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| Renovating the Ajax mill |
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| Manxmodder:
Hi Lee, I am in the process of stripping the castings of an Alba 1A shaping machine that I recently acquired. The Alba castings also bear a filler coat that is of similar thickness to the red oxide on your Azax (mm thick in places). The main difference being that Alba filler coat is white and appears to be a linseed oil based whiting compound to fill out casting flaws and imperfections prior to the final painting coat,whereas the filler compound used on your machine is likely to be red lead oxide(wear a mask when abrading or chipping it off). I will use car body polyester filler to fill and smooth out flaws and imperfections on the castings prior to priming and 2 pack top coat. Look forward to seeing more on your restoration project....OZ. |
| dawesy:
Cheers guys. Thanks oz. Yeah I kept a mask on while stripping it. I was worried the castings might be rough but they really aren't bad. Stay tuned :) |
| 75Plus:
Oz, depending on the age of your Alba that white filler may also be lead oxide. White lead oxide and linseed oil was a common coating 30 or so years ago. Be cautious. Joe |
| Manxmodder:
Thanks for your concern Joe,I am aware that it likely is white lead and have been protecting my bellows accordingly |
| dawesy:
Small update. Got most of the mill painted and staring to assemble it again. Hit a small issue though. Now I don't know an awful lot about milling machine construction but there seems to be something amiss with the knee mechanism. The knee lead-screw is driven by a crown wheel an pinion arrangement but there is a second mechanism that operates a gear that pushes the top support bearing down. All good so far apart from the fact that this support bearing isn't really taking any weight. The whole load is on the pinion drive shaft. Here's some pic to explain. That's the top support and its drive. and that's a shot from underneath. Now this was how it was when I got it but it's obviously not right. I had a thought about machining up a spacer with a thrust bearing incorporated which would work but interested if anyone else has any ideas :) |
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