That gear looks a hell of a lot better than it did. Are you doing a three tier paint? I thought primer/undercoat were pretty much one and the same thing?
I'm using some Wickes metal primer I already had on the shelf. Not very good for cast iron on a cool day because it's water based and rusts if it's not warm enough to dry quickly. I'm using Johnstone's undercoat dark grey & "Wintery Tide" gloss.
Is the primer a necessity, or are you just using it to get it out of the way? Only asking because I'm working a Meddings scrollsaw at the moment, and I'm just going with undercoat and topcoat. Prefer to find out early on if I'm dropping a clanger though, (it's been donkeys years since I last did any proper painting).
I fitted the lower bearing for the backgear the other day! It's a bit slow because I'm doing scale drawings and taking photos as I go along.
So far the bearings and oil seal are in perfect condition, I reckon they may have been changed at some point, probably why the lower bearing housing for the inner sleeve was standing proud due to the burr raised on its side; it's made from soft steel.
Is the GIF in the previous post animated in your browser?
Decided to flush the old grease out of the nipple on the front of the head casting. Pressure just built up so I removed the grease nipple and that was clear. The hole itself seemed to be blocked.
On investigation the hole exits against the bottom bearing housing for the inner sleeve, so with that in place it has nowhere to go anyway!
I can't find any cross-drillings, so what's going on?
There's no groove in the housing. I was thinking of making one, but it would have to start about half way down otherwise oil would escape, and the groove in the housing would have to align with the hole in the casting.
I also thought of making a groove from the hole in the casting where the housing fits downwards.
The drilling goes all the way through and looks like it has been blocked up afterwards.