Smithy Granite I-Max Speed Control Repair

This will be short and sweet. My Smithy lathe/mill has had a flaky speed control potentiometer (pot) for the five years I've owned the machine. Problem is, it's been getting worse. The problem was that when I'd turn the speed control pot to zero, the motor would keep turning slightly, and it would be jerky. I went so far as to contact the company, and they said that I should just use the Stop button every time I want to stop the motor. They did also say a new pot might solve the problem but to still always use the Stop button.

I decided today to see what I could see inside the pot, so I removed it from the machine to take a good look at the innards.

All-Power 800 Watt 2-Cycle Generator - Carburetor Repair

Our daughter bought a house a while back and it came with this small generator, I presume to run the fridge. The previous owner left the generator (and a lot of other things, like a lawn mower) when he moved. I'm guessing he knew the generator (and mower) condition, which is why they were left behind. The generator (and mower) didn't run. Gas started dribbling from the generator's carburetor bowl when I turned on the fuel petcock, so I knew at a minimum the carburetor had to come apart.

Igaging EZ-View DRO Plus Digital Readout Installation on Smithy Granite I-Max 1340 Lathe/Mill

I finally decided to install a set of DROs on my Three-in-One Smithy I-Max 1340, and I chose the inexpensive Igaging EZ-View set off eBay. I can't hardly go wrong for $150 including tax and shipping. The set came with a 6", 12" and 36" DRO.

The simplest one to start with was the mill quill, as I'd previously mounted the Smithy version (which came with the pile of goodies I'd gotten with the lathe) and so the mounting brackets could be used with no modifications. It was just a matter of unscrewing the Smithy scale and replacing it with the Igaging unit.

Belco Generator Flooded

So I went to start the Belco generator a couple days ago. I opened the gas petcock, set the choke, wrapped the pull cord around the engine pulley and gave it a tug. No fire. I pulled again. Still nothing, but the carburetor was gushing fuel out its vent. Well that's not supposed to happen. I figured the needle valve was stuck in the carburetor so I pulled the carburetor fuel bowl cap off after shutting off the gas petcock. Gasoline was full to the top of the bowl. I pulled the float and needle out to clean the needle and noticed there was a-sloshin' a-goin' on inside the float. I turned the float over and found a small divot in the middle of the float:

Belco Generator Brochure and Manual

I happened to look on eBay for the word Belco to see if anything popped up, and to my surprise two items were there. They were a sales brochure showing the range of generators Belco sold and a general instruction manual. Of course I had to buy them. This first scan is the brochure front cover.

Belco Generator Updates and a Repair

I spent the day today making stuff for the generator. The first project was a muffler. I used a small section of exhaust pipe for the main body of the muffler that I'd previously cut from the '96 F250 tailpipe when I installed a turn-down tip. I had a very large washer that I used for the backside of the muffler and I used a piece of sheet metal for the front cover that would eventually get holes drilled into it.

The Belco Generator Lives!!

Knowing nothing about the condition of this engine and generator head, I decided to just dive in and start fixing things, with the magneto being first on the list, as usually the magneto is the most trouble-prone component on these old engines. This Wico Type C magneto has a unique cap that is missing its metal cover and I can't find a replacement online. I may have to resort to making one.

Yes.... Yet Another Long-Neglected Generator Needing Help. Belco - Bellingham Manufacturing Co.

I've come to realize I regularly need something new to tinker with. My needs are simple and are usually met while perusing the local Craigslist listings for engine-driven contraptions. This latest find seems to be a rather rare item, as the vast Internet has very little information on the company that manufactured my latest acquisition. The manufacturer's name is Belco (Bellingham Manufacturing Co). The tag says the generator is rated at 2 KVA (kilovolt-amperes, i.e. 2 kilowatts), and it is powered by a Wisconsin model AK gasoline engine.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Turning Aluminum

I made a short video of my Craftsman lathe carving up a hunk of aluminum. Below are a couple of still shot of the work being done, then a video at the bottom.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Dead Centers

I thought I'd try my hand at making one or two dead centers for this Craftsman 109 micro-mini lathe. The headstock spindle and tailstock ram are supposedly a Morse Taper 0 (MT0). I took a lot of time to get the compound set to the right angle, 0.026 inches of taper per side per inch of travel. I got the number from the internet, which the taper for MT0 was .0521 inches of taper per inch (included angle). I then carved out a taper from a piece of 3/8" steel and for whatever reason, the taper was wrong. I fiddled with the compound angle a number of times until I got a finished taper that fit the tailstock ram. I tried that dead center in the headstock spindle but it didn't fit right. Hmm. I then set the compound angle to about 0.020 inches per inch and made another center. That one fit the headstock, and strangely, it fit fairly well in the tailstock too. Hmm again. Maybe I just messed up the first center. In any event, I now have two dead centers for the Craftsman lathe. Don't look too closely at them, as they aren't the best quality. I might try to make one more just to see if it turns out better than the first one I did.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Tool Post

The cobbled-up tool post I've been using for the lathe is sorely lacking. It's time to bite the bullet and make something. I used this page (link: Deans Tool Post) as inspiration. I didn't bother using measurements from his page but just got out the dial calipers and jotted down some dimensions.

