High Speed Drilling Machine Refurbishment

About 15 years ago when visiting a local scrap merchant which also dealt in machine tools I came across 2 Herbert Type B machines for sale at ridiculously low prices. Unable to resist a bargain, I think that I purchased both for about a tenner for the two, I took them home with the intention of restoring them & putting them to good use in the workshop. However, as happened with a lot of things, work & family pressures deflected me from my course & it is only now, after retiring, that I can see my way clear to doing something about them in the coming weeks or months.

I have seen in the albums that member Ian Parkin posted in 2015 when he uploaded a series of photos of the restoration of a Pollard 9FX machine which appears to be identical in every way to the Herbert Type B. I believe that it was also re-badged & sold under the name plate of several other manufacturers. Has anyone else either got a similar machine or has had one in the past? I am interested in the work that Ian did to his machine but cannot find any forum posting devoted to it. I have Emailed [email protected] today but being a Sunday I don’t expect to hear from them immediately.

Any information will be gratefully received.

Kind regards,

Alan

What do you want to know?

Hi Ian,

That was quick. I’m primarily interested in the electrics. I guess that that the original components are no longer available & probably less than desirable in this modern age. Did you use an inverter? I have a 3 phase connection available for it in the workshop so single to 3 phase isn’t an issue. Where did you obtain the switchgear etc from please? Also sources for the flat belts etc.

Kind regards,

Alan

Mine had a single phase motor on but i put a small 3 phase on and an inverter for the variable speed facility.

Switchgear is a mains isolator and start /stop button and pot for speed. Easily available from any electrical shop

Belts are easily available just search for flat belts 12mm wide from memory

I had to make the 2 bigger pulleys they always seem to be missing. So with these you get 6 speed ranges.plus variable speed from 10hz to 100 hp. It works well at 18,000 rpm

Thanks Ian,

Can you give me the diameters of the pulleys please? I believe that I am missing the bigger ones also.

Alan

my spare pulleys are 80mm and 150mm

45mm smaller one on the machine

Many thanks for your help with this Ian.

Alan

Hi Chaps,

I want to order belts for my twin Herbert B's.

Does anyone know the belt length? Mine came fitted with abrasive belts (ewww) like you get on a Dynafile.

Cheers,

Wilson.

Hi Wilson,

Although its nearly 2 years since creating the post, my machines are not yet fully refurbed. I have so far disassembled both, cleaned, paint-stripped, filled & repainted both sets of castings. However, I am yet to reassemble both machines & get them running. Consequently, I am approaching the stage where I will be investigating the length of belts that will be needed.

If you have the machines complete then calculating the required belt length will not be difficult. As a starting point you could use the formula of: - Belt length = (0.5 x motor pulley circumference) + (0.5 x driven pulley circumference) + (2.0 x center distance) as a starting point. Also bear in mind that you may need more than one belt length to allow the use of all the different pulleys available.

Kind regards,

Alan

Hi Alan

I've come late to this topic, but might be able to help. I used to own The Tool Box in Colyton, and picked up a Model B about 7 years ago which I decided to keep for my own use - 0-gauge model railways. However, it only had one of the three interchangeable motor pulleys. I actually found a contact for Alfred Herbert, who quoted me around £125 plus VAT for the largest (fastest spindle speed) pulley, and the belts were about £25-30 for each size.

I decided to solve the problem in another way. I turned up the middle and larger crowned motor pulleys from aluminium multi-step pulleys, including the internal taper to match the taper on the motor shaft. They are only single-step, whereas the originals were two-step, but they give me three speeds. As far as belts were concerned, on the recommendation of one of my customers I dealt with a very helpful firm in Gloucestershire - I think it might have been www.acbelting.co.uk - who supplied two belts for each of the two larger pulleys, and the total bill was only around £20 - they had to order in the belts specially. Both belts are 10mm wide x 1mm thick; the middle length is marked T150 740 (i.e. 740mm long) and the longer is T150 835.

My machine has a single-phase motor, and was a bit sluggish to start up, so I replaced the capacitor and now it's fine. I completely rewired the switchgear as it was a little battle-weary. I also fitted the spindle with a previously unused Albrecht 5/32" keyless chuck. Lovely!

Hope this is of some help. If you need photos or any other information do give me a shout.

David