Well Guys I picked up the press today. There's good news and some other news I wasn't expecting. The good news is the Press is generally in good shape, and almost all the parts are here. The only thing missing which I was aware of at the time of purchase, is the Acme jack screw for the Z-axis table adjustment. I have some photos from a few other presses and (hopefully) will make a great winter tinker project on the lathe.
The concerning part that I was not expecting is, these presses suffer a terrible fracture from
MORONS mis-using them. Let me explain:
The table on this press is designed to be height-adjusted with the jack screw, and then the large studs protruding out the back are to be snugged
FIRST, and then force applied to the table/part. This allows the upright spine-structure to bear the load of your work. Photo below of the large table studs:
Unfortunately, when idiots don't know what they are doing, they adjust the height of the table and forget to snug the table studs. When they apply the force to the table/work, the force is transferred through the jack screw and into the floor base-plate which has no support directly underneath it. Doing this repeatedly causes a fracture in the mid-base plate that is evident in every single one of these presses I have found photos of.
Mine is no different, and has been braised back together with a very large amount of support material.
After many hours of close inspection, it looks to me that this repair was done long ago. There is a lot of extra support material added to the fracture zone, and great penetration was achieved with the braise work. Whoever repaired this fracture took their time to be sure it was a proper repair. Thank You to whoever you are.
Below are photos of another example that suffered the exact same fracture.
In Summary, I am very happy with the purchase, and will spend this winter Making This Press Great Again!!
I'd love to hear your thoughts and input, and thank you for those who have helped me find the documents and info needed to bring this beast back to life.
Cheers,