Wadkin DH restoration

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wallace

Established Member
Joined
13 Feb 2011
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Location
county durham
I bought this about 18 months ago, I'd been after something a bit smaller than the 30"DR I had previous. It came up on ebay and I won it for not much money. The only issue was collection, the seller said his place wasn't suitable for a pallet courier. I removed the seats from my VW and put a engine hoist in to help load it. It was located in leicester.
When I got their I didn't realise how close the place was to where the bandsaw was built. It was litterally a stones throw from the factory.
The joiners that had it was a peculiar setup, it was in the middle of a terrace of houses up a narrow alleyway. It had been in the family for a good few generations. You went up some tiny stairs to a bench room where stuff was made. When completed a door was opened in the wall and it was lowered into a courtyard.
I had to use every bit of skill reversing up the alleyway, I had 1.5" either side of my mirrors. Its lucky I drove FLT's for many years. I did have pics but they are on my instagram.
Luckily the bandsaw was downstairs where timber was machined up, but there was still some big thresholds to lift it over.

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I stripped most off the bits off it at leicester

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I had to use a jack to get the top column out the casting

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They were big horses back in the day, this is 2hp

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The whole top wheel bearing assembly is kept in place by two pointed bolts

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I started stripping the paint, it scraped and sanded off really easy

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A belt sander on the 'wadkin' works a treat

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That’s a hell of a lump, how on Earth did you move it, never mind get it the back of VW? Ian
There were 3 strapping young apprentices who helped, It was pretty easy with the engine hoist. It took alot longer for unloading it at home by myself.
Its amazing what will fit in a VW transporter if you take the seats out.
 
Time to strip the motor, that doesnt look very wadkin

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the grease was very black which isn't a good sign.

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I think it might have spun

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It has a roller bearing on the wheel side

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I'm going to take it to my motor guy to get the leads done better and maybe put some varnish on the windings, the bitumen is cracking a bit.
 
I found the pics of when I went to collect this, I had to reverse 30m

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I'm not sure if the business was their before the houses

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Just around the corner was the site of wadkins original factory. I reckon that could be the original chimney.

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Anyway I digress. This is the bracket that holds the top wheel. Its seen a bit of action and had a repair

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The bearings have been changed, they came out a bit too easy so I will reinstall with some compound

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The spindle has a bit ware

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The castings on this are really nice with very little fettling

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The evaporust is getting a bit old, but still working

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This cheap little ROS has earned its keep, it has been hammered for a few years now and still performs.
I bought a new bosch and it is pants compared to this. I think it was £35 from b&q
 
Last edited:
Just noticed there was no pic of the cheapo ROS,

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I wasnt sure what to do about the wheels, if I fettled and filled them they would need balancing. I suppose I could take them to a tyre place. I decided to leave them as is. The vulcanised rubber is in good condition. It doesn't appear to be crowned either.

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The covers are in good condition, the hammerite paint came off easily with a chisel.

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The side is fixed with little rivets, peened over.

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Time to chuck some primer about

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I laid it on pretty thick so I can wet sand it

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These dont look very wadkin

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Stunning work and a great machine......wish it were mine.....
will u keep it or move it on....?

I'm still looking for something older...
this is what's available locally'ish.....
this one is just a 1000 euro's....
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no price on this one....
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this one is 600 euro's...very tempted....!!!!!!!!!
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Superb work as usual Wallace. You always inspire me to try harder to emulate your high quality finishes.

Because this is for me I find myself cutting corners, like not filling and sanding a portion of the main frame that will be hidden by the table. Also non of the brightwork is getting the shiny treatment. It takes a huge amount of time to do it and my workshop isnt the best to maintain it.
 
Wonderful work and great inspiration. The hunt is on. Many hours spent using old Wadkin machinery and easy now to miss the feeling of stability. Wished I hadn't sold my old turn of the century (1900 !) Guillet band saw with a 48 " square table. Suspected it might have originally been to saw bovine carcase's in half as it had a lip upstand at the back edge of the wheel but only my conjecture. Didn't have to restore thank goodness just put new guides on.
 
A bit more done, I got my motor chap to put some new leads on, he also checked it with a mega and found the reading out so stuck it in the oven to dry out. He also noticed the rotor had been rubbing on the stator making a groove. Probably because of the bearings.

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The end bell got a bit filler

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I managed to find new old stock bearings which didn't cost the earth, £107 for both of them.

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This is one of those rocky horse poo items, I've had it stashed in my junk store for years waiting untill I found my holy grail bandsaw.

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A clean and coating of smchoo

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Then primer

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Now if you want to get really silly about paint you wet sand and prime again

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The table is in decent condition and still has alot of its original machining marks, but it does have the usual tea cup circles and some heavy staining. I was going to get it ground but I doubt its worth the effort and expense.

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The fence I have is designed to go to the left of the blade, this table only has fixing holes on the right so I will need to drill and tap the table.

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This paint drys to a nice soft sheen

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All this prep for 20 seconds with a spray gun

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This is too awesome, its going to be better than new. They were surely never painted that well originally.

Ollie
 
Got the fence assembled

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The saw was missing its tag but I have a few in my stash. The eagle eyed will notice some rivets, they came from fred dibnahs place when the contents of his workshop were being auctioned off.

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I still need to put a brush on the bracket for the bottom wheel and their are brackets that look like they hold a guard that covers the blade between the wheels. Other than that its onto the next one.
 
I found the pics of when I went to collect this, I had to reverse 30m

iA16jpv.jpg


83Gwb6u.jpg


I'm not sure if the business was their before the houses

C8KH8Df.jpg


Just around the corner was the site of wadkins original factory. I reckon that could be the original chimney.

0J2KQFZ.jpg


.
b2Un332.jpg


Anyway I digress. This is the bracket that holds the top wheel. Its seen a bit of action and had a repair

0NyoZxN.jpg


1mWMkkN.jpg


The bearings have been changed, they came out a bit too easy so I will reinstall with some compound

E90kqJD.jpg


The spindle has a bit ware

uOUgcoo.jpg


0r85riN.jpg


The castings on this are really nice with very little fettling

lfaFqTv.jpg


The evaporust is getting a bit old, but still working

fmHsdBk.jpg


i6t5ttw.jpg


hrFrovD.jpg


3YdzmIG.jpg


This cheap little ROS has earned its keep, it has been hammered for a few years now and still performs.
I bought a new bosch and it is pants compared to this. I think it was £35 from b&q
Stunning work mate, its heart warming to see brillant people bring these amazing old machines back to life and to live on, I enjoyed the photos and pictures of the old works factor, brillant work mate, looking forward to seeing this finished, Louie
 

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