Martin77

Might aswell leave it here... I'm really looking forward to seeing this painted and running sweetly again! keep up the good work!

impressive bit of kit! I made a chainsaw milll a couple of years ago, and use it with my '66 Homelite C91.. not quite in the same league as that beast though.. having said that my brother bought the saw for £1 (not a typo), and the mill cost me a few bolts to make, so value for money wise, it's not bad.. I later put a handle on it to help, but it's pretty heavy to wield (especially when you're a 9stone weakling like me), though not so bad once cutting in the wood.

Nice to see another one in working condition! Yes, the motor could be re-wound, but it's a question of cost. You'd be looking at over £100, and it's never going to be worth that. We have a new motor arriving soon, which is just about the right size to fit the chassis without cutting, so hopefully we can get it running ok, without losing originality (well... nothing irreversable if you see what I mean)

News just in from the expert.... the armature's worn out. Much like old villiers coils the wires are broken and shorting... Don't suppose anyone out there has any suggestions?

Oh, I suspect it was a slow build up of dirt from the tank and he's not used it much recently, not enough for it to get hot anyway. It's being a pig though (and I thought that was mainly the preserve of Allens)... won't start at all now. Been through the usual, cleaned the carb, checked for a spark, cleaned the points, measured the coil (3kohm)...and it's dead. When it was working it was great to use....Grrrr..

Just bought this off fleabay to tackle the long grass here... It's an Atco scythe, series 1 model. (the series 2 had a seperate clutch for the cutter bar, with various attachments were available, much like the Allen scythes) paid a fair amount for it, but it's had a new villiers coil and cutter teeth in the last couple of years which alone would cost £160ish, so I'm happy. The former owner used to work at Atco funnily enough, which probably explains why it's been so well looked after. It works well, apart from getting very hot and being a sod to start when warm. A quick investigation found quite alot of gunk in the fuel system which once cleared I'm hoping will sort out the running issues.

I have been told by someone who knows these things, that it's an Ehrlich (http://www.lathes.co.uk/ehrlich) dating from circa 1910 to the mid 20's, probably imported by a fella called George Adams (http://www.lathes.co.uk/george-adams) Never thought it was quite that old, so it's a nice suprise.

Hiding behind the Ladybird mower and amonst the usual workshop detritus is my lathe... and to be honest, I've no idea who made it or when! It's obviously been repainted and renovated by the previous owner, whom I think made the motor frame, on-off switch and fitted the guards over the slow speed gears. It's a bit worn in places as expected, but gets used alot and is much appreciated (even if it is a bit grubby at the moment). The only mark on the main casting is the 'D.R.G.M.' number, which I think is a german trademark or something? The motor has '2 69' stamped on, which I presume is 1969...? It was mentioned by someone that it could be WW2 era, and brought back from germany after the war, though I have no idea if thats true or not. So if anyone can shed more light on it's history I'd love to know!

True... it's just a bit frustrating when you want to get a project finished!

We've pretty much finished cleaning and smartening up our project Ladybird, (will try to upload a pic later) but are left wondering what to do with the motor. We've asked a few places about rewinding the motor, but it seems to depend on how much needs doing, it could cost over £150... whilst it would be great to use the original, it doesn't seem worth it for that expense. We have a modern Alko motor we could fit, but it means chopping up the deck as it's larger, which seems a shame. So, either we have a nice clean original mower that is nothing but an ornament, or a non original machine that could actually do a bit of cutting. What do you think?

Excellent! Any chance of a vid of it running?