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I try! I'd like to be able to start making them all pay for themselves at some point, that's the dream! In the meantime it can just be fixing my own problems. I'm currently working on a wadkin evenwood ripsaw - got a braze repair to do on the fence casting so I'll post pictures of that when I do it.

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Now we're pretty well caught up with the recent acquisitions, here's what I'm currently up to. Bought a wadkin evenwood ripsaw on ebay that looked horrendous and also had been dropped and the fence casting broken. Obviously no-one else was daft enough to bid, but my dad has just bought some TIG brazing rods and was itching to try them out :lol: I spent good friday having a thoroughly enjoyable day cleaning and painting the saw and making all the parts that were missing:
Evenwood saw
Evenwood rear panel
Evenwood painted
I was really happy to get it all done in a day - just left the fence to sort. This is the cracked section after I'd removed everything I could:
Broken casting
I sandblasted the rust from the repair area:
Sandblasted
We ground a vee on either side of the repair, got it clamped up as well as possible (not easy due to the way the crack ran and it being a C shaped casting), preheated with the gas torch and set to with the TIG:
Tig brazing
Once we'd got it as good as we could, it was into the duvet to slow the cooling down. I ground it down roughly to neaten it up once it had cooled and it seems to be a success - it all rings when you tap it with a hammer. Tomorrow I'll get the inside ground back, re-tap the holes and try it on the fence rail. Fingers crossed!
Brazed!
 
Blimey "T", if that repair works (and it looks like you're well on the way) then you really have achieved something to be proud of. Well done, please let us know how it works out.
 
did you "v" out the crack before you welded it? if not then whilst it should hold you've only done a bead and about 3mm penetration on the weld so it will still have the crack and it may go again in the future.

otherwise, cracking bit of work to take on, welding cast is always scary, especially the pops and bangs you can get when you hit spots.
 
Yep, we ground a pretty decent vee, and managed to get about 1" in from each end on the inside. I'm pretty hopeful! First time using the Tig braze, I've done it with cast rods with a stick welder before. Key seems to be getting it all good and warm before you start.

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Good work Tom,
Having never done anything like this my mechanical thinking asks a question.
If an oversized hole was bored at intervals following the break shortways when clamped together, would extra welding/ brazing be able to fill these holes all the way through?
My thinking is that this would increase the weld surface.
Cheers Andy
 
The hard part would be getting the holes to fill up from the back - you have to get the rod and the tungsten tip in there at the same time. I did consider drilling and tapping it together with grub screws as well but for one its such a hard shape to clamp, being an open sided tube and two the crack ran in a spiral so would have needed a new setup each time. I used the die grinder and a carbide burr to remove the excess braze on the inside of the casting and got it fitted to the fence. Just need to find the right size tap for the clamp now.
 
So far, its looking promising. Ground out the internal braze and got it fitted back on the fence rail:
Success
I tapped the main locking screw thread back good again - the crack runs right throught the centre of the thread so if the tap didnt burst it apart it seems to be held pretty well. All that is left on this part is the grub screw that holds the pointer for the scale needs re-tapping and installing.
I've done a bit of messing around with lathes but very little "proper" work - today I turned a new pin that had been bent in the fence assembly. Surface finish is pants but I hit the sizes I was aiming for (more by luck than judgement!)
Turned pin
I'm now down to 2 broken parts - the bristol lever that locks the fence is snapped and the fine adjustment clamp is broken:
Next part
I think the game plan for this is to mill it off square so I can grub screw and braze a replacement section on and machine back to the correct shape. I'm really enjoying this project - it's really pushing me into trying lots of new things!
 
People will really break anything, won't they! It makes me sad seeing old iron being wrecked.

On the other hand, I'm very happy you've taken on the very difficult task of putting it all back together! Kudos!
 
One word: Farmers.

They'd dropped it off the forks of the loadall. (hammer)

Like I say I'm really enjoying it, I'm learning new stuff and at the end of it I can sell it and get my money back!
 
More progress on the saw repairs. Next up was the bristol lever that had had the thread sheared in the fall. I took it apart and couldn't get the remaining stub of thread out, so I chucked it in a collet chuck, faced it and tapped it, then did the same with a bit of whitworth threaded rod and grub screwed them together with threadlock.
Tapping
Both ends tapped
Back together

Have to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the result!
I've also remade the knurled knub for the fine adjustment fence clamp. First attempt at parting off and by god it looks horrendous :lol: I'll put that to the inside so it can't be seen. I'll weld the knurled bit to the thread to finish it.
Knurling
I only got the one photo but I've also repaired the last cracked casting - put it in the mill and squared the broken bit up, then found a bit of thickwall pipe that was pretty much the right size, cut a section out and welded to the casting with dissimilar rods.
Milling flat
Just leaves painting it all now.
 
I moved my big bandsaw home months ago and I've finally gotten round to getting it up and running :oops: I'd been putting it off as the wadkin lathe was a bit traumatic! This one was much easier, helped having the wadkin there to copy the wiring. While it was still at work I started making some cam-action castor brackets for it so I could move it but drop it down to stabilise it for use. Ended up not really working out how I wanted so I got angry and blasted some big C section brackets on with the mig welder. It's actually very stable on just the wheels, I can also wind down the corner pads if I need more stability.
Here's the inverter, with some very neat for me wiring:
Inverter
I found a mitre fence attachment on ebay - they are unusual as you set the angle, then a hook pulls the work through. Its all a bit of a bodge to work around the way the table splits. I'll get a better pic to illustrate my ramblings. Anyway, I needed to make something to hold all the bits and this is what I came up with:
Tool rack
And here it is, all finished up.
 
Here's the mitre attachment in use:
Startrite mitre guide
It's the only one I've seen for a startrite. Because the table has no mitre slot this is what they came up with - it actually works pretty well.

This evening I also finished painting and assembling the fence for the evenwood saw. All thats left to do to it is tap one grub screw hole to hold the pointer for the scale then its job done. Pleased with how this has turned out as it was basically scrap when I bought it.
Finished fence
Finished fence
 
Brush, I can't be bothered with the masking and clean up of spraying! And I find rattle cans don't give a durable finish. This stuff is tractor enamel, seems to give great results.

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Lovely work there, fixing cast iron can be a right pig :)

I use synthetic enamel AKA tractor paint too. Odds and sods I brush on but if I'm into a project I use 3M PPS (paint preparation system) which is a series of plastic measuring cups with liners including paint filters that fit via an adapter to the spray gun replacing the normal cup.

Much less washing as you can take the cup off and put a cap on it and it will stay fresh for days so you can mix a full cup. You can then swap it for one with gun wash in it, job done. I don't like single use plastics but this saves paint/thinners so overall is beneficial and takes all the hassle out of spraying, plus the liners are pretty thin, not a lot of plastic in them. I tend to just use one liner per type of paint per project.

Cheers
Andy
 
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