Bob,
Your shaper and mine are pretty close in numbers, that's pretty cool, not long ago i didn't know shapers even had Aluminum rams and now I know of 2.
What's that machine in the background ? Nice shop, what do you make in your shop, if you don't mind me askin' ?
I was asking about oil for my machine, well today I wiped off the motor and the tag and on it has the gear case oil specs. and intervals 40 W SAE.... same oil as my old British motorcycles, way cool.
Walt
Walt,
Thanks for the compliment. The machine in the background is a Gorton O-16A Unimill, which is about a 2/3-scale Bridgeport. Next to that is a Van Norman No.6 which I just dragged home. It's not opperational yet, but soon. Not pictured are a Sheldon 11x48 lathe and a Wade 8A lathe undergoing rstoration. All on a 'man' side of a two-car garage! Swarf is not permitted to cross the center line, where the wife-unit's car resides:
It's funny that you mention motorbikes. I use my shop mostly for repairs, sometimes for bike parts but mostly for fixing the old machine tools themselves. Here's a '67 Harley case with a broken oil pump stud that the Gorton helped remove:
My old '74 Harley doesn't like synthetic oils very much (60-wt 'dino oil keeps the tappet clatter down), but the Hendey seems quite happy with a few gallons of 10W-30 synthetic in the tank. It took a while to get the pressure lube system of the Hendey sorted. There is a felt filter inside the tank, several felt traps in the ram arm, and a couple of small felt filters within the feed lines which supply the ram slides. Once they were all replaced I had to adjust the flow rate down a bit at the supply manifold. Too much oil was being sent to the ram slide and pumping a big mess down the back of the machine.
The main oil filter is inside the column, below and toward the front of the column opening. It's just a cast housing which sandwiches a felt pad. The supply manifold is to the left and up from the opening. It's just a simple series of flow-control screws. If I remember correctly the ram slide filters can be found under the removable ram hold-downs. They are under a threaded brass cap (looks like a carb main jet) and you have to fish them out with a little hook. Running the machine is a lot more fun without a puddle of oil below it, so let me know if I can help.
As far as making stuff, I found this little cast iron air compressor pump housing at the local flea market this summer. It seems just right for a hit-n-miss engine project at the time:
Plans have changed now, so I'm thinking more of a hybrid-Offenhauser-style gear driven DOHC setup:
Well, pencil lead and graph paper are probably as far as this will get, but I can dream right? The abrupt change from hit-n-miss came from the conclusion that I would get a better education from the 'Offy goal. What I
really want to do is a full-scale DOHC cross-plane (78-ish degree) crank Norton 850 hybrid (no original parts will be harmed!) in a '60's GP styled faired chasis! Titchmarsh-type frame, Brit'green-&-polished alum metalwork, modern suspension and brakes. That would be a real snortin' Norton! I even had a moment of Desmodromic-valve delusions. So, there's a little bedtime dream food for you to chew on
Enough of my motobikes, back to your great Hendeys. What are your plans for them? And what kind of Brit bikes do you have?
Bob