Wadkin JY bobbin sander

[RobinBHM]

Does anybody have one of these?

Id be interested to know if they are good machines and if it is possible to make or buy different size bobbins for them. Also if they are easy to restore.

I saw one come up on fleabay recently, so I set up a sniper bid for it, then got really busy at work............so forgot all about it, then received an email 'congratulations youve won! Oops!

I blame it on Wallace really for his amazing Wadkin restoration threads Ive been following his recent Wadkin lathe thread (which I see is up for sale now). I was tempted to bid for it, even though I dont do woodturning!

I think I might be in danger of starting a Wadkin collection, as I already have a PK (which I believe was the one Wallace restored about a year or so ago) and an RZ 16" surface planer.

 

[wallace]

I have one, I did a restoration a while back wadkin-jy-bobbin-sander-restoration-t75186.html
They are fantastic machines as you would expect from wadkin. The sanding spindles are like rocky horse poo, but you can make them yourself with discs of mdf stacked. I very nearly had a go at the one on ebay and you got it for a very reasonable price. The ways the motor sits in are all hand scraped and oil fed by wicks from an oil bath at the top of the motor. The gearbox at the bottom of the motor is usually neglected and greased instead of being filled with oil. Welcome to the slippery slope of wadkin old iron I think I have 15 lumps now