Wadkin MD morticer restoration

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wallace

Established Member
Joined
13 Feb 2011
Messages
2,130
Reaction score
246
Location
county durham
Its been a very long time since I did a wip on a rebuild. For the last 6 months I've been working on a biggish planer, its all crated up waiting for its slow boat. I promised myself that I'd do a few of my own machines that I've been accumulating for the last few years.
This was bought for about £150 off ebay and shipped to my place for another £70. I dont have a good track record with morticers, they seem to fall over if you sneeze on them, or it could just be incompitent couriers.

This poor thing did a full flip and bounce off the tail lift

DCElDNd.jpg


Luckily the one I'm doing arrived unscathed and has been languishing in the undergrowth for a couple of years. Sheeted and smeered with waxoyle.
First job was to drag it in the shed

7odwyZv.jpg


It was originally a line shaft machine but has been converted to run via a motor, it must have been done quite early on. The starter and motor are pretty cool

LItp5Z3.jpg


Yg3wx3V.jpg


I'm not sure on date, at a guess late 20's, Vann will be able to offer some advice.

yJgwIn6.jpg


Heres a leaflet of an earlier version

mqOCHFn.jpg


And heres my version on a photo used for the catalogue

q3TtEaS.jpg


qNX3kVL.jpg


hcIeViV.jpg


pa9lYLJ.jpg


hOUDYPF.jpg


Nearly everything came to bits easily

ERuaKjV.jpg


4edMbns.jpg


4hrs work and its in smaller bits

BBj4i4H.jpg


I'm considering doing this one differantly to my usual shiny ones. I quite like machines in their working clothes so to speak. So I dont think I'm going to paint it. Just rebuild. The white paint came off ok with some thinners

yVUVQvI.jpg


feFuBad.jpg
 
A bit more done, because wadkin machines were hand finished parts have a stamp to keep track of which machine they were to go on. I have found in the past that parts are not interchangeable from one machine to the same type.

They even stamped the keys

oMN1tbq.jpg


J9K6Z8P.jpg


9oTkPFd.jpg


ju2emAP.jpg


RW3SYx3.jpg


If the part cant go to the wire wheel

J2Z0eYr.jpg


C0nnh41.jpg


I find it easier to sand before wire wheeling

hqmICyr.jpg


9mZmnBF.jpg


XyKBOwo.jpg


I've been trying this stuff, first impressions is I like it

MnPA6m0.jpg
 
Time to take the head to bits

DtVdvoV.jpg


04sLyyw.jpg


I'm always amazed at bolts that come out like this after 90 years

7eQE9Ti.jpg


xs2Qhj0.jpg


dUr7kad.jpg


wOSqp2k.jpg


XOzquPA.jpg


Time to strip the motor

RNE0426.jpg


peculiar voltage

ibyNgXi.jpg


I've never come across this before, the end bells are centered with little locking studs

YGvbd0w.jpg


7P7FbE2.jpg


mwqU2iq.jpg


MBUpL6l.jpg


This doesn't look legit to me, I cant imagine a motor maker would have the leads from the windings coming out like this, the gauge of wire looks very small.

iBNKpFp.jpg


L6Id7oO.jpg


GuyoCGi.mp4
 
Sweet shiny bolt, very odd motor that leaves so many unanswered questions, love the vintage sawdust collection it had going on.
 
I know I said I wasn't going to tart this one up, but I couldn't resist just a little bit on the motor. There was very little original paint left.

A generous application of zinc 182

jmgtsn6.jpg


CNNMs7g.jpg


Followed by a touch of black enamel

S4jbh46.jpg


zG6UVJr.jpg
 
As you say that wiring did look a bit on the small side but judging by the accumulation of tat inside the motor it’s been running like that for a long time!
What is the zinc 128, looks really good. Ian
 
Looks good but a little question if you don't mind. The oil cups for the bearings at the ends of the motor are horizontal. Does the oil still wick down to the bearings? Can the motor ends be rotated to put the oil cups vertical? Probably not after looking once more at the dirty motor pictures. I suppose it ran that way for many decades before you got it it can't matter a great deal.

Pete
 
It is a beauty!! ready for the next 100 years. I like that it's sympathetically restored. It still shows it's age, but looks beautiful.
 
I always look forwards to and enjoy your restorations, they really are fascinating.

I like what you have done with this, if it was in my workshop I could get on with using it but if I owned some of your other restorations I would be worried about getting them dusty or dirty which kind of defeats the object!
 
How do you find the website? I looked in the profile bit ( im not very technically minded ) 🙄
 

Latest posts

Back
Top