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Very old Taft Peirce oil metering system (Bijur predecessor?)
- Thread starter Rex Walters
- Start date
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Yup. That one looks EXACTLY like mine.
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Yes, the earliest version of the instruction manual I've found has a better description than the sales catalogs I've seen:
This is the front page of the early version of the manual (no date or catalog number, unfortunately, though s/n 85 on mine does indicate 1939 or possibly earlier):
A later version was labeled "Catalog No. 321" and looks like this:
The old version describes plain/flat ways on the sides, with only the central section using ball bearings (preventing rotation around Y):
While the newer manual calls out roller bearings:
This is the front page of the early version of the manual (no date or catalog number, unfortunately, though s/n 85 on mine does indicate 1939 or possibly earlier):
A later version was labeled "Catalog No. 321" and looks like this:
The old version describes plain/flat ways on the sides, with only the central section using ball bearings (preventing rotation around Y):
While the newer manual calls out roller bearings:
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It's great your ways are removable to recondition if needed.
My machine is from c1980 and rather than rollers it has balls so maybe T-P regressed a bit?
It's a model 100. Yours represents the birth and mine the final death throes, perhaps:
My machine is from c1980 and rather than rollers it has balls so maybe T-P regressed a bit?
It's a model 100. Yours represents the birth and mine the final death throes, perhaps:
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Sorry, we may be talking at cross purposes.
My table (X axis) uses balls in hardened vee ways.
My saddle (Z axis) uses flat/plain ways on the sides to fight gravity, and balls in hardened vee ways in the center to prevent rotation around Y and guide precisely in Z.
The photo in the lower right of your last image appears to show cages for rollers on the sides of the pedestal for the saddle to ride on. Those are removable hardened and ground flat ways with oil grooves on my machine, no rollers nor balls.
My table (X axis) uses balls in hardened vee ways.
My saddle (Z axis) uses flat/plain ways on the sides to fight gravity, and balls in hardened vee ways in the center to prevent rotation around Y and guide precisely in Z.
The photo in the lower right of your last image appears to show cages for rollers on the sides of the pedestal for the saddle to ride on. Those are removable hardened and ground flat ways with oil grooves on my machine, no rollers nor balls.
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I really need to document the entire rebuild, but this was too cool not to share.
This thing came with a pretty hideous mess of electrical boxes and various industrial three-phase electrical gear that had been added onto, rewired, and replaced over the decades as it moved between factories (presumably).
Most of it was pretty understandable, but it physically pained me to realize that someone had taken out the cool old ball-handle lever used to control the original mag-chuck, and replaced it with this monstrosity:
I'm planning to power this thing from a VFD, so the only controls I need to physically attach to the machine are the start/stop buttons for the latched relay-control circuit in the VFD, and the controls for the mag chuck (which I'd REALLY like to make at least look original with a ball-handled lever). The VFD itself will be in a box on the wall of the shop, I just need to run a power line to the spindle and control lines to the start/stop switch.
There were three fairly large electrical boxes that I took off the machine, including the cool old rectifier cabinet that was inside the pedestal (but with the guts discarded and replaced with a single Chinese industrial control transformer). There were several single-gang utility boxes like that horrific switch shown above, though.
To be sure, all these boxes were at least forty or fifty years old, but they all lacked that cool art deco look of the original stuff. The small utility boxes were particularly ugly because they had the round knockouts on the sides like modern electrical boxes.
I'd really like to replicate the rounded corners and 3D striped art deco look wherever possible.
The start/stop NO/NC buttons that were still on the machine had a nice vintage look that was worth preserving though:
I tried to clean the lettering, but it was too dirty to save. I ended up having to pick it out and re-fill it with a lacquer stick. Here I've done the bottom "START" lettering, but need to give it a couple days to dry before polishing and cleaning up the overflow. I need to get a can of contact cleaner, but the mechanics all work fine.
I searched for a nice "vintage" looking box to put this switch in, but didn't have much luck.
As I was taking everything off, I thought all of the small boxes were the same, but I'm glad I don't throw anything away. It turns out the original box for this switch was quite different from the others. It was a clamshell design with a rounded cover instead of a plate, for one.
