubbing my feet on them and the rear leveling screws are further back of the factory legs so they just sit on the floor of the shop, which is separate from the footing of the building. I used my shop crane to lift the lathe to it's new fixed address to eliminate the risk of it toppling and will anchor it to the floor jus for insurance. Anyways, here are few pics I managed to take along the way.002.jpg004.jpg003.jpgThis lathe is a Blaisdell 12" with 42" between centers. Bought at the auction,[buyer wanted the legs only] for the chucks but it is too nice to scrap. 001.jpg001.jpg This was a "lathe of many colors" [7] in it's past so I chose the hue I liked best as there was no "correct" factory color with Hendey. :) Also, I hate machinery grey.:ack2: so depressing.005.jpg
 
A couple more.006.jpg003.jpg Scored a NOS [1943] start/stop switch for 25 bucks to keep it lookin' vintage002.jpg Threading chart after a swim in phosphoric acid and repaint and final sanding with 800 grit. Squirted some clear to help prevent tarnish.004.jpg
 
that piece looked like it was camouflaged... great work , I really like that red. (I myself am no fan of gray,aversion from my navy days)I tend to think that the "correct" color is the one you like, or if you are cheap like me, what you have on hand. Jim
 
I was guessing from your forum name and location that you might be within an hour or so drive away .
Here is a thread about another lathe with a Dominion Auto Drive/
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...he-info-202633/?highlight=Dominion+Auto+Drive
While the links may not have worked for the auction pictures in this thread that was linked above I have a hunch you may have known about that shop.
Old machinery at Auction Sale in Quebec .
If you can post the diametral pitch and numbers of teeth on the gears you are missing there may be a chance that someone will have some used ones or some new old stock gears from places like Martin Sprocket or Boston gear that could be modified to fit.
Maybe Hendyman will see your post and be able to give you some information about your lathe.
I have no experience with Hendey’s but if I remember the serial number is on the bed between the front ways near the tailstock end.
That will help to find the history of your machine
Others who post on this forum who have Hendey’s will likely be a long shortly and offer some good suggestions .
Regards,
Jim
 
Thanks for the links and fwiw, I WAS 20 minutes from Cornwall, before the border closed. No, I was not at that auction, and Dean has since retired. Randall Finnegan has all the old iron auctions around here now and is as honest and accommodating as the day is long. Hendeyman is quite familiar with my lathe and the gears required, as he has had them since October and all I have received so far are promises. Now I would settle for even sending me back the old parts so hopefully I could find someone else to hire.
 
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Nice job. I too like seeing different colors, same thing about navy grey. Had enough of that. I too would like to hear about the other lathe on the trailer and maybe the little bench lathe.
 
As per request, I grabbed some pics of the Blaisdell before I move it into storage somewhere tomorrow.002.jpg003.jpg004.jpg Everything is stuck but no real rust anywhere. Except for the required one broken tooth on the back gear I see no damage or wear. I don't have the change gears for it. While the legs were gorgeous, they take up space in a shop. I think this would make a nice benchtop lathe on a stout steel bench and still have a lot of storage underneath. Concerning the little benchtop in the pics,,, do you want to get me BANNED from this site already!!!??? :eek::eek: That's just a 6-18 machine I redid a few years ago that can never be mentioned here.:D. While it is considered "just a toy" by real machinists, it has been invaluable to me producing parts within it's limitations, and even with the "new" Hendey I hope to have fully functioning SOMEday, it is still handier for turning small/high speed parts.
 
See Photo Index - P. Blaisdell & Co. - Antique Engine Lathe | VintageMachinery.org which the owner puts to "1870s" - which given the style of the tailstock which matches yours I think I agree.

Dateline on "P. Blaisdell & Co." is from 1867 through 1905.

Glad you're giving the remains some love and you stepped up to the plate.

Joe in NH

Thanks for the info!!!! I am still learning my way around this site. Anyone here have a reliable person or business that cuts gears they want to recommend? With the border closed i can no longer go to my US PO box but there is a freight forwarder next to the Canadian customs here who has a very unique setup. He owns an old hotel that straddles the border, and when it was in business you racked the pool balls in the US and broke from Canada! Anyways, now he accepts parcels and mail on the US door and hands them over to you at the Canadian side for a fee. All legal though as you have to pass through the Canadian customs upon your departure.
 
