FJ Edwards 4ft x 14G Box Pan Folder

[dsquire]

Andrew

You seem to be doing a first class job on the restoration of the brake. 

I guess that you can use it to make metal boxes to put your widget's in when you get the lathe running. 

Since you need the extra room for the lathe, you can ship the 'Dominion Universal Woodworker' over here and I will store it free of charge for you. 

That Universal Woodworker sure does look like it would be a joy to use. Would beat anything the big box stores have to offer. I'll bet that Steve with his supply of timber and sawmill could also put it to good use. 

Cheers 

Don

[awemawson]

They do turn up on ebay not infrequently in varying states of repair. This one was a total mess when I got it, rusted to .... When they do turn up it's rare that they fetch much money.

I may start a separate thread and post up pictures of it, but I don't think I took many 'during' mostly 'before' and 'after'. I designed and installed DC injection braking for its three large motors (7.5 HP / 7.5 HP & 5 HP) as it ran on in a scary fashion 

[vtsteam]

That's a nice chunk of metal, that Dominion! That box brake will be, too. 

[awemawson]

Well the bally paint still hasn't arrived which is a great shame as the day is warm, very little wind and the folder is just slightly warm to the touch from the sun - ideal for spraying.

Still what will be will be so I thought I'd get on and make the missing levers that raise the folding 'apron'. Nothing at all complicated. Just a pair of 1" mild steel bars 18" long, with a flat milled at one end as a seat, and two holes drilled and tapped. Should have been 1/2" Whitworth as per the original, but they weren't to hand, so it got 12mm - sorry Mr Edwards.

[awemawson]

OK so now they tell me the paint won't be with me until Friday 

This is a real pain as rain is forecast - so I've trundled the folder back into the welding shop - looks like it won't get painted until the back end of next week as apparently I have to go away on a long weekend - ah well.

So before tucking it away I thought I'd try and get some of the adjustments approximately correct. The setting for the pivot point of the apron was way out, as one side was lower than the other. The trunion that holds the bearing is trapped between two adjusting grub screws, and is intended to move up and down in a slot . Obvious why one side was wrong - the top adjuster grub screw on that side was seized solid - someone has obviously had a good swing on an Allen key as the hex socket has 'exploded' outwards. Fortunately as it is the upper one, it is screwed into a piece of steel bridging the slot, and the allen cap screws retaining it were able to be loosened so I could remove the steel and grub screw for a little talking to with a hot torch.

So I got the steel hot enough to burn off the new paint, but still the allen key wouldn't budge - even with a long 'torque amplifier' applied. So OK we need to cool it. Nearest water was the trough with all the 'teeth' derusting. I was holding it with the allen key in the hex hole of the grub screw. Plunged it in to a loud sizzling and foaming, and as I pulled it out, the flipping screw meekly turned in the steel as though it had never been seized. Thermal shock I suppose but really you'd expect it to be loose hot and tight cool. But hey - I'm not arguing.

So at least now it's loose, but needs replacing. Being the upper adjuster it just stops the trunion rising too far but takes no weight. The lower one is massive, but this one is ONLY 5/8" BSF

So if anyone has a 2" long 5/8" BSF allen socket grub screw I'd like to hear from you  !

It's the middle screw of the three through the horizontal plate in this picture (pre-primering):

[awemawson]

So this morning I've taken each of the bending teeth out of the citric acid bath, rubbed them down with a nylon 'sink brush' and re-stacked them so bits that previously were masked by touching are now exposed. Pleased to say that they have come out pretty well so far. I only used a fairly weak dilution as I used  up the end of a 5 kg bag of citric acid crystals - maybe a kilo or just less in about 20 gallons of water. I'll leave them for a few more days, but they probably would be ok now anyway. Amazingly they've cleaned up even where they were touching.

No photos as acidy hands not suitable for camera work 

[awemawson]

The weather changing has meant I've had to set up to do the gloss coats inside - a fair bit of machine trundling around in the welding shop. I love pallet trucks!

So two coats of top coat gloss, and the 'teeth' have come out of the citric acid bath, been dried off and rubbed down with a rag soaked in 'Shell Ensis' anti rust oil.

The top coat will need to harden off for quite a while before I can contemplate putting the bending teeth back in and actually using it.

If I get really keen I will remove the counterbalance weights and give them a coat of something really bright to avoid collision accidents. Probably 'JCB Yellow' as I have a can of it in the same family of paint as the top coat.

[vtsteam]

Looking good and ready for business! 

[awemawson]

So a couple of coats of JCB Yellow on the bits I'm bound to walk into, rivet the makers label back, re-insert the hold down 'teeth' and apart from making the missing 'bend limit bar' it's finished and waiting for a workshop re-organisation to find a suitable place as a final home.

  Bit of a contrast from as it was

  I can go on a bender now 

[awemawson]

So I managed to make the bits of the bending angle 'Limit Bar' which was missing when I bought the folder. This limits the movement of the folding apron in the upwards direction letting you bend repeatable angles.

A simple turning and threading exercise. The clamping screw bears directly on the bar itself, and to avoid mangling the bar I had intended to counter bore the clamp screw and insert a bit of brass. In the end I made the whole screw and lever mount from an offcut of phosphor bronze. Scandalous waste of the bronze but it made construction somewhat simpler.

So I think this brings this re-build to a close.

A few pictures of the Limit Bar

[dsquire]

Andrew

A right fine job of refurbishing that brake you have made. 

Now when you are ready to go on a bender you will have the right equipment. 

Cheers 

Don

[awemawson]

At last I've made a grub screw to replace the broken 5/8" x 2" BSF one so I can tick this project off the 'to be completed' list !

The making is detailed here:

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,9334.0.html