Nice little Drill Project

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Came home the other day with a Freebie project and nice addition to the workshop tooling-

It's the heavier duty version made in England by Bradson, believed to be a subsidiary of Bradley & Co Ltd of the Albion Works Bilsdon and later known as Beldray. 

Age is questionable, as several versions were still being produced into the early sixties, the demand being for Farms and Crofter types still with no Mains Electricity and DIY. 

Found an example listed in a 50s Brochure for this No14 model and being sold for 155/- shillings (£7.75 now).

This is a single speed model, they produced 2 speed versions in the smaller types, but this has an Auto feed system which hopefully is not too fast for metal, I'll have to check it-   

 

This stands at just 2ft (60cms) in height and quite heavy being all cast Iron and Steel, it is quite complete and nearly unmolested. Few screws bodged and the loose Wheel/Handle has been put on around the wrong way. Otherwise it is very smooth in operation and no wear or slack in the important bits-  

Colour of the paint is uncertain, The chuck feels good and smooth so hopefully there is not much 'Run Out'.

Just a clean an repair on this for now to give it a test run. May strip the paint if it's wrong and may clean back to Cast Iron finish.

[Rayp 46]

Hi Richard - It looks really well made and I'm sure it will be better than new when you've worked your magic.

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

On 11/03/2018 at 6:14 PM, Rayp said:

Hi Richard - It looks really well made and I'm sure it will be better than new when you've worked your magic.

I'm impressed with the quality of this Ray, considering they were pretty well mass produced over a very long period of the 20th Century. The castings are very well machined for good fit of the moving bits. Nearly all dismantled for inspection-

 

Not sure if the chuck is any good yet.  Found evidence of the original body colour on the base of the Feed Ratchet Gear, so I should be able to match it-

 

 

Found the Thrust Bearing had only one Ball Bearing in it !. When I checked it, it turned out to be 4mm dia. This should have Inch/Imperial sized Balls, so I will have to check my stock of old Bearings for some-

 

 

I'll replace the Primary Drive Shaft that carries the Handwheel and Drive Bevel Gear, as it has been chewed up where the Handwheel fits on. The shaft measures 0.748" and has barely perceptible 'Rock' in the body Casting, so I'll use 0.750" precision Ground Silver Steel Rod as replacement to take up slack-

 

 

 

Gear is pressed on the end and has a 'Lock Pin' inserted into both parts. Good quality joint to disassemble and refit -

 

 

I may just replace the Steel Bar Column with a new Precision Ground one, as it has cost me nothing so far. 

  

 

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Found the right Ball Bearings. Had some 'End of Life' ones my Father obtained for me back in his Aircraft Engineering days. Able to reverse the assembly and extract them without damage. Spot on unworn dimension -

 

Sorted that poblem

 

[Alan 1,273]

A good start Richard.

[nigel 1,877]

You can’t help yourself Richard can you 😄 you just have to play with it,

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

12 hours ago, Alan said:

A good start Richard.

Thanks Alan , I suppose I find if you look into things, all is not what it seems. Didn't want to play around too much with this really, but needs must. 

 

12 hours ago, nigel said:

You can’t help yourself Richard can you 😄 you just have to play with it,

 

Yep ! Nigel, Thanks ........... I had a feeling it wouldn't work for very long with only one 'Ball' !  . 

 

Found another bodge which means more work. Hitting that today hopefully. 

Regards

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Found the old Jacobs Chuck is pretty good still.

However, found what was causing the 'Run Out', turned out to be a piece of a 1/2" x 20 UNF Bolt sawn off (badly) at both ends and shoved into the end of the Spindle for the Chuck to screw onto. Holding the Spindle still using the upper Hand Wheel while they forced it in by twisting and also damaged the upper feed shaft by the locking screw-

 

  

 

Should be able to come up with a suitable fixture with a Register for the Chuck alignment easy enough, but don't know if it will be like the original design.   

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Haven't achieved much, too cold in Workshop. Prepped most of the Spindle Drive parts and painted the red bits-

Reckon it will cost me about £12.00 and a few good weather days to get this up 'n' running .

[Stormin 4,458]

Look like new, Richard.

[Wristpin 400]

Forgive me for gatecrashing this thread but here are a couple of images of the bench drill that my father bought for me in the early 1950s. It has MRL and the numeral 5 cast into the flywheel and MRL into the underside of the base but I can find no information about the manufacturer.

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

No problem,  nice little machine with the weighted Flywheel on the Spindle for 'Feed' assistance. Likely German (Metric Threads?) by Metabo.

Possible the Maker's name was under the red/orange paint on the Drive Gear face.

Here's a link to one being sold in Aussie-  -DRILL-

Casting marks/letters are indefinable as a link to the Company, except for the 'M' and possibly the 'R' (Rauch).  

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

In between cleaning and painting the Castings (nearly finished), I pressed out the primary drive shaft from the Bevel Gear-

 

 

Yep!, the 'Lock Pin' was inserted into a compound angled hole !.

This will give me a nice interesting challenge to reproduce the correct recess in the new shaft so I can accurately refit a Pin using the original part hole made in the Bevel Gear.

I've worked it out already, just need to set the Lathe up after cutting the new shaft steel to length, hopefully tomorrow.

 

 

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Quite a productive weekend so far and extended my familiarity with certain operations and problem solving.

Started on the replacement Drive Shaft. For anyone interested, I took images of the sequence to make it. Clamped a length of 3/16" dia Silver Steel to enhance the angles/line of the original drilled 'Lock Pin' hole-

 

 

I was then able to use the Rod to set up on the Lathe, so a Ball Nosed Slot Drill would mill the radiused groove along the correct line. The Rod checked first against a Face Plate, then against a set of precision Parallels and 'V' Blocks laid on the Bed Ways-

 

 

Offset was only about 2 degrees from parallel along the Shaft (arrowed), and about 4 deg on the tilt from vertical (obscured by spanner) -

 

Finished machined Shaft along with the old one for comparison-

 

 

Some careful measuring and prep before pressing the shaft in to ensure the two parts with the partial holes line up worked ok-

 

 

 Pin pressed back in ok and happy with the result. Well, with a 12 ton Press sitting in the Workshop, it seems a shame not to find any work for it.  

 

  

    

 

[Alan 1,273]

Looks good Richard. Always a way to get a result, even if a few head scratching attempts are needed.

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

17 hours ago, Alan said:

Looks good Richard. Always a way to get a result, even if a few head scratching attempts are needed.

Thanks Alan. Keeps the old Grey Cells active .

Apart from  a few minor adjustments, it's all done and very smooth in operation now. Colour is greener and darker in reality (flash probably messed it up).

I worked out that the 'feed rate' is about 8 thousandths of an Inch per rev, so it's a bit fast for metal.

I may just play with the Cam and Actuator Arm and halve that ratio. Just a Chuck key to obtain and it can be put to work-

 

Gear cover on. I'll fill the drilling scars in the Base Foot plate-

 

 

Wheel faces and column will be protected from rusting. Wooden Handle has been soaked with Raw Linseed Oil, oven dried and polished- 

 

Enjoyed doing this one and will be allocated a space on the new Bench when I've built it.

 

     

[Cub Cadet 613]

Fantastic job! 

[Stormin 4,458]

Lovely job, Richard.

 

[nigel 1,877]

Cracking job Richard 

[Alan 1,273]

Another TOP job Richard.  What next. ?

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

14 hours ago, Alan said:

Another TOP job Richard.  What next. ?

Thanks all/Alan, Looking forward to using it.  Have several projects on the go still, back to the T' Engine, WH 8 speed Trans full overhaul, SACHS 2 stroke to get running and continue with the Villiers engine project . Bit of house general maintenance and gardening. Have been offered a machine powered by Protein and Carbs (treadle power), but need to see it and if I have space.

Otherwise, it's wait for the sunshine and a few Beers in a Chair !.

Regards.

[Anglo Traction 1,016]

Bumped his topic as I had to make more improvements to it's condition. Plus I need to excercise the hands caused by R/Arthritis, so glad to get back into the