Author Topic: Alba 1A Restoration  (Read 8683 times)

Offline Joco

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Alba 1A Restoration
« on: September 21, 2019, 09:58:09 AM »
It's finally arrived! The new-to-me Alba 1A Shaper.  This is my little restoration project that I plan to beetle away at over the coming months.

Its not going to be a fast project as I also have to completely reorganise my home shop to make way for a new Lathe.  I decided to take the plunge and do the garage workshop as I should have done it not the compromise it currently was.

Anyway, some pics of the little lady as she is, coming home for the first time.  I have seen her running. She could be just cleaned up for rust and ready to rock but I want to do a good a paint job as well.  Maybe a nice classic machine grey.  Something not so dark looking but shiny and "classic".

Any advice on these machines gratefully received.

General overview pics - while there is obviously rusty and some crappy paint things are not looking too bad.  The table box is very clean with no dings. Even have the original handle and feed ratchet system. All the knobs are in place and none of the plastic parts have been broken or damaged.











Some specifics:
The feed system needs some love and its so painted and messy its hard to tell if there are any graduation collars in amongst it all.  Not the end of world as they can be made or a magnetic backed indicator can be added in.  Something I will probably end up doing anyway. I have included a pic of the serial number in case someone can help with how I would identify the age of this wee machine.






The head moves ver smoothly even though it looks a bit worse for wear.  The clapper seems to have no sideways movement that I can detect. When its seated flat there is no wiggle at all.




Motor looks to be original as well.  I'm probably going to power this with a 230V-1ph to 380v-3ph inverter.  I have used that approach successfully on the mill.  The other advantage is that I can improve the speed range and get some very slow cutting speeds.  Worse case is I might need to add a fan in the case to get enough air flow over the motor.


The bull gear and the rocker/eccentric setup looks to be in very good condition.


Belt has seen better days and will need to be replaced but the clutch system and belt wheels all look to be in good condition.


Cheers,
J.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Chipswitheverything

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2019, 12:42:57 PM »
That looks like a very well made machine that will deserve the extra attention that your restoration intends to give.  Have always fancied a small shaper of this sort, Boxford or similar, for the novelty and also the ease of tooling as compared with milling,  but have had to forgo a few opportunities due to lack of 'shop space.  Just wondering if it could be better to move the stop switch, if that will be retained, to a location easier to access in event of a panic...   Dave

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2019, 01:16:50 AM »
What a nice machine Joco. Should be a fun and rewarding restoration.

Bill

Online Dave Otto

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2019, 01:30:05 AM »
Nice looking shaper Joco.
Looking forward to seeing the restoration process.

Dave

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2020, 11:12:51 PM »
After a long pause I have finally gotten things going on cleaning up the Alba.   At the moment I'm in the phase of tearing it all down cleaning and painting parts and noting where there is wear that I would like to address. The eventual game plan will be to scrap some key parts in.  But I need to spend some time learning that skill on some straight edges and practice parts.

The only part I am going to have to repair, from what I can currently see, is the table cross feed nut.  It's been smashed at some point and has lost about 30-40% of its size.  There is still plenty of thread so it will work, but a new one should be made.  I'm not going to try and repair it in case I bugger up what could be my backup.  So a new cross feed nut it will be after all the cleaning/painting is done.

Here some pics of the current state of things.

pic 1: painted parts stack ready for eventual assembly
pic 2: some WIP painting drying
pic 3: parts either cleaned, stripped or waiting on either
pic 4: a bunch of the parts relating to gear train and clutch linkage.  In need of a good clean and some need stripping and painting
pic 5: the base castings separated and waiting on some attention

Cheers,
J.

James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Steamer5

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2020, 06:08:01 AM »
Hi James,
 Looking good. Shapers are wonderful machines to loose yourself watching them chomping thru metal!
Dads got a 7” Ammco, can watch it for hours! He recently got annoyed enuff to sort out the cross feed, it would advance then partially retract. He not sure why the light bulb went on but he put a leather washer under the adjuster nut on the cross feed, it gives just enuff grip & now feeds as it should. I had a hunt on line, the parts info I found didn’t help any, so I contacted the guy that runs the shaper website, he didn’t know either! Anyway it worked, maybe something to look out for when you get things together.

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2020, 09:43:02 PM »
Thanks Kerrin. I’ll watch out for that.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2020, 10:11:32 PM »
Found this video I did before pulling things apart.  I was proofing the 220v  1P to 380v 3P VFD I had purchased was going to play ball nicely.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwmzzB-P4oQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwmzzB-P4oQ</a>
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2020, 09:46:01 PM »
Have been quietly working away and pondering things.  Got the base onto a 450kg rated moving dolly.  Best purchase ever! It has made moving this inside and out for cleaning soo much easier.

Anyway, when cleaning the top chip tray I found a hole    :facepalm:

What to do.  So after some pondering I took to it with a carbide bur to get the worst of the junk out of the way then JB Weld to the rescue!

Pic 1 - the top chip tray, you can probably see the hole post cleanup

Pic 2 - the HOLE.    :censored:

Pic 3 - JB Weld to the rescue - I hope

Pic 4 -  :censored:  :cussing:  :Mad: More sodding holes these ones put there on purpose by previous owner(s). Oh well, some steel round as plugs, JB Weld as putty/glue and they will get solved.

« Last Edit: November 26, 2020, 10:03:37 PM by Joco »
James
Wellington - NZ

Online Jo

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2020, 07:39:31 AM »
It can be amazing how many holes, dings and marks can be found under the paint/filler on machine tool surfaces.

I am not sure what the standard filler/smoother is they use but JB Weld seems to be over kill (expensive) I suspect they normally use some sort of Epoxy resin like car body filler.

Jo
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Offline Bob

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2020, 11:40:09 AM »
Hi Joco

I see you asked for some advice re Alba 1a shapers. I used one a lot 30 years ago and they are good machines. First bit of advice is don't overtighten the nut that adjusts the position of the ram. (The one on top of the ram). It is possible to break the casting that the stud threads into. Second look after the machined surface in the chip tray that the table support legs runs on. If this has any 'dings' they will leave ridges in your work as the support leg rides over them.

Bob

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #11 on: November 27, 2020, 06:59:01 PM »
Jo - yes JB Weld is OTT but it is what I had to hand.  I have since bought some body filler type compound to help with some larger dings in the original filler. 
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #12 on: November 27, 2020, 07:03:40 PM »
Bob - thats really helpful. I’ll definitely watch out for the nut over tightening.

The table leg support surface does have some pitting on a small section at one end.  I have been wondering what to do about that.  Otherwise it seems to be smooth. 
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2020, 08:35:46 PM »
After some filling of holes and associated sanding I have the stand casting primed. Surprising amount of area to paint.  There are a few minor dings that the "painters putty" stuff I have will fill in.  It required a primer coat to be on before use.
James
Wellington - NZ

Offline Joco

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Re: Alba 1A Restoration
« Reply #14 on: December 13, 2020, 06:48:48 AM »
After a lot of painting things are finally starting to come together and a bunch of parts are starting to look like a machine again.

Cheers - J.
James
Wellington - NZ

 

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