Got a estimate from a local [Montreal] gear shop for the 6 that I need. 1600-1800$can for all six. From a purely economic standpoint, I should jump on the loader and dump the lathe into the pond in our pit to prevent any further temptation, and still might do it but I am going to keep trying to fend a way, for the moment.
 
I’m not surprised at the cost of custom cut gears.
This is a long older thread but you can see how Brian dealt with the missing and damaged gears on his Bertram
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...am-sons-lathe-saved-230971/?highlight=Bertram
I’m not sure if all the pictures can be seen and the gear work probably appeared in the last 1/2 of the thread.
If you can post some information about the gears that you need someone may be able to help you out for a much lower cost.
I have at least one contact that I could ask to see what they have in the way of surplus gears that could be re worked and have some my self but have no Idea if they would be suitable.
A couple shown in the picture below .
 

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It is possible to "homebrew" gears using a flycutter.

The results are not nearly as perfect as gears cut with numbered involute gearcutters, which are not all that perfect considering the wide range of gears a single cutter can be made to cut. But may be acceptable for use as change gears. See Gear Making - Fly Cutter - The Home Machinist!

One respondent has a downloadable "dimensions guide" to blank size, diametral pitch, tooth numbering and pressure angle and otherwise everything you need - all pre-programmed and calculated to get you started.

There are more accurate ways of gear tooth generation including DIY versions using "flexible straps" and use of a shaper, but this version on Chaski seems acceptable.

As I have now a couple of dozen change gears which require cutting in 10, 12 and 20dp, I may go this way.

Joe in NH
 
Good point about the fly cutter Joe in NH.
A little bit slower but can get the job done if one has the time and patience.
Depending on the circumstances some used or imported gear cutters for a horizontal mill can be found fairly cheaply on line .
They may not be like Butterfield or Cleveland quality but be good enough to get a few gears out of them before sharpening .
Then if you make your own blanks and have a cutter someone might be able to cut them on a mill for you .
I know some places that may have the odd gear cutter in their collection that might be able to do something to help out but have to know the Diametral Pitch and the number of teeth in the gears.
Often times it isn’t the right one but once in a while things work out.
Jim
 
Good attention to detail on your Hendey. I'm more a fan of the grays and blacks when rebuilding them, but they're looking great! My 1909 Hendey 16x8 was a similar "John Deere Green" when I started working on it.

I've got a younger relative of your other lathe, mines a Whitcomb Blaisdell 14x10 (96" between centers) and I'm guessing it was made in the late teens, early twenties. There doesn't seem to be very much information left about the company.
Long 3 Legged Lathe (Whitcomb Blaisdell) Questions
 
AND alongside cutting the gears, there is the ongoing issue of where to procure gear blanks or even plain plates/circles in which to cut a gear.

McMaster offers cast iron plate in various dimension/thicknesses - at a price.

Other online sources including Ebay may have similar in a hit-miss sort of style. The pricing is usually a bit better.

Weightlifter weights are an option. "Olympic" weights have a 1-1/4 hole. "Standard" weights have a 1" hole. A difficulty in purchase of these is in the thickness - which most Ebay sellers neglect to mention. A larger hole can be bushed - sash weights are fairly cheap and make reasonable bushes. But there is the added labor/effort to make this happen. And one is still presented with the ever-present "5lbs" designation - which can be filled with auto body compound and painted for appearance.

A36 plate is available online conveniently made in circles, usually with a small hole in the center. These seem to be "offcuts" from various hole saw drilling enterprises - and can be had quite cheaply. Often marketed as "targets" for the shooting crowd. Thicknesses up to 1/2 are readily available, but get much beyond that and the supply is less. Conversely the shipping weight/cost.

Actual gear blanks (with spokes and traditional) seem the hardest to find. One can buy a completed gear for recut in another gear pitch on Ebay for medium money, and still be less money than buying only the blank from the usual Boston Gear or Martin sources - when these can even be found.

Some have advocated using scrap iron like upright piano frames - but these may be limited in thickness to less than 1/2" as you would use the "web" portion of the casting.

And even manhole covers can be pricey - and difficult to cut with anything but a saw. One CAN cut cast iron using an acetylene torch by "seeding" the cut with a rod of carbon steel - but the process is laborious and expensive of gas.

Problematical at best. I still scan Ebay for "sets" of change gears in the right DP and tooth counts.

Joe in NH
 








 
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