Like all the other boxes, though, it was absolutely filthy, with about a dozen layers of different paint covering every exposed surface, screw, and fitting. In looking at it more closely though, I realized that this one box was almost certainly original and well worth saving.
After cleaning off all that paint and dirt, here is what I found:
(The black painted background in the inset areas behind the lettering came off with the paint cleaner. It will look better once I fill those areas in again with black paint.)
When is the last time you saw a switch box with a riveted maker tag? How about press-formed art deco styling?!
Both of those features were absolutely invisible under all that paint and filth! I'm really glad I noticed them. That box is definitely a keeper.
I really want the features of a modern mag-chuck controller, but the one I bought is also pretty ugly and would look terribly out of place mounted to the machine:
The utility of that controller is awesome, so I want to have the controls somewhat accessible, but the main control is that three position switch in the middle.
Turned to the right, it turns the magnet on and sucks parts onto the plate (with the red potentiometer knob controlling the strength of the magnet). In the center, the magnet is turned off, but there will still be residual magnetism making the part difficult to remove. Turned to the
left it starts a pulsed cycle of gradually decreasing reversed voltage which ends up leaving no magnetism at all. The yellow knob controls the cycle time for each pulse when demagnetizing. The LED bar graph displays the current magnetism controlled by the red knob (with yellow/green/red segments as the magnetism is increased).
I'd like to replace that central knob with a more original looking ball-handle lever mounted in the "ear" to the right of the table on the grinder.
Once again, though, I failed to find any suitable sort of switch from any of my standard vendors. So it's time to make something.
My current thought is to relocate the existing switch, and machine some sort of bracket as well as some sort of attachment for a ball-handle lever.
Here's the existing switch removed from the new controller:
It's pretty cool, actually. It's just two NO pushbutton non-latching switches. The buttons are triangular and spring loaded. The knob turns a piece of nylon with a raised section that depresses one button or the other (or neither when in the center):
There's enough fiddly stuff (detents, limit stops) that I think it's easier to make an assembly that attaches to the existing knob rather than machining something that controls the buttons directly, though.
There is JUST BARELY enough room under the "ear" to fit the switch, wiring, and some sort of connector to a lever. Here's the mockup, viewing from the underside:
I still need to machine the bracket and attachment mechanism, shorten that piece of stress proof I found, and find or make a suitable ball, but I think this should work. My main concern is figuring out how to make the attachment mechanism skookum enough to hold the lever securely so that it won't break after just a few uses. Amazingly, the +/- 45 degree action of the switch aligns PERFECTLY with the slot in the "ear", so I'm reasonably confident that I can make something work.
Onward!
Edit:
Argh. I probably shouldn't have searched for art deco control panel.
I'll still create the ball-handled control knob, but I think I may just replace that existing panel for something with a more art deco look.
This thing came with a pretty hideous mess of electrical boxes and various industrial three-phase electrical gear that had been added onto, rewired, and replaced over the decades as it moved between factories (presumably).
Most of it was pretty understandable, but it physically pained me to realize that someone had taken out the cool old ball-handle lever used to control the original mag-chuck, and replaced it with this monstrosity:
I'm planning to power this thing from a VFD, so the only controls I need to physically attach to the machine are the start/stop buttons for the latched relay-control circuit in the VFD, and the controls for the mag chuck (which I'd REALLY like to make at least look original with a ball-handled lever). The VFD itself will be in a box on the wall of the shop, I just need to run a power line to the spindle and control lines to the start/stop switch.
There were three fairly large electrical boxes that I took off the machine, including the cool old rectifier cabinet that was inside the pedestal (but with the guts discarded and replaced with a single Chinese industrial control transformer). There were several single-gang utility boxes like that horrific switch shown above, though.
To be sure, all these boxes were at least forty or fifty years old, but they all lacked that cool art deco look of the original stuff. The small utility boxes were particularly ugly because they had the round knockouts on the sides like modern electrical boxes.
I'd really like to replicate the rounded corners and 3D striped art deco look wherever possible.
The start/stop NO/NC buttons that were still on the machine had a nice vintage look that was worth preserving though:
I tried to clean the lettering, but it was too dirty to save. I ended up having to pick it out and re-fill it with a lacquer stick. Here I've done the bottom "START" lettering, but need to give it a couple days to dry before polishing and cleaning up the overflow. I need to get a can of contact cleaner, but the mechanics all work fine.
