THE WALKER-TURNER THREAD - Post your Walker-Turner pics

[Hoorn]

I never did post my own 900 series. Figure now is as good a time as any to show that I too am in the exclusive ships wheel club!



And the obligatory receptacle mounted on the head frame. Although not an original Walker Turner switch (I have a couple from other projects) this one is pretty cool with the instruction, "to reset move to off then to on"
In other words, just turn it off and on lol. That was old school tech support back then.



I'm with Erik the Red on the design of the 900 series. While I am a Walker Turner aficionado and have restored many of their drill presses, band saws, motors, etc, as for this drill press there were better designs out there. Getting those bushings off from above the pulley is never fun, and unless you use linked belts, putting a new one on is very time consuming.

 

[PeterPeter]

You have two things that slide. The quill through the head casting, and the spindle through the pulley. If you drop the spindle out, that might help narrow it down. You might find that the spindle is bent or twisted.

Well, I found the source of the issue: the pinion gear has a flat spot. I just reoriented the shaft, so the hitch is just a the very beginning, and end of the stroke. Something caught my eye tho, while going through this: what were they thinking of, when they started the scale on the depth stop, a full inch above the top of the stroke? the scale should start right at the bottom of the post, and end an inch from above the post! This is really, dumb
Top of stroke:

Bottom of stroke:


So, if you want to use the scale, you lose the first inch of stroke Can anyone think of a reason for doing this? I would think the top of the stroke is the most accurate. Peter, Peter, a guy so nice his mom named twice

 

[whateg01]

Well, I found the source of the issue: the pinion gear has a flat spot. I just reoriented the shaft, so the hitch is just a the very beginning, and end of the stroke. Something caught my eye tho, while going through this: what were they thinking of, when they started the scale on the depth stop, a full inch above the top of the stroke? the scale should start right at the bottom of the post, and end an inch from above the post! This is really, dumb
Top of stroke:

Bottom of stroke:


So, if you want to use the scale, you lose the first inch of stroke Can anyone think of a reason for doing this? I would think the top of the stroke is the most accurate. Peter, Peter, a guy so nice his mom named twice

The scale is just for use with the stop. So, when the stop is all the way at the bottom, against the head, the top of the stop should approximately line up with the bottom of the scale.

 

[PeterPeter]

The scale is just for use with the stop. So, when the stop is all the way at the bottom, against the head, the top of the stop should approximately line up with the bottom of the scale.

Huh. Well I’ll be. Been using a DP 600 so long, forgot how to read a dang stop rod. Thanks. So, it has a range of 3.75” of motion, not 4.

 

[drivesitfar]

I love Walker turner tools and I’ve got a restored bench top drill press that needs the dust wiped off and used more.

 

[Hoorn]

@drivesitfar would love to see your stuff, get it on the W-T thread brother!

 

[PeterPeter]

Just going through some old photos. This was a haul from RI in 2020. Three W-T, and a Delta Homecraft 10” disc the PO threw in for good measure. They we’re in a gnarly cellar, with rotty bulkhead access, and no paved walkway across the lawn , to where my car was. He had a bad back and couldn’t help, and I had a solid wheel hand truck. He should have been paying me $400 to haul them away

I do a lot of repair, rehab and reselling, and honestly, I had a very hard time selling both saws. The drill press cleaned up, and sold well, but the little Homecraft ended up being the star, selling for $200.

 

[Hoorn]

@PeterPeter lots of eye candy in that picture; looks like the scroll saw came with the original cast iron stand too. Terrific haul. So, a W-T 14" band saw, scroll saw with cast iron stand and what appears to be an original driver motor in great condition, a 900 series drill press and a homecraft disc sander/buffer for $400? I think you did very well.

 

[PeterPeter]

lots of eye candy in that picture; looks like the scroll saw came with the original cast iron stand too. Terrific haul. So, a W-T 14" band saw, scroll saw with cast iron stand and what appears to be an original driver motor in great condition, a 900 series drill press and a homecraft disc sander/buffer for $400? I think you did very well.

The scrollie was a 30’s direct drive, in complete condition. Unfortunately, W-T decided to use a zamack trunnion, under a 12x12 cast iron table. The trunnion was crushed. I searched for over a year, didn’t find one. That’s when I decided to pass it along, and sold it to an OWWM member, for cost. That’s when I got a message that another member had a trunnion for me .

