nigel

Where abouts in Sussex are you ?

I've finally got around to updating this thread, and this post should bring it up to date. 

We fitted up the steering bars and pulled the engine over, however it wasn't getting any fuel through. We ended up pulling all of the steering and bonnet off again  took most of the fuel system apart, cleaned it all out and reassembled the engine. There was no obvious blockages, however when we pulled the engine over again it pulled fuel through nicely. We then gave it a proper pull, and it went. The Landmaster now runs pretty nicely, it's quite loud, and the swapped pulley makes it scary to drive in 2nd gear but it is entirely functional now. Heres a link to one of my latest videos where we got the Landmaster running:
 
 
We have had the tractor out since this video and it produced a plume of smoke, which smelt heavily of burning rubber so I think one of our new belts slipped a bit, so we need to look into that again. We are also looking into getting the correct size pulley to make the machine nicer to use, it is too quick for grass cutting at the moment.
 
Heres a couple more pictures of the tractor in its current state:




Thanks for reading,
Joseph

Buy it then 😂

Hi All, I am a new member but hope my content is of interest and may inspire others to use their Suffolk punch mowers. 
 
I am a fan among other things of  Suffolk punch mowers with Suffolk iron foundry engine. I have attached a picture, both of these 75cc mowers are in use, the 14" mower will be refurbished sometime over the next couple of years, the 12" mower has been re-purposed so it has a new life as a scarifier which is what I would like to talk about in a few forthcoming posts. The 75cc iron engine on the 12" has also been slightly modified using my lathe and milling machine, more to follow...    
 
 

Cheers Nigel this is what i did today after sitting back and thinking about it but hey they were a bugger lol.
 

Use a couple of longer bolts to pull the wheel together then swap them after you have tightened the shorter ones in the other holes

In 2004 I had 1/4 acre of scrub land to clear. A quick pub conversation yielded 2 scrap 8hp Westwood Gazelles; both quite early machines, one with the underslung exhaust.
One working machine was the result, and within a few months it had done the job.
I was about to retire, and had a couple of part time start up business's drawn up on paper, but knowing which one to go for was not an easy decision.
In the event a third option was sitting in my shed.
Post card advertisements in newsagents etc., and a pleasant surprise, or surprises. Within about 6 weeks I had a small grass cutting (not mowing) round, providing an adequate pension top-up, without any outlay.
It grew into a 3 day a week business, and kept on going until 2018 when an arthritic knee finally made me stop.
Fairly early on I built myself a see-saw trailer, which cut my loading / unloading time from 15 odd minutes to about 3.
I started buying "uneconomical to repair" mowers, from a local mower repair business, and ended up with 3 machines, for different ground conditions, plus 1 that was lodged with the customer during the season. Coincidentally, they were all Westwoods, although other makes have yielded back axles.
Yes back axles, you could sometimes build up a good one, out of two; not now, it's more like 3 or 4, to get one working again.
Today, I have a mid 90's T1800, plus potentially 3 complete machines, out of my grave yard of bits.
My 1/4 acre is now 1/2 acre, when a neighbour didn't take up the option of "his" strip of land behind him.
I still enjoy mowing, as much as the engineering side.
Regards
Mike
 
 

Plenty of farcebook groups to cover that

I am making progress on my colt deluxe. Cleaned the carb out, cleaned all electrical connections and replaced the condenser. Got it running but have a fuel leak from the petrol tap to attend to before a test drive. Also been busy prepping and  painting a loader to fit on it. 
20241030_135437.mp4

A few pics of the collection.

Hope all's well Ewan. Clutch lever done and fitted. Cable was a B+*^h. Very tight job making it up from stainless inner cable and outer sleeve. Nipples made and silver soldered.
Managed to retain lots of adjustment take-up on both tensioners-
 

 
This section is now ready to go on the chassis. Still bugged with decision about fitting tensioner adjustment on the output chain drive?.
Regards.

Slow progress, but now have a finished rolling chassis that I can assemble the important bits on. Engine was the first bit to go on-
 

 
Still working on the chain drive and guards on the pump side, with the 'idler'- tensioner set up being the current challenge to design and fit-
 
 
 
Clutch Lever has been a problem, but have now finalised the handle shape and will be cut from 10mm thick block of brass. Will also have a lock lever fitted-
 

 
Lots going on with other things, but will try and improve update regularity.
 
Regards
 

Making slow progress, hence the belated update. Have been painting, varnishing and making Nuts n Bolts. Sorted the drive chain link problem, so now making up the chain guard wth brackets-
 

 
Ensuring clearances and fixing points were ok. 2 more lower brackets to make and I can move on to the clutch lever and outer cable fitting. Wheels are now shiney black gloss.
Regards
 

It runs

Thanks Alan, Been preoccupied with lots of small jobs and pulling together two of the three sections of this project.
The middle section (reduction gear unit) has taken a lot of time and work, as it includes the fuel tanks. They are finished, lacquered, mounted and the fuel gauge nestles between them-
 

 
Still incomplete middle section where I have to make up the cable and lever system for operating the clutch/brake shoes. The last job will be to fill the Reduction gear unit with oil -
 

 
All the brass/bronze work has been polished and lacquered as assembly progressed, with the exception of the engine cowling, as I now have some clear gloss VHT Lacquer for that.
output/fan drive sprocket modified to fit onto a woodruf key and locked in place with a grub screw
 

 
Finalised the location of the modified throttle lever and cable route, which keeps it neat, tidy and handy location. Lever and cable joints are watertight.
Although I will have to change the Carb Air inlet and Choke layout to prevent water ingress-
 

 
Tempted to start the engine for a run soon to check how it sounds with the exhaust. Has a lovely bright blue spark at the plug and the timing is spot on.
Mahogany planks being treated prior to fitting and will be yacht varnished after. Pump drive and location of it is a bit of a headache, but working on it-
 

 
Regards.

