Wadkin RU lathe restoration

[wallace]

Not to rest on my laurels, I thought it would be nice to start this monster. I've been after one of these for a long time but I am very cheap so didn't want to pay top dollar. I got an email from a guy who said he had seen one in scrap dealers yard, and hated to see it go for scrap. He kindly got me the dealers contact and I rang immediately. The price was cheap at £800 but it was about 170miles away.
I said I'd have it so then set about figuring out how to get it home. I didn't trust a courier to handle the bed because its 3m long. In the end I took the seats out of my vw and went to collect the bed and carriage etc. I put the headstock on a pallet for a courier. The bed just fit under the passenger footwell and I could close the tailgate.
The guy had an overhead crane so it was easy loading it. I had an engine hoist and a pump truck. The bed weighs around 750kg.

Its been sat in my garden for quite a while smothered in waxoyle and sheeted, I wont be able to bring it in untill the FM I did last year goes. I'm hoping it will be soon.

Its hard to illustrate just how big this thing is. Thats a wadkin RS10 tailstock next to the RU one.

I had to use the oxy/propane to warm the tailstock up and hit the quill with a big hammer

The carriage is huge

But its not in bad shape

This bit is the gears for moving the bed, its been repaired before. I think I will ask mr doubleboost to do a proper job

No pitting on the ways, just surface rust.

 

[wallace]

I really do like these paint removal discs, I wish I'd found them 8 years ago. They do vibrate a bit untill they balance themselves.

I went to get some paint today, I fancy trying 2 pack again so got a liter mixed to the usual RAL7011, it was nearly £40. The place I use is normally good for paint, enamel is only £11 a liter. I just checked and 2pack is only £22 online but enamel is £24. It pays to shop around.

I recently invested in a new powered respirator, I'd been using the versiflo for years but you couldnt use paint filters with it, I've stayed with versaflo but its a newer model that can take appropriate filters for spraying. I also got a hood which is quite comfortable.
With the old one even though it was a positive pressure helmet and visor you could still get stuff coming through even though it had an elasticated strip around your chin.

 

[KT_NorCal]

Oooh, an RU. I'll have to live vicariously on this one as even with no car in the garage there will never be room for something fun like this.... The PK maybe would fit... or at least I would make it fit.

I've been using those paint removal disks as well, although I've had hit or miss on them depending on the paint. On the plus side I find they actually remove rust (and the surface coating from hot rolled steel to weld it) quite well, but are too aggressive for anything machined.

Funny enough, they totally failed on whatever crud WB painted the later AGS with. Was almost like it was some kind of latex... it just gummed up the disk and then smeared or melted the stuff on the machine...

 

[wallace]

I'm hoping I can make it fit in my shop, theirs another 10 machines to work around.
I found the discs didn't work very well on the filler on the PK, it tended to get hot and smear it,

 

[wallace]

Not much to show, just lots of grunt work filling and sanding

After a basic fill and sand I went over with a polyester spray filler

Then more sanding

After final sanding everything got a prime coat and then I used a product called barcoat. It acts as a sealer and stops anything affecting the top coat. Because I'm using 2pack it can be very unforgiving and go pear shaped.
I once prepped a whole lathe for 2 weeks then when I applied the top coat it reacted to something underneath.

 

[Alasdair]

Fair play puting the bed in your car. 750kg!! I used to use my old volvo 940 for weights like that but wouldn't risk any thing else. Thats a monster and well done for rescuing it from scrap. Far too many really well built machines end up as scrap. I havent come accross those discs. Where do you get them from. I have been using a air power needle descaler on my old forklift but its taking ages.

 

[wallace]

Fair play puting the bed in your car. 750kg!! I used to use my old volvo 940 for weights like that but wouldn't risk any thing else. Thats a monster and well done for rescuing it from scrap. Far too many really well built machines end up as scrap. I havent come accross those discs. Where do you get them from. I have been using a air power needle descaler on my old forklift but its taking ages.

If you search on amazon or ebay for paint removal discs they come up. they are a huge time saver.

Its almost as if my vw was meant to transport lathes, passenger seat removed

 

[Devmeister]

how’s the RU coming along? Are you into the gear box yet?

 

[wallace]

how’s the RU coming along? Are you into the gear box yet?

No more progress yet, I'm hoping to drag the headstock into the shed today

 

[wallace]

I managed to drag the headstock into the shed

I found the pics off when I went to collect the bed

It was fun getting it out by myself with just a pump truck and engine hoist

It has a tapered pin but its impossible to tap it out. I had to drill it.

Its supposed to have an oil sight glass here, I'm going to see if john can make one.

Everything moves freely so I will just flush it and repack the bearings.

This is the speed changer, it just hooks over a gear and shoves it to mesh into the others

 

[Devmeister]

Someone ate their spinach! That bade head casting looks heavy! The gears look straight forward for a lathe to turn ball point pens! Love in It!

 

[clogs]

wallace,
I really wish u were my next door neighbour......
as a retired mechanical engineer what fun could be had with all the dust n rust.....
take care young man with the weighty bits.....
a damaged body takes a while to repair.....
good luck and thanks for the posting on the forum......

 

[Chisteve]

Thanks for posting very interesting and I agree about the fibre discs they are great for removing rust

 

[wallace]

wallace,
I really wish u were my next door neighbour......
as a retired mechanical engineer what fun could be had with all the dust n rust.....
take care young man with the weighty bits.....
a damaged body takes a while to repair.....
good luck and thanks for the posting on the forum......

I'm nursing a calcified shoulder, been waiting for surgery for 18 months. I'm hoping to get this one done before surgery because I will be out of action for a while

 

[wallace]

wallace,
I really wish u were my next door neighbour......
as a retired mechanical engineer what fun could be had with all the dust n rust.....
take care young man with the weighty bits.....
a damaged body takes a while to repair.....
good luck and thanks for the posting on the forum......

My father in law lived next door to me and would always come in and lend a hand, he generally did more damage than good and was a clumsy bloke. He passed away a while back and he is sorly missed, he was a pain the buttocks. I'm sure I still see him in my periferal vision when I'm working

 

[Alasdair]

I may have said it before but thats a beast of a machine. The gears look like new and bonus that they are turning freely. Looking forward to pics of it completed and working.
Well done

 

[wallace]

A bit more done, thats alot of wires

Someone has been messing about with the head. its supposed to have allignment dowels and then bolted. No dowels, so that would of been fun aligning it to the tail stock.

This machine dates from 1945

 

[Valhalla]

I really do like these paint removal discs, I wish I'd found them 8 years ago. They do vibrate a bit untill they balance themselves.

I went to get some paint today, I fancy trying 2 pack again so got a liter mixed to the usual RAL7011, it was nearly £40. The place I use is normally good for paint, enamel is only £11 a liter. I just checked and 2pack is only £22 online but enamel is £24. It pays to shop around.

I recently invested in a new powered respirator, I'd been using the versiflo for years but you couldnt use paint filters with it, I've stayed with versaflo but its a newer model that can take appropriate filters for spraying. I also got a hood which is quite comfortable.
With the old one even though it was a positive pressure helmet and visor you could still get stuff coming through even though it had an elasticated strip around your chin.

Aaaaaaaghh!! - The aliens are coming......

 

[wallace]

A little bit more done.

The only good thing about people using hammerite to make machines look newer back in the day is that they very rarely prepped anything so it comes off quite easily. Its tedious but just a wood chisel is good for getting it off.

 

[Inspector]

With the amount of paint removal you do with these restoration projects have you ever considered getting a grit blasting cabinet and/or a blasting pot for bigger pieces outside in a tent?

Pete