The bandsaw was the tough one. So heavy. I have a small, cellar shop. These bandsaws are large, chunks of iron. Trying to manage that thing was back breaking. And without a stand, or motor, I knew there was little I could do (without sinking a lot of money into it) to attract buyers. It sold, as is, for 50.

The drill press was nice, a 44, with two tables. It cleaned up great, very quiet.

2020 was like the Wild West of old machines. So many people, stuck at home, not working. Instead, they were purging barns, cellars and garages of all manner of crazy stuff. Ah, the good old days of the pandemic.

 

[Hoorn]

@PeterPeter when you say, "a 44", are you getting that number from the W-T navy blue badge?

 

[whateg01]

@PeterPeter when you say, "a 44", are you getting that number from the W-T navy blue badge?

Pretty sure he means it was built in 1944. My WT 1100 was built in approximately 1947.

 

[Hoorn]

@whateg01 W-T did not date their machines along the lines of Delta. W-T badged "serial numbers" denote more a change in model and are not representative of the year built. We all know these Driver Line badges are 1930s.



And we all know these Cutler Hammer knockoffs were a 1939 run only.



It is unknown how many months the Cutler Hammer style badge was actually used. In 1939/40 W-T went with round badges with an orange field. These, like the driver line series, had no serial number either.



Perhaps also in 1939, W-T introduced a round orange badge with an open rectangle for a serial number, and the round navy blue badge soon followed. These overlapped each other for a number of years until roughly 1944. Numbers vary depending on the type machine it was found on.



Bandsaw badge.





A badge stamped 1947 would "usually" mean it was manufactured that year because by 1948 the company was purchased by Kearney Trecker



Here is that badge showing the change in ownership to Kearney - Trecker. It was not until 1950 that Walker Turner / Kearney - Trecker machines started receiving a coherent month and year of manufacture utilizing a letter code. With these type of serial codes the first two numbers correspond with the year it was manufactured.



In 1956 the company was sold again to Rockwell and that badge looked like this.



Having said all that, there are tons of anomalies. K-T had already owned Walker Turner for a year and had been producing W-T / K -T badges to reflect that, and yet here is a W-T badge ending in 49. These type badges could actually be found all the way through 1950.

 

[PeterPeter]

Thank you for your detailed response. I just read the question posed, and was preparing to answer, when i scrolled down to se your excellent explanation. Bravo

 

[huckaberry]

W-T 20 inch , heavily used in a shop daily for decades ! I saved it after the shop closure and restored it about a yr. ago , all new bearings etc. the motor is 3 phase but the house power is single phase so with the help of a VFD it's up and running and i can dial down the frequency to run at 75 RPM's without losing torque and up to 1800 without changing belts , it will go much higher with changing belt groove but i have a smaller DP for the smaller higher speed stuff so i never mess with the belts...... , an RPM meter makes it easy to set up for drill size and material .

 

[Hoorn]

@huckaberry nice late model W-T, that thing is a beast. Pretty sure the 20" W-Ts tip the scales at 500+ lbs. Nice shop.

 

[huckaberry]

@Hoorn yeah , heavy ! the column is 6' H 4" dia. and wall thickness about 1/2 " , had to disassemble / assemble using an elec. rafter winch . thanks for your earlier post about id tags ,..this one's first 2 #'s are 52 so i guess it's a 1952 .
.......... here's a 15" bench type , just got it recently , haven't set it up yet , it was pulled from a 5 gang multi press cast iron table , the guy i got it from had a bench base he put it on , so now the base is the table , the head slides up/down with cable counter weight , it' a late W-T Rockwell .

 

[PeterPeter]

That 20” is very nice. How do you keep from losing low end torque with the VFD?

I once bought the head and post of a 20” (from a gang table), with power down. It was pretty far away, but since it was $100, I figured I‘d give it a shot. Right. I’d never actually seen a 20”. Good thing the PO had a fork lift. We got it in my Pilot in one piece, but it took me a couple hours to get that sucker apart, and out of there. Fortunately, I had a buyer ready to take it, so I didn’t have to get it into my cellar shop!

