Walker turner #1 147 refresh... not resto lol.

[Lssix]

I have shared this piece in other threads but thought I should start a thread of its own.



Upon arriving home, I was pretty happy to score a vintage machine like this for such a good price. It has some rough points but seems rock solid mechanically.

I originally wanted to strip her down and do a complete resto but the patina and local history of the machine have charmed me.





At some point (probably from new) it was an industrial machine at a local electrical contractor. This company has a long history here and is still in business as an industrial electrical contractor.



One knob is missing but they are supposed to be easy enough to replace, I may replace all of them with something unique but we will see.

I also stupidly bent some of the arms in transporting it, what was so easy to muck up is proving to be difficult to fix with my pitiful 4" vice.



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[tombell572]

Lssix- its been a while since I restored my W/T drill but I'm pretty sure the arms on the spindle control are just threaded into the hub and could be easily replaced-3/8" I think-might be better than trying to straighten them. Also, McMaster Carr has a large selection of machinery knobs.

Tom B.

 

[Lssix]

I have one arm out now, it appears to have been a press fit. No threads.

You are right though, it makes more sense to replace them with new bar stock while I have it all apart.

I'll look into different knob options.

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[ndnchf]

I restored my WT900 4 or 5 years ago. If I recall correctly, it was made around 1950. It has threaded control arms. Either way, you can probably find originals on ebay for minimal cost. I upgraded to a 3ph, 220v 3/4hp motor with a VFD that runs off of 115v. I love it.

 

[Lssix]

Did yours have the same open style bearings? What did you do about lube when you reassembled everything?

Im thinking about packing each bearing with grease then supplementing with oil after I start using it again, but I havent found if thats acceptable or not.

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[ndnchf]

I installed new sealed bearings when I restored it. I just oil the splines now and then.

 

[rustyzman]

I have a Walker Turner 15" and Love it. Yours has the mysterious and almost always missing belt guard!
I have only found one guard on a drill around here (we have a floor model with a tapping head at work, missing the guard too) and the scrap yard that had it would not part with anything at any price! It was a floor model with the round base. It was a sad day. Lots of vintage milling and drilling equipment died that day there. Could not even get them to sell me the fostoria lamps off the machines. Claimed they wanted to sell the machines complete and then proceeded to scrap them the next day. Weird way to do business.

 

[Lssix]

I have a Walker Turner 15" and Love it. Yours has the mysterious and almost always missing belt guard!
I have only found one guard on a drill around here (we have a floor model with a tapping head at work, missing the guard too) and the scrap yard that had it would not part with anything at any price! It was a floor model with the round base. It was a sad day. Lots of vintage milling and drilling equipment died that day there. Could not even get them to sell me the fostoria lamps off the machines. Claimed they wanted to sell the machines complete and then proceeded to scrap them the next day. Weird way to do business.

I am told that the cover was an option so they are not always missing but never installed.

I can see why they would get tossed though, the first thing I did with my little Ryobi was toss the cover because it was a bother to mess with.

I have the mechanical bits mostly cleaned up with mineral spirits and I. Really happy with the build and condition of the thing.

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[ndnchf]

The belt covers were an option, originals are hard to come by. Earlier this year a fellow over on the OWWM forum had a foundry make a run of reproductions in aluminum. I added one to mine. As you can see, they came out very nicely.

 

[Lssix]

The belt covers were an option, originals are hard to come by. Earlier this year a fellow over on the OWWM forum had a foundry make a run of reproductions in aluminum. I added one to mine. As you can see, they came out very nicely.

Its funny, I learned about the repros through a guy that came to my house to buy my old tilt table craftsman saw.

He seemed like a good guy who was interested in restoring old tools so I was happy to let it go to him, even if he did haggle me out of the motor I had set aside for other plans.

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[Lssix]

The belt covers were an option, originals are hard to come by. Earlier this year a fellow over on the OWWM forum had a foundry make a run of reproductions in aluminum. I added one to mine. As you can see, they came out very nicely.

That cover does look spot on, I was tempted to restore mine so it looked just as nice as yours but I will keep it as original as I can for now.

My next purchase is going to (hopefully) be an old oddball lathe and I think Ill try my resto chops out on that. Patina is nice and all but theres something beautiful about a pristine machine.

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[Lssix]

Picked this up, the base will be used for the drill press with a little work.

I had settled on building a sturdy wooden base for the drill but I just prefer metal and I can justify it further because I need every bit of storage I can get! A chunky wood base will certainly give up space relative to something like this, plus its vintage. Always err on the side of vintage.



It has the adjustable extensions so I will set those as tall as possible then build a 3/4" wood base for it that will further ridgidize the thing and act as a lower shelf and place to mount casters.

The middle will get another shelf and the top will get a hefty 4x4 block top with a layer of the counter top material my bench has with the drill press mounted through to the original X members.

It should be plenty sturdy for this machine and afford me a bit more horizontal work space and be mobile around the shop.

I thought about offsetting the drill to one side and remounting the saw opposite of it and mounting an old belt driven belt sander next to that for maximum utility but I probably wont keep the saw.

What do you all think?

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[Waltrip88]

The belt covers were an option, originals are hard to come by. Earlier this year a fellow over on the OWWM forum had a foundry make a run of reproductions in aluminum. I added one to mine. As you can see, they came out very nicely.

Are there any left? Could you PM a link?

 

[ndnchf]

Here is a link to the repro guard thread. Don't know if there are any extra, but you could post a wanted to buy add on the OWWM forum.

http://www.owwm.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167902&hilit=wt900+guard