Pollard bench drill refurb

[Dieselman 63]

That's good to know, I usually use baking paper but masking tape would be easier to apply. I'm not a fan of the fibreglass either, much prefer the belt cover on my Herbert drill; about 3/8" thick cast iron.

What’s the guard on the chippie made of, iron or ally?

 

[Maker]

The belt guard and the base are both cast ally on the Chipmaster.

 

[Maker]

Araldite repair to the fibreglass belt cover looks like it's worked, the old paint is just about all gone (I'm not taking off the original grey, can't be bothered) and the new paint has been delivered.

 

[Maker]

My new chuck(s) got delivered too, the seller messaged me when he was packaging to say the big one seems broken, one jaw is loose. He's being very good about it so I'm not too worried.

The jaws are moved by a screw with L shaped notches around it's edge that mate with a notch in the jaws, like this:


Unfortunately it's damaged, one notch looks like this:

Spares are available but they're shockingly (And therefore prohibitively) expensive. I could possibly have a go at machining a new one but it's a left hand thread, a weird threadform (Smooth rounded root and crest, it has a sort of sine-wave-like cross section), I don't really have the tooling to machine the notches and it's hardened. I think I'm just going to ask for a refund, even if I replace the screw the whole thing is in a bit of a bad way, there's a lot of surface rust in it, all the critical ground surfaces seem okay though. There's a lot of stiff dried grease in there too.


Also, one jaw (The loose one) is severely more worn that the rest. I suspect the original loose one was lost and someone just dropped a spare (But heavily used) one in to sell it looking complete. The person I bought it from says he got it in a job lot of engineering tools and doesn't really know a lot about them, I don't think he's tried to rip me off but whoever he got it from possibly was.

The little one is in much better condition though, they're both in pieces getting the ultrasound treatment at the moment. I'll machine an adaptor to put the little one on my Herbert drill, we'll see how the seller wants to proceed with the big one. I suppose it is still usable in a lathe tailstock, it'll still clamp down just fine, and the jaw won't keep falling out using it horizontally.

They're also both missing the knurled rings you grip up hold them still while you loosen/tighten, easy to make new ones though.

 

[Maker]

Big crack repaired;

Epoxied a piece of aluminium in, then covered it with a few coats of Isopon, you'd never know. and with that, it was just about ready for paint:

I'll give it a quick once over with fine sandpaper before top coat tomorrow morning.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

How'd you find the primer.
Flats lovely with wet and dry if you've got any around.

 

[Maker]

It was really good, smoothed over any imperfections I left and didn't leave any brush marks, dried really quick too, maybe too quick. Got a new pack of wet & dry a couple of days ago. I'd been worried a litre would run out - Used maybe a third of the tin.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Scotchbrite wheel with a bit of autosol brings up a nice sheen on milled surfaces, then keep them oiled.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

It was really good, smoothed over any imperfections I left and didn't leave any brush marks, dried really quick too, maybe too quick. Got a new pack of wet & dry a couple of days ago. I'd been worried a litre would run out - Used maybe a third of the tin.

Can relate. Be quick with the top coat.
Getting rid of dribbles once it's skinned is where a thinners dipped brush comes in. Makes a mess of the skin otherwise.

Struggled painting the cabinets on the lathes it was drying that quick.

 

[Maker]

Good advice, I'll bare that in mind.

I've also got the badges to sort out, I was thinking fine wet & dry on a flat surface and carefully rub the badge over it to polish up the raised lettering.

The Corona badge came out lovely from the ultrasound tank but the rest need a little more work.

The motor(s) need sorting too, the bearings in the 3 phase one are a little past their best so they'll need replacing, or maybe I'll stick with the original motor for now.

Does anyone know of a good place for flat belts? It came with an inside out vee belt.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Badges are easy if you are patient.

I get all the paint off with strippers, then buff them out with a bit of autosol. Then it’s time for a degrease and a spray with Molotow black (other paints don’t seem to work as well). I use a scalpel to pick out the raised detail, this can take a while... then a gloss clear coat from Molotow seals it all in. Looks brand new.

 

[Maker]

Badges are easy if you are patient.

Sounds pretty hard to me.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Sounds pretty hard to me.

Well I suppose I am an artist by trade...

Send them to me and I’ll do them for you if you pay the return postage

The Corona one looks cast - I can make those look pretty, too. I opted to sand and buff the lettering on this one instead of paint it like it had been originally. It’s nice to show off the metal imo, after all, metal is what the machines are all about

 

[brewdexta]

A drop or two of Owatrol oil in synthetic paint helps maintain a wet edge longer, helps to paint large surfaces without brush strokes in hot weather.

 

[Beeezer]

Owatrol use that when painting sixty foot of cabin side on me boat, great stuff!

 

[Maker]

Should I be expecting two coats?

I had been thinking one but it seems like I'd have to really slap it on thick for that.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Should I be expecting two coats?
View attachment 185538
I had been thinking one but it seems like I'd have to really slap it on thick for that.

I went two coats for the most but went on thicker than that for the first cost.
Had a few small areas where it flashed through.
Did you mix it up well?
That's 1 coat primer one top coat.

Not the best paint job.
Lashed it on in a hurry.

 

[Maker]

Okay, I'll carry on as I am. Its had a good stir but it kinda looked like it was lifting the primer off. I wonder if I should have got the dark grey primer.

 

[Maker]

Started thinking about repairing the spindle now. My welding isn't great so I'm a bit apprehensive to just go straight at it to build it up. I could machine a blank with a matching taper (Jacobs No.2 I think), weld it in place from the front and machine it but the thread relief will come very close to breaking through, like this:

Other option which I'm leaning more towards is to turn the taper down to a parallel shaft, say 11mm (The small end of the taper is about 12.6mm) and make a blank with a slight interference fit on that, then weld from the front and machine as before, that way the sleeve ends up more like this:

 

[Maker]

Paint is all done now, will start reassembling tomorrow. In the meantime I thought I'd to a test run for the spindle threading.

For some reason I ground my 60 degree threading tool the wrong way so it can't get tight up to a face. Time to drag out my big grinder and grind a new tool.

You can see how much use it gets. Its perfect for grinding lathe tools but it's very slow going to I usually use my much faster bench grinder. I may refurb this too eventually.