 

[huckaberry]

i lack knowledge on vfd's , there's different types , can be confusing ! ....., but , the company i purchased from helped me out on selection ( Marshall Wolf automation) said the "sensorless vector" type will hold torque down to about 20 Hz , the one i use is a Fuji frn0006c2s-7u (made in Japan not China) , it
has a simplified torque vector control system with automatic torque boost function....... i run the same unit on a Bridgeport mill , Do-All band saw and a State disc grinder , all 1hp 3 phase motors no problems so far .

 

[PeterPeter]

@Hoorn
.......... here's a 15" bench type , just got it recently , haven't set it up yet , it was pulled from a 5 gang multi press cast iron table , the guy i got it from had a bench base he put it on , so now the base is the table , the head slides up/down with cable counter weight , it' a late W-T Rockwell .

I realized I didn’t even mention this. Great machine. It replaced the DP220, and IMHO, was the height of their design/build.b

 

[Hoorn]

Yesterday I picked up this 14-inch Walker Turner bandsaw. The seller accepted my offer of $200, I promptly responded, separated the base from the bandsaw in the seller's driveway to ease loading, and here she is.





I can confidently date this band saw as a 1940-41 model due to its orange badge with "39" model designation. 1939 models had the distinct Cutler Hammer style badge, and there is a number of blue badged "42" model band saws.

It came with a 1960s era GE motor which I removed from the base in my SUV. The gear reduction is outwardly in very good shape.



A geared, self indexing Driver Line mitre gauge came with it. I did not take any "before" pics, and already cleaned it up a bit. I think these early Driver Line geared mitre gauges are among the best made. This particular one is quite crisp with its lettering and how it clicks from one degree to the next. These late 30s early 40s model misspell the word "Gage".







It also came with the W-T "remote control on-off switch" which I also cleaned up and primed.





Here is how that remote control switch appeared in a 1943 catalog.

 

[drivesitfar]

Horn: nice find and great deal. Did you start it up and cut anything before you took base off and loaded it? It looks great from my chair. What’s with the sander or is that part of another machine?

 

[Hoorn]

@drivesitfar I did not start up the motor as there were no belts or the blade hooked up and I was not interested in the GE motor. Anyone who lists a W-T bandsaw with a cast iron base and gear reduction at $225 clearly did not really understand the value. In speaking with the seller he said his original intent was to take it to the scrap yard but it was too heavy!

As for the sander, I will be using that mitre gauge on that Delta sander and my 6x48. That sander is here:

1920-60s DELTA / ROCKWELL picture thread - Post your Delta!

@lafester I have, and it's a really nice first generation three-part pedestal and grinder, but the guy won't budge off $700. It's all intact, but it needs work. The entire thing is painted bright yellow. Ouch... that is worse then not finding one. Pic?

www.garagejournal.com

1930-60's DELTA / ROCKWELL picture thread - Post your Delta!

@lafester I have, and it's a really nice first generation three-part pedestal and grinder, but the guy won't budge off $700. It's all intact, but it needs work. The entire thing is painted bright yellow. Ouch... that is worse then not finding one. Pic?

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Tarnished]

Great catch Hoorn! I think you stole that saw. Nice to have the the hard to find CI belt cover. Looks to have all the motor mount hardware, also hard to find intact. I have never seen a WT geared indexing miter in all my hunting. Now I have a new quest item.
Is this a "keeper" or are you moving it along?

 

[Hoorn]

@Tarnished I think the only part of this one I'll keep is the geared mitre gauge.

 

[Erik The Red]

I have been watching a WT table saw for almost a month on my local craigslist. The seller was asking $250 at first, then $200, then $100... I offered $80 and he accepted. I had hoped someone else would buy it because I don't have room for another table saw, but I also did not want the seller to get frustrated and dump it for scrap. The saw came with the complete fence, a geared miter gage, two original insert plates (one is for a dado stack), and a geared motor. I plan to keep the fence for my bandsaw and part out the rest.

The guy ended up being a retired machinist with a lot of cool tools. A quick trip turned into nearly a two hour chat with the guy over tools and vintage machines, great day and an amazing deal I think.



