1875 Ames Planer

cjtoombs

cjtoombs

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May 10, 2012
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This is the planer I posted in the Ads for Sale forum, which I wound up buying. One of you other guys should have bought this, now I have to spend the time getting it fixed and working. Here's that thread:

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/small-metal-planer-in-ca.69271/#post-583079

Anyway, here it is no the truck after I got it home on Saturday eveining:

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I have two gantries and some come-alongs that I use for loading and unloading thinks like this, but unfortunately, the gantries were not tall enough, so I had to take disassemble it down to the main bed. in order to unload it. The ad stated that there was scoring on the ways, but it was much worse than I thought it would be. It looks like the machine was run completely without lubrication. This machine apparently predated the time when they figured out how to put oil troughs with wipers in the center of the machine to provide lube to the table. It had worn down so badly that on the back of the machine, the table rubbed the bottom of the clearance cut.
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The rest of the machine was in pretty good shape, and it was complete, save for the lineshaft pulleys and shafts that would have ran it. It looks like from the holes drilled in the uprights that it had a motor drive on it at one point in time. Here are a few pics of the rest of the parts.
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I thought a bit about how to tackle the worn out ways. Just from looking at the ridge on the platen slideways, it looks like it has something like .030 wear, which is likely duplicated on the platen ways. I think I will need to make some special scraping standards to get the shape and spacing of the ways in the bed correct. In order to ensure that the rack doesn't bottom out on the bull gear, I will need to add material to the platen. I am thinking about using Rulon 142 on the platen, the 1/16" thick stuff, then scraping it in using the bed as the master for it. This isn't a project that I'm going to tackle right away, I have some other stuff that's higher priority right now, but this planer is a nice size, at 22" x 60", and I got it for little enough that I can afford to put some money into it without going overboard on the budget. So, the rundown on what it needs is: Bed ways scraped in, motor drive fabricated for it and a better lube system, so this doesn't happen again. As a bonus, I think I would like to add a motor driven cross slide elevation to it. I do so get tired of cranking on these old machines. Well, that's all for now.
 
Subscribed! If I was closer and had the space I would have at least tried to talk my wife into that one!


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Another that will be keeping watch. You seem way more prepared for this than I. You have a truck, the overhead etc and it looks the shop to deal with it. When he said there was scoring of the ways I was afraid of what was there. Proper lube seems like such basic thing but my shaper was evidence that not everybody is used to using an oil can every time you start up and that you can't over oil. I'll be particularly interested in the repair of the ways as I've never seen the process of using Roulon.
 
The only dealing I had with a polymer way material was in Richard Kings scraping class. it is attached with an epoxy and scraped the same as anything else, but it's softness makes scraping it different than cast iron. Since care has to be taken, I expect I will be using the non power hand scraper for the Rulon. I have a Biax scraper, a nice size surface plate and some straightedges, but I will have to fabricate special straightedges for this job.
 
...AAAANNNDDD, back down into the rabbit hole you go!! Looks like a fun project. Will be keeping tabs on the scraping. It would be nice to see some alignment measurement/setups pics as you analyze and scrape this, for us newbies who are crazy enough to consider scraping as well.
 
ThunderDog said:
...AAAANNNDDD, back down into the rabbit hole you go!! Looks like a fun project. Will be keeping tabs on the scraping. It would be nice to see some alignment measurement/setups pics as you analyze and scrape this, for us newbies who are crazy enough to consider scraping as well.
Click to expand...

I think I've figured out how I'm going to do it, but you will have to be patient, as this project isn't first on the list and it's going to take a while to do. I will post how I do it, for good or bad, so hopefully it will help someone else.
 
cjtoombs said:
I think I've figured out how I'm going to do it, but you will have to be patient, as this project isn't first on the list and it's going to take a while to do. I will post how I do it, for good or bad, so hopefully it will help someone else.
Click to expand...

Any updates on the Ames planer?


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Still sitting where it was when last I posted. Neck deep in a kitchen remodel right now, then I need to do some auto maintenance and some work on the camper. I don't see doing anything to it for the remainder of this year. Would like to get it out of the middle of my shop for now, but that will have to wait, too.
 
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