I searched for a nice "vintage" looking box to put this switch in, but didn't have much luck.
As I was taking everything off, I thought all of the small boxes were the same, but I'm glad I don't throw anything away. It turns out the original box for this switch was quite different from the others. It was a clamshell design with a rounded cover instead of a plate, for one.
Like all the other boxes, though, it was absolutely filthy, with about a dozen layers of different paint covering every exposed surface, screw, and fitting. In looking at it more closely though, I realized that this one box was almost certainly original and well worth saving.
After cleaning off all that paint and dirt, here is what I found:
(The black painted background in the inset areas behind the lettering came off with the paint cleaner. It will look better once I fill those areas in again with black paint.)
When is the last time you saw a switch box with a riveted maker tag? How about press-formed art deco styling?!
Both of those features were absolutely invisible under all that paint and filth! I'm really glad I noticed them. That box is definitely a keeper.
I really want the features of a modern mag-chuck controller, but the one I bought is also pretty ugly and would look terribly out of place mounted to the machine:
The utility of that controller is awesome, so I want to have the controls somewhat accessible, but the main control is that three position switch in the middle.
Turned to the right, it turns the magnet on and sucks parts onto the plate (with the red potentiometer knob controlling the strength of the magnet). In the center, the magnet is turned off, but there will still be residual magnetism making the part difficult to remove. Turned to the
left it starts a pulsed cycle of gradually decreasing reversed voltage which ends up leaving no magnetism at all. The yellow knob controls the cycle time for each pulse when demagnetizing. The LED bar graph displays the current magnetism controlled by the red knob (with yellow/green/red segments as the magnetism is increased).
I'd like to replace that central knob with a more original looking ball-handle lever mounted in the "ear" to the right of the table on the grinder.
Once again, though, I failed to find any suitable sort of switch from any of my standard vendors. So it's time to make something.
My current thought is to relocate the existing switch, and machine some sort of bracket as well as some sort of attachment for a ball-handle lever.
Here's the existing switch removed from the new controller:
It's pretty cool, actually. It's just two NO pushbutton non-latching switches. The buttons are triangular and spring loaded. The knob turns a piece of nylon with a raised section that depresses one button or the other (or neither when in the center):
There's enough fiddly stuff (detents, limit stops) that I think it's easier to make an assembly that attaches to the existing knob rather than machining something that controls the buttons directly, though.
There is JUST BARELY enough room under the "ear" to fit the switch, wiring, and some sort of connector to a lever. Here's the mockup, viewing from the underside:
I still need to machine the bracket and attachment mechanism, shorten that piece of stress proof I found, and find or make a suitable ball, but I think this should work. My main concern is figuring out how to make the attachment mechanism skookum enough to hold the lever securely so that it won't break after just a few uses. Amazingly, the +/- 45 degree action of the switch aligns PERFECTLY with the slot in the "ear", so I'm reasonably confident that I can make something work.
Onward!
Edit:
Argh. I probably shouldn't have searched for art deco control panel.
I'll still create the ball-handled control knob, but I think I may just replace that existing panel for something with a more art deco look.
Last edited:
I just picked up one of these grinders, looks to be slightly newer than yours. It has roller saddle ways, but still has the same oiler that yours does. I snapped a quick photo of the mostly intact oil pump for yah. Bowen Oilshot System Type B
Edit:
Btw, if you ever need to clean/rebuild metering valves again, buy an ultrasonic cleaner and some fuel injection cleaner. I cringe every time I see people paying hundreds of dollars to replace these metering valves.
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- Apr 21, 2015
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Hey, That’s awesome. Thanks for the photo. I may have to recreate that label.
I’ve not been able to find anything on Bowen. I suspect they made the metering valves, too. I even sent an em as I’ll to Bijur Limon to see if they knew anything about them, but nobody that they forwarded it to had ever seen anything like them.
Thanks!
I’ve not been able to find anything on Bowen. I suspect they made the metering valves, too. I even sent an em as I’ll to Bijur Limon to see if they knew anything about them, but nobody that they forwarded it to had ever seen anything like them.
Thanks!