Brown Boggs & Co. Crimp roll refurb.

[diagnosis]

I'm not sure if I lucked out, or am just causing more trouble than it's worth, but this ancient relic of a crimp roll was thrown in with a bundle of sheet metal tools I recently picked up!

It looks like it has had some modifications over the years, and was missing it's base, but should work pretty well once cleaned up and a 'new' top roll jam nut is found. (the top roll has been removed, and sitting in my truck while trying to find the nut... I do have it)

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The original brass tag was still in place, and is one of the oldest Brown Boggs ID plates I've ever seen. The handle looks to have been retrofitted, and seems to originally be from some sort of Massey-Harris machinery.... most likely period correct, along with the nail that had been hammered over to hold the lower drive gear in place.

I'll hopefully have the thing wire wheeled painted and reassembled by the weekend, but like all my projects, that's probably optimistic. Cant wait to have this up and running again, hopefully it will find some use in the shop for the next 30 years!

 

[toddmp]

cant wait to see this one!

 

[bigcreek]

awesome, watching..

 

[diagnosis]

I didn't mention it in the first post, but I made a $10 gamble last week on a jam nut ordered from Midwest Control Products in Illinois. I arrived home to a box sitting in the mailbox.... the 11/16-16 nut arrived! This was the only supplier that came up on a google search for that size, as I had given up locally through all the local nut and bolt suppliers.

It was a perfect fit, even though it is smaller than the original nut, it will do.

original:
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new:
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This is the top shaft, wire wheeled and brightened up with a red scotch pad.

 

[diagnosis]

I polished the original brass tag up, and it came out pretty good considering.

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[diagnosis]

Funny story, after being away until Tuesday, went to the shop to pick up what was remaining of the project to reassemble it at home. After looking at it once it was back on the bench, I noticed a few 'blemishes' on the fresh paint and a nut that previously threaded on flawlessly, wouldn't anymore...

... I asked my coworker if there was a chance that maybe it was dropped while I was away.

him: "uh, yeah.... twice actually...."
me: 'did you repaint it by any chance?'
him:"yeah, how could you tell!?"



You have to pick your battles sometimes.

Four coats of paint later (after all that, I ended up dropping it yesterday), some 'custom' wing nuts for the back gauge, and a lot of swearing, it's done!

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I did a quick test, and even though the rolls have seen better days (you can see the missing crimp in the samples) it actually works pretty well.
20g galvanized coupling on the left, 26g aluminum on the right.

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I still have to make a base for it, but that's for next weeks installment.

 

[mkat1951]

Looks Great!!

 

[diagnosis]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

I had a minute or two to complete the base for the roll today. I used a piece of 1-1/2' schedule 80 pipe, and added a ring at the top to sit flush with the outside of the roll base. Cut it at a slight angle, flipped, welded, and blended it in.

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I remembered to check for knuckle clearance and trimmed the pipe at an angle to sit level when attached to the base plate. Drilled a hole in the side of the tubing just below the ring and welded on a 3/8 nut for a set screw.


I painted the base Krylon hammered 'black' to match the rolls, and that's the end of the story! Pretty happy with the final results

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Thanks for looking!