Alba 1A advice

Hi, My Alba 1A has a huge single phase motor mounted at the back of the pillar. The open belt drive was originally a flat belt but I could never get it to stay on. Changed it to a V belt. No idea how old it is but the cast iron access door has the legend " Alba No.1 As Made" cast into it. It's the "As Made" bit that's intriguing. I think it's from WWII when makers had to rush machines out of the factory without all the usual cosmetic finishes. Is this correct?

Well, shaper number 2 is now in a million bits.

Ive spoken to a local engineering company who said that they can do all the work that’s needed. Hopefully it’s not going to cost an arm and a leg.

Here are a couple more pictures of the progress. I actually managed to get the big pivot pin out of this one. You can see the wear. The company that’s agreed to do the work said they would put a PB sleeve over the pin.

update:

The connecting rod, block and pivot pin are away to be re-machined. A new block will be roughed out for me to finish when it comes back. The pivot pin will be turned down , a sleeve made and also a top hat to close it off.

The gearbox is all cleaned up now and ready to go back in. There are a few teeth with the edges broken off, but still enough meat on them to operate ok.

Geoff.

Hi Geoff,

I wonder if someone has tried to change gear with the machine turning? Since there is no synchromesh ! this is not how it should be done.

It will be a good machine once you are done. I like the 1A, the only criticism I have is that the door opening for adjusting the stroke is a little small, but there is not much they could have done to enlarge it since the clutch would get in the way.

John

I managed to find a bit of time today to get the machine back together with the newly machined components.
It’s now working and definitely far far quieter. No nasty clunks like before but now I can hear (and see) another problem.
the bronze bushes that the shaft of bull wheel runs in, is very very sloppy and causing a clunk all of its own.
I’m going to partially strip it down and have a couple of new bushes machined.

another issue is the stand where the table support Leg runs. It’s worn in the centre where it’s been used most.
when I put a cut on, as soon as the leg runs into the outer most part of this machined surface, it tends to push the table up a few thou causing the machine to cut more off the workpiece.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how I could make this good again, or even a workaround.

cheers

geoff.

I can think of a couple of possible workarounds. One would be to add a piece of flat, possibly gauge plate, on top of the existing surface. I wonder if epoxy would be sufficient to secure it? The other would be to make a pad to go between the foot and the sliding surface. This would be large enough to span the worn area, which i think would be just a narrow line down the middle. The pad would need a socket matched in it to match the end of the foot, and if the foot is worn it might need the spherical end remachining. The end is hemispherical to allow tilting the table, but I've always though that it really needs something to spread the load a bit. I made a foot for my 18 inch Alba, but that table does not tilt so is simpler.

The heroic approach would be to figure out something that could be attached to the table or to where the table attaches to the cross slide, to enable taking a skim off the base. Maybe the head off a smallish milling machine. Few people would have a machine large enough to take the base to remachine that pad.

John

I can think of a couple of possible workarounds. One would be to add a piece of flat, possibly gauge plate, on top of the existing surface. I wonder if epoxy would be sufficient to secure it? The other would be to make a pad to go between the foot and the sliding surface. This would be large enough to span the worn area, which i think would be just a narrow line down the middle. The pad would need a socket matched in it to match the end of the foot, and if the foot is worn it might need the spherical end remachining. The end is hemispherical to allow tilting the table, but I've always though that it really needs something to spread the load a bit. I made a foot for my 18 inch Alba, but that table does not tilt so is simpler.

The heroic approach would be to figure out something that could be attached to the table or to where the table attaches to the cross slide, to enable taking a skim off the base. Maybe the head off a smallish milling machine. Few people would have a machine large enough to take the base to remachine that pad.

John

Hi John,

thanks for the quick reply.

I like your idea of the pad to span the area of the wear. I’ve got a nice lump of brass that might do the job just fine.

Geoff