Another Machine Restoration of Jeff's Complete.

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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Staff member
This time it's his Powermatic Model 10 Mortiser. Jeff had completely disassembled it and got about half way through the cleaning and painting stage. I picked up where he left off and replaced all the bearings, completed the cleaning and painting, welded up a mobile base from angle iron, and fabricated a pneumatic clamp. The original clamp was missing and Jeff looked for years trying to find one but was unsuccessful. I tried as well and had a nice gentlemen offer me an entire mortiser that had the clamp but the machine was left outside for years and completely seized. He wanted me to take the whole thing and since it is 6 hours away I decided to come up with something of my own making. I'm happy to report the pneumatic clamp exceeds my expectations. Dang that thing mashes a board to the fence. No budging it. This machine should fill a nice void in my in my shop. I look forward to using it and know Jeff would be happy with his auction score of almost a decade ago.


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Jeff must have been one hell of a good guy. I'm on year 5 of restoring a Mossberg Bolt action 12g that my friend gave me before he died. Nice resto....
 
Eric,
That looks great. Amazing attention to detail- that machine looks better than some of my 5 year old tools. Even noticed the new castors (since I just had to replace the 10 year old ones on my Grizzly bandsaw). Are you painting or powder coating? Are you sandblasting first or have another way of cleaning the rusted parts?
 
Appreciate the kind words. Thank you.

Bill, the casters are by Colson. They make heavy duty ones and let you build a caster for your needs (wheel dia, material, bearing type, load range, etc.). No on the powder coating, just basic oil based industrial paint sprayed on. Painted surfaces are stripped by placing the parts in a big boiling pot of water and lye. Not a process to take lightly given the potential for serious burns. On unpainted surfaces I use a wire wheel on a bench mounted motor, or soak in vinegar. Before painting all machined surfaces, like dovetail ways, are taped off to prevent paint from wrecking them. When reassembling I wax all the machined surfaces so parts slide nicely. Not fun wrestling with a half seized machine so I try and keep things from sticking. If you have a project like this feel free to bring it over. I'll show you the methods I use.

Eric
 
Beautiful work. I look at that and feel like a hack, but also take comfort in my hack-ness all the same.

What a monster.
 
That is a beast. I'll bet the wood just gives up a mortise when it sees that machine. Nice job on the restoration. I need to learn more about rebuilding machines like that. Got any good links?
 
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