Smithway 4 head Moulder (rebuild)

[jar944]

Seems as good of a sub-forum as any for this. The rebuild will go way more into the metal fab/ machining side than woodworking, but it's a woodworking machine tool so..

I picked this 4 head moulder up a few weeks ago. It needs more work than I originally anticipated. The top and bottom spindles have been chopped from 6" to 4.5" with a saw, as were the heads. The top head slide (gibbed way) was broken and welded back together. The inside head chip breaker is missing and the dust chute it mounts to is a bit of a mess.

But it's all there and runs.

I ordered a chunk of 1.75x36" 4140ph for the new spindles and a pile of bearings for all 4 spindles and 2 idlers.

Picking it up


Unloading

 

[jar944]

And if anyone is wondering what it is

 

[tom in nh]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does the finished wood product look like?

 

[jar944]

Pardon my ignorance, but what does the finished wood product look like?

Anything that in less than 2" by 6" in profile.

Flooring, casing, crown moulding, siding, sash, panel mould..

 

[36truck]

Molding machine that in one pass will make any molding for casement baseboard crown molding.

 

[jar944]

Stared assessing the feedworks. Looks like monkeys were in here repairing items at some point. Interesting mishmash of diameters on the bushings and idler spindles.

Feed rollers. 2 should be smooth. Someone sharpened the upper set with a angle grinder. I'll have to weld them up and turn them to the stock 3" diameter.


One spindle won't come out, judging by the damage I'm not surprised.


Driven sprockets for the rollers, 2 different bore diameters. The bar (which is bent) holds the idler stilub spindles.


The idler spindles. Not sure which is original and which is the replacement. I assume it's the one mede from hex stock, and not the one made from a old bolt.

All the idler sprocket bushings are worn oversized and the spindles are worn .010"+ undersized.

 

[larry4406]

Ugh.

I’m sure you will get it sorted out.

 

[jar944]

Ugh.

I’m sure you will get it sorted out.

These issues aren't actually that bad to repair, the bushings in the frame are still standard off the shelf size.

 

[jar944]

11 new bronze bushings and 5' of 4142 HT TGP for the shafts is on its way. Certainly overkill but the price difference between 1045 and 4142 was minor.

Since I'm waiting on those shipments, I started looking at the top head spindle. I should have expected the worst since it's the one with the most external damage/ repair. I already planned on machining new top and bottom spindles since they were cut down from 6" to 4.5" looks like this was welded up and "fixed". Both the shaft journal and the housing bore are loose fits... I may just glue the bearing into the housing with loctite 620 rather than bore and sleeve.

The po Center punch apparently didn't help..lol



6205 bearing journal


I'm not sure if it's a Mashup of different machines or the factory took a very different take on these two spindles. The larger runs a 6207/6206 bearing, 1.65 diameter at the flange the other 6206/6205 and 1.45" flange diameter. 18tpi on the large looks like 24 or 28tpi on the smaller

 

[larry4406]

Can you knurl the OD of the bushings to get a tighter fit to the bores?

 

[jar944]

Can you knurl the OD of the bushings to get a tighter fit to the bores?

Sorry, that post must not have been very clear. The oversized bore is on the spindle carrier bearing pocket.

I could sleeve and rebore or just bore out both pockets for larger bearings and just increase both bearings one size (I think there is room).

Loctite 620 would also effectively hold the bearing in place. It's only supposed to be a slip fit here anyway.

 

[gba2331]

Seems like this is turning into a bigger project than expected? Hopefully the price was worth the cost.

 

[jar944]

Seems like this is turning into a bigger project than expected? Hopefully the price was worth the cost.

Yes, a lot more issues than I expected. Maybe worth what I paid. They are somewhat rare machines so finding one (that's local enough to drive to) is tough. If I had more space (and power) a weinig or scmi moulder would have been a lot better purchase. I just saw a scmi compact 4 head for 4k and a weinig 22n for 5k. Either would consume my entire shop.

 

[jar944]

I'm starting to wonder if this thing was built from the bad/broken parts of other machines.

Both side head spindles have been welded up.


At this point the thread should be in the metal fab forum..

No words..
Ground with something(way off center) for a smaller bore pulley to fit.

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

That is quite the project you have taken on Jar. Intimidating to say the least. One thing for sure, if you can sort out all of those issues and come out of it with all your hair and a productive machine, most other machine restorations will look like childs play for you. Ed.

 

[jar944]

All of the material is here along with most of the tooling. I decided to make a replacement flat belt pulley and put in another tooling order. I don't have a 1/4" keyway broach.

1045 for the pulley and feedworks pivot
4142HT tgp for the feed wheel shafts
4142HT for the spindles.

 

[woodfor1]

How are you doing with the rebuild on the moulder? I just picked one up that needs lots of work.

 

[jar944]

How are you doing with the rebuild on the moulder? I just picked one up that needs lots of work.

It's on the back burner currently, too many other projects with higher priorities currently.

Did you get a smithway?

 

[woodfor1]

yes it's a 4x6 machine it need to be taken apart and the light rust cleaned. there are two pieces that are damaged and need to be welded back together.

 

[jar944]

yes it's a 4x6 machine it need to be taken apart and the light rust cleaned. there are two pieces that are damaged and need to be welded back together.

Nice, so not this one that was for sale recently

 

[dscheidt]

I'm starting to wonder if this thing was built from the bad/broken parts of other machines.

Sure looks like it. Yikes.

 

[woodfor1]

no the one I found was in Yonkers NY I made a mistake it's 2x6 not 4x6

 

[jar944]

no the one I found was in Yonkers NY I made a mistake it's 2x6 not 4x6

Pics?

 

[woodfor1]

This is the machine I got.It has rust but I think I can clean it up.I don't have the pieces that hold on the cutter heads do you if you do what do they look like? There are two pieces that are broken I have to have them welded.

 

[jar944]

This is the machine I got.It has rust but I think I can clean it up.I don't have the pieces that hold on the cutter heads do you if you do what do they look like? There are two pieces that are broken I have to have them welded.

The head retainers are just a thick washer with 4 pins