The saw is a 1938 10" tilting arbor saw, model TA1162. This is the first production year of this saw as it was unveiled as new along with an 8" saw in the 1938 catalogue. In 1939 the design of the base was changed to be more enclosed with 1939 badging and deco design. The saw blade is a direct drive design off of a geared motor which is unique when compared to the more common belt drive like in a Unisaw which was also introduced around 1937-38... I wonder which company was the first to make a home sized tilting arbor saw. The cast iron stand has a cut out ramp on the side to allow the whole motor to tilt with the blade. Sadly the original switch is gone, you can still see the outline on the body where it once was. The fence is a solid bar of steel it weighs in at a hefty 18 lbs alone.

I'm kind of sad that saws like this don't seem to be desirable by wood workers. It is in great condition but has horrible options for dust extraction and none of the conveniences that a Saw-stop might offer, so I understand why the market is next to nothing for a vintage cabinet saw like this.

 

[Hoorn]

Outstanding write up @Erik The Red. For $80 you had to buy it. The red angle gauge is still remarkably quite vibrant, and the driver line badge is in great condition. Looking forward to follow up pics of the geared drive/motor.

 

[dwall174]

I have a Walker Turner 1100 that I refurbished utilizing two separate 1100's.
They were in bad shape, but I got them both for $150 so I figured I could make one good machine out of the two.

As found at a shop that was closing.


Here's the latest progress on the combination of the two.


I repaired the damaged cover, but haven't mounted it yet since I need to make some new brackets for it.


One of the 1100's had a MT#2 spindle & the other one had a MT#3 spindle. I had the #2 spindle modified to accept a 3/4-16 threaded drill chuck.




I'm pretty sure the motor on it is a W/T Driver Line series 1HP 220-Volt 3PH 1140RPM motor. There was no ID. plate on it, but it's a 3-lead motor & it had a 220V 3PH plug on it.

Doug

 

[Hoorn]

@dwall174 nice save on that big boy DP. The 1100s had such beautiful art deco lines. Great find!

 

[dwall174]

Here are some pictures of the motor after installing new bearings & cleaning it up.



I'm currently running it with a 5HP RPC, but I'm planning to get a VFD to run it on so that I'll have variable speed.

If anyone happens to have a 3-lead 1HP 3PH 220-Volt 1140RPM W/T motor, let me know what the Full Load Amps are for this motor. I'm guessing it's close to 4.5 amps at full load, which would mean I'll probably need a 2HP VFD.

Doug

 

[Hoorn]

Some time ago I posted pictures of this Walker Turner 14-in band saw with the high/low speed gearbox. My original intention was to flip it but I have since reconsidered.



The band saw is mostly apart, now I'm starting the process of taking apart and cleaning the gearbox.

I wanted to show the gears within the box and the relationship they share in slowing the blade down. It helps to have an exploded view for reference.



This is after 48 hours of soaking in simple green, hacking away at the hardened grease left over and then back into the simple green.



On the left is the reduction gear and on the right is the drive reduction gear. The small gear attaches to the gear reduction and is held in place with two set screws. The offset cam is held in place with the shaft and retaining pin and connected to the handle.

When not in use, the pulley directly drives the lower bandsaw wheel, when engaged, these gears act in concert to reduce the speed by 10 to 1, with the reduction gear in mesh with the gear mounted on the pulley.





I want to show a unique bearing that is part of the gear drive and would be "part #96" on the exploded view. The reason I have two of them is I have two of these W-T gear reducers, one from a previous bandsaw.







These are double row, self aligning SKF bearings. They are insensitive to angular misalignment of the shaft relative to the housing.
While I have turned the raceway at an extreme angle for display, however steep you spin them, they will not lose contact with the outer raceway or become misaligned.

 

[Hoorn]

For all of you that have Walker Turner band saws, I would guess three out of four have the upper wheel guide bracket stripped out. This 14-in bracket was not just stripped, but the previous owner completely removed the protruding block and came up with a fairly decent, strong replacement.



Because the bracket is die cast, Heli-coils were inserted and are locked in place. This thick plate steel will easily hold the adjustable alignment screw.







The strongest alternative I have ever seen was this design from the Canadian Practical Machinist.



Here it is executed to perfection. While the Walker Turner bandsaw has a well deserved reputation, using zamak for such a crucial part that has repeatedly proven to fail was inexcusable.

 

[Hoorn]

I made some decent progress today.



