New member overwlemed by a new 24BAO/S - 24" Thickness Planer

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Wadkin 24BAO

Member
Joined
23 Nov 2023
Messages
17
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8
Location
UK - Herts
Hi All,

Thank you for allowing me to join your site, i've been lurking for a couple of weeks and see there are some real experts here when it comes to the Wadkin Bursgreen machinary.

I've just bought myself a 24BAO/s 24" Thickness Planer, I've searched and searched but can't find a single photo of the same model anywhere, only the Thicknesser only version.

Has anyone lese got one of these or seen the same model before?

Or can anyone tell me anything about it?

IMG_5298.JPEG
 
I've seen a lot of planers in my time, and I've never seen one of those.

I would hazard a guess that possibly this may have been an in-between machine and had a very short run, Wadkin Bursgreen produced the 12" BAO and the P/T variant the BAO/S alongside the 24" UO3 and the UO/S so the requirement for a 24" BAO would've been redundant whilst they still produced them. Later on they had the BT500/630 and the BTS500/630 which I would've assumed made the 24" BAO redundant during it's short run as it would've been significantly cheaper to produce as they were constructed by weldment rather than by massive castings.

What does the plate on it say, if there is one? I know the thicknesser version which is a rare machine itself is sometimes stamped BAJ whilst the literature called it a 24" BAO 600, so if it's like the BAO and the BAO/S it could theoretically be a BAJ/S? Looking in my catalogue for Wadkin planer knives they do list a Bursgreen BAO and BAO/S under the 24" category, unfortunately I do not have any catalogues of that era for the machinery.
 
I’ve seen just one before, the guy who owned it was retiring and I bought a lot of his machines……but not the beast of a PT like yours. Now, it could be just sales talk, which I can’t fully remember! It is if he were to be believed a very special machine with super precision. I can’t however remember just now what it was made for.

The who can probably shed a lot of light on it is Wallace.
 
had almost the same, 20-22" if I remeber, then had to sell all my Wadkin gear to move here.....
great piece of kit......
the cutter shaft bearings on mine were self centering ball bearings.....mine were full of old dry grease....the drive side got a little warm initially so investigated.......those bearing are a fortune to replace so check em out for the hell of it......
I used plenty of brake cleaner spray with a tiny straw tube to soften the old grease and wash em out then decent high metling point grease from a g/gun.....
when I was using it all day long it got 1 pump of grease first thing and again after lunch BUT do not over do it.....bearing that are over packed with grease DO NOT roll they can skid leaving flat spots on ur balls......nasty...
no need to take anything apart.....
the only other thing I did was to get the ribbed feed roller covered with white rubber to stop the marks ....I was working huge amounts of Oak....
bought 2 extra sets of blades to keep working.....
my machine had stood a while and the belts were stiff so replaced em with qual made items.....after the initial adjustment they were not touched in the 17 years I owned.....
ps... I made a lot of money with it and sold it for double the price.....never spending on it other than reg maint.......
irriplaceable now u've got it.....u lucky boy....
 
Against_The_Grain said:
I've seen a lot of planers in my time, and I've never seen one of those.

I would hazard a guess that possibly this may have been an in-between machine and had a very short run, Wadkin Bursgreen produced the 12" BAO and the P/T variant the BAO/S alongside the 24" UO3 and the UO/S so the requirement for a 24" BAO would've been redundant whilst they still produced them. Later on they had the BT500/630 and the BTS500/630 which I would've assumed made the 24" BAO redundant during it's short run as it would've been significantly cheaper to produce as they were constructed by weldment rather than by massive castings.

What does the plate on it say, if there is one? I know the thicknesser version which is a rare machine itself is sometimes stamped BAJ whilst the literature called it a 24" BAO 600, so if it's like the BAO and the BAO/S it could theoretically be a BAJ/S? Looking in my catalogue for Wadkin planer knives they do list a Bursgreen BAO and BAO/S under the 24" category, unfortunately I do not have any catalogues of that era for the machinery.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply and help, here is the only information I have found on the machine so far:
IMG_5257.JPEG
 
Ive remembered, he stated that his PT was a pattern makers machine. Now, I’m no expert in the lineage of Wadkin machines, I’ve just tinkered with a ‘few’ of them. So, I didn’t spend any time looking it up as I wasn’t interested in buying it. I’ve seen a few 24” Wadkin PTs and that is only the second I’ve seen with that layout.

The manual for the 24BAO thicknesser is online and free to download. That will give you about 99% of the detail of how the thing is put together and what the bearings are. A PT just had top tables added to a thicknesser, not much really in them. If taking them off, I would look out for a pin under each table slide mechanism. Wadkin bought out a number of company’s and adopted their designs. I know of one of these that had a pin in the slide and is seen on a UOS machines.
 
SO...... question number 2. How do I move it?

I managed to unload and get it into the barn with a forklift but I need to move it sideways about 2 meters (there was not room to use the forklift).

So far the best I've come up with is:

1) - Invite 5 friends round and try and man handle it
2) - Cut some scaffold poles and try and role it like the Egyptions used to do.

Any better suggestions?
 
Wadkin 24BAO said:
SO...... question number 2. How do I move it?

I managed to unload and get it into the barn with a forklift but I need to move it sideways about 2 meters (there was not room to use the forklift).

So far the best I've come up with is:

1) - Invite 5 friends round and try and man handle it
2) - Cut some scaffold poles and try and role it like the Egyptions used to do.

Any better suggestions?
Click to expand...
Except you have been adopted and it lives there now :LOL:
 
Wadkin 24BAO said:
SO...... question number 2. How do I move it?

I managed to unload and get it into the barn with a forklift but I need to move it sideways about 2 meters (there was not room to use the forklift).

So far the best I've come up with is:

1) - Invite 5 friends round and try and man handle it
2) - Cut some scaffold poles and try and role it like the Egyptions used to do.

Any better suggestions?
Click to expand...
Alex Steele on YouTube has some videos where he gets a huge power hammer delivered and he uses rollers to move it around, he also installs it so that he can get a toe jack under an edge to lift it and get rollers in, I think he used quite small (3/4”) solid bar stock as his floor was good and flat.
 
I move my Myford 254S lathe around on some 1" 3mm wall hollow tubes bought locally from IS&G Steel - it only weighs ~700Kg including its metal stand so less than half the weight of your beast but I can move it around unaided - it's on an albeit building standard spec suspended workshop floor and the floor has to be spotless to ensure smooth running but it's definitely doable
 
I tend to use 2” wooden poles rather than scaffold for moving machines up to 2 tonne. However, with a machine that size, you can probably accommodate a pallet truck which is a far better tool for moving something like that around with. You can get one with a 2.5 tonne capacity secondhand for very little.
 

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