This first photo is of the main body being cut from some scrap steel.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Ads 1940s

While rummaging around the vast internet a number of years ago, I ran across a site (christmas.musetechnical.com) that had a large selection of Sears Spring/Summer, Fall/Winter, and Christmas catalogs. Today I was hoping I'd find my little Craftsman 109.20630 lathe in one of their online catalogs so I could get an approximate date of manufacture. I didn't see on their site that the content was copyrighted, so I'm going to post a few images.

I guessed my Craftsman lathe to be about 1940 vintage, but it appears that Sears was selling this lathe under the name Dunlap, not Craftsman, in the early 1940s. The Dunlap lathe was very similar to mine, and I found a catalog advertisement for the Dunlap from 1942, shown below. The Dunlap lathe had a 6 inch swing and 18 inches between centers.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Mounting Base

I dug around in the wood pile in the basement and found a piece of 3/4" plywood that I was able to cut a section from to make a base for the lathe and motor. I mounted the motor on a hinge so it was adjustable for the different pulley diameters.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Chuck Backing Plate Fabrication

It was a bit of a bummer that this new-to-me lathe didn't come with a chuck (or motor/tool post/gears), but I happened to remember I had a small 3" chuck (Union Mfg. Co. No. 153 Class S) that had come into my possession almost 40 years ago. So of course a new backing plate is now needed. I rummaged around and came up with two pieces of steel that I could cobble into what I needed. The large donut shaped piece already had a large hole through the center so I just bored it out to clean it up, then turned a smaller piece of round stock to fit the hole. I then cut a short disk of steel from the smaller chunk and welded it to the large donut.

Craftsman 109 Lathe Cross Slide Handle Repair

This isn't so much a repair but more a fabrication. The cross slide has half of a handle remaining on it. It looks like someone tried drilling a hole to add a handle to the stub, so I just ran with that and completed it. Here's the handle stub that I drilled a better hole in, and the start of a new handle chucked up in the lathe.

Craftsman (Sears) 109.20630 Metal Lathe Rescue

While at an old tractor/engine show this past Friday, there were also the usual vendors selling just about anything you could think of. My wife and I perused the $1 DVD collection a fellow had and found some videos we liked. He also had an old Craftsman lathe laying forlornly on the ground at the outskirts of his vendor kingdom. I didn't need another project so I didn't even ask a price when I went to pay for the DVDs. My wife then asked me if I'd asked about the lathe. I said no. She then persuaded me to go ask. Big mistake. The guy said he'd take twenty bucks for it. (!) That was even too cheap for me to pass up, so I came home with another project. Friday was a good day to go to the show, if for nothing else but to get the good lathe deal, as it was a pretty quiet day for visitors.

Lincoln MKC New 3D-Printed Cargo Net Hook

 It was bound to happen. A plastic hook in the cargo area of our 2015 Lincoln MKC somehow broke. There are two of these hooks that are used to support a cargo net. I looked online and it appears the only way to get a new hook is to get a whole new cargo area side panel. That's not going to happen anytime soon. So... what options do I have? I could glue on a piece of plastic to the the remaining flat part of the hook but it probably wouldn't hold up too well and not look too appealing. The second option is to try and design a new hook and print it out on the 3D printer. The first photo below shows the hook that is not (yet) broken.

GMC S15 Windshield Washer Nozzle Repair

 This squirter nozzle is out of a 1984 GMC S15, and has been broken for many years. While cleaning out the cowl area of needles, I decided to tackle fixing the nozzle, as new ones are not available.

Grip Repair

 I have an old pistol from the 1920's that has a small piece missing from the left grip panel. It wouldn't be much of a big deal except for the fact that the small piece that is missing has the job of holding a pin in place that is the pivot point for an internal spring toggle. Here's the beginnings of the repair. I glued a chunk of Mahogany onto the Walnut grip. Maybe not the smartest choice of wood but it was what I had on hand.

1880's Tranter's Patent Pistol Repair

 I've had this odd pistol floating around for many years, not knowing what it was, as there are no legible markings on it other than a small string of letters and a partial serial number. The rear sight was missing, as was something mounted to the rear of the break-open barrel, but I didn't know what that something might be without seeing a similar gun. So, a few days ago I decided to see if I could find out anything at all from the vast interweb on this jewel.