Slow progress lately. Have been pondering over the tank mounting design, but reckon I've found the answer. 
The cooling fan assembly is now finished and the brass support plates nearly finished-

 
Just finished welding up the Reduction Gear mounting, so can start on prep for painting. Still working on Reserve tank hammering copper before I can finalise the mountings.
Fuel tank support mounts shown in this image-
 

 
Hopefully won't be too long before next update.
Regards
 

Finished making the (12) 6BA Bronze bolts and brass nuts for the Fan Shaft bearing/grease point housings over the last weekend and now trial assembled on the unit. All good-
 

 
 

Many thanks for the comments. Sorry for being quiet for a while. Have been busy when able. Lots of decision making on design and machine time, but seem to produce little visually.
The Tank Cartridges were set up for drilling and tapping. Had to obtain a metre of 10mm studding to make the fixings, as they're quite tall-
 

 
Luckily the igniter percussion inserts drilled out ok, then tapped both bases 1/8"BSP for the fittings.
The fuel taps were done as per previous post, so then just the Air Valve to design and make. Shown in next image on the left-
 

 
The left one shows the top of the reserve tank and the right shows the base of the main tank.
Next job was the fan shaft layout, bearing housings and 'Screw Down Grease Cups'. I had the latter vintage cups, but had to make the housings for them out of cast bronze bar.
Made a lot of work for myself milling to shape just to form the platforms to screw the cups into-
 
 
 
Finished them on the lathe so that I could fit a short piece of brass tube between them as a seal against water ingress-
 

 
Cheated a bit with these, as I'm hard soldering them to large flat brass washers to make the flange for bolting through and will match (in size, not colour) the ball bearing housings also machined from solid-
 
 
 
So here is the basic assembly/layout of the fan shaft and now about to start on the sprocket mount and fan/blades-
 

 
Regards
 

Finished the Fuel Taps. Lots of different set-ups and operations required. Did much of the work while still part of the parent brass rod. Cross drilling 3/8"(9.55mm)-
 
 
 
 
I wanted the tap levers opposed to eachother for access (in the off position), so had to be careful when it came to drilling through with the tapered plugs fitted-
 
.
 
The Tap's cam limit plates had to be soldered together, then to a stub of brass for machining to shape using a rotary table-
 

 
When as much work as possible was done, I cut them away from the parent bar and 'Silver Soldered' the pipe connection rods to the Tap bodies.
All the fiitings are for 3/16" (4.75mm) copper pipe. The tap tapers are 'pulled in' using the correct 'Thackery' coil spring washers and provides just the right amount of resistance-
 

 
A light polish and just need proper 1/16" Split (cotter) Pins to finish off. Maybe blend the joints. Happy with this first time job for me.
 

 
Regards
 
 
 
 

Not a lot of progress, what with the cold spell of the last 3 weeks. Confined myself in the warmer environment of the Lounge. Too cold in the workshop.
Have been designing and drawing up the Fuel fittings I require. Nothing 'off the shelf' will suit, so making my own and using a 1950s ATCO Pet Cock as a guide (shown on the right).
Got some Lathe time in over last few days and started turning up a Taper Reamer blank, then a first Pet Cock plug at the same settings. Got to produce several of these so I have a stock.
The taper angle is 7 degrees inclusive . The little levers that screw into the plug are threaded 5/32" Whitworth, so making them the same -
 

 
Had to keep to Imperial, not easy to mix metric on these, plus I have been asked to reproduce an old Pet Cock style for a restoration.
Ready to part off the finished plug from the rod and make the next one now.
The reamer blank is next to finish machining the cutting edges, then harden, temper and hone.
Quite pleased really, as the new plug actually fits perfectly in the old tap body, so I got the angle right.
 
Regards.

Thank you Gents for your positive comments. Lot of work sorting the Reduction Unit design set up.
I needed to provide stanchions for the tank(s) support and location, bearing support for the fan drive, Pto clutch lever mount point and lubricator positions, all in one area.
I decided on brass plates for extending up to fan shaft line. Started with an old 12 inch (305mm) square plate shown during marking out-
 

 
After lot of cutting and careful drilling time, I was able to fit it and began the stiffening with bracing layout and fittng the welded and shaped stanchions.
Lubrication connections made to fit into the large brass bearings, then made/fitted the mountings for the Lubricators.
These Lubricators were found in an old barn about 15 years ago and are shown in the very first image of this Topic. Had to anneal the thick walled copper pipes, shaped to fit using a home made tube bender also shown in the image below-
 
   
 
Had to use incompatible metals in this unit (electrolytic/galvanic reaction risk), so will have to be careful to seal the mating surfaces of the Aluminium and Brass parts, even though they will be polished and lacquered.
Hoping to get this unit''s mounting plate/support welded up soon.
Regards and wishing all a Happy New Year  

I wish I had 10% of your talent Richard 👍