I've painted most of the gearbox cast iron parts with red oxide primer. I've had very good results with this type of primer, more so than self-etching.

Over the years if I've ever made a mistake at the primer stage, I would take it off and start all over again. The self etching would typically come off pretty easy whereas I would really have to work to remove the red oxide.

I had this upper wheel guide bracket color matched as it had a pretty decent original color sample.

The top area with the arrow pointing is where the sample was taken. The circled area is the color match. The big old glop to the left is Benjamin Moore color #1575, very close but not as close as the color match. I can't really get oil base in California, so I'm using a Benjamin Moore alkyd enamel which I've used on other machines. The color match literally blends in with the original, capturing the unique Walker Turner green-gray with a whiff of blue.



From a previous Walker Turner that had a cracked base, I cut off this gearbox chart that I'll be mounting on this one.



One of the benefits of having two gearboxes, is I get to pick the best pieces from each one! Going with the top plate.

 

[bb29510]

there a walker turner drill press at hgrinc.com for $27, a floor model, but the shipping would not be cheap

 

[Snip's]

Over the years if I've ever made a mistake at the primer stage, I would take it off and start all over again. The self etching would typically come off pretty easy whereas I would really have to work to remove the red oxide.

Hi Hoorn...
I'm interested in your source for the red oxide primer... Would this be the Rust-Oleum in a spray can or something else...
I've been using the acid etch primer rattle cans on my cast iron parts... Always looking for improvements...
Haven't moved over to HVLP spraying.... Yet...
Spray cans are so much more convenient...

 

[Hoorn]

Rustoleum makes a pretty good red oxide. It's a bit "heavier" than their clean metal primer and smooths out rough cast iron a little better. I used Ace hardware's red oxide for this particular job.

 

[Snip's]

Thanks for the tip...
Looks like I'll be making a trip to Ace Hardware...

 

[Ryan O]

Would this box have held accessories for a machine? This was my grand father's and was recently given to me by my Aunt. I see images on different sites that call them cash boxes, but doesn't seem right to me. My grandpa did woodwork when he had TB back in the 30's to keep himself busy since he could not be around other people. He kept this box the rest of his life (died 1991) and held personal mementos in it. Just curious about it.

 

[TexTJ209]

Would this box have held accessories for a machine? This was my grand father's and was recently given to me by my Aunt. I see images on different sites that call them cash boxes, but doesn't seem right to me. My grandpa did woodwork when he had TB back in the 30's to keep himself busy since he could not be around other people. He kept this box the rest of his life (died 1991) and held personal mementos in it. Just curious about it.

I can't find them in the WT catalogs, but Sears sold a near identical one with Craftsman badging that they advertised as a "heavy duty utility box". So basically, a cash or valuables box. I'd be interested to see if somebody could find one in a Walker Turner catalog though..

 

[Hoorn]

Continuing with the progress of this band saw, I was able to spray two coats of alkyd enamel via an HVLP with that distinct Walker Turner green-gray. Believe it or not, lately it's been tough to find a day or two without rain in So Cal -this is way late in the year to still have rainy days for us.











I'm very pleased with how hard this paint dries and it is fairly dent and chip resistant. A few of the nooks and crannies that are hard to reach with an HVLP I've touched up with a brush.

Despite being water-based, this alkyd enamel takes 16 hours to dry and as a result has a very long open time. Because of that, brush marks literally disappear.

I'm still grinding away at the six layers of paint on the cast iron base and frame. All the doors are bare cast iron now.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found this wrench at the flea yesterday. Based on the bowed shape and the open end/box end configuration, it looks like a Ford spark plug and cylinder head bolt wrench. But they didn't typically have panels in the shank, the box end was not a flare nut type, the openings are wrong, and nobody has ever heard of a Walker Turner supplying Ford wrenches.

I have Walker-Turner 'DRIVER' line wrenches and trust me when I say that was my first thought. But note that there is no hyphen in the name, and as far as I know, Walker-Turner started in Jersey City, NJ, and moved to Plainfield, NJ. Lastly, this doesn't look like a tool post or adjusting wrench for a lathe or mill or DP, etc. The openings are 1" (open) x 5/8" (flare nut).

Do any of you W-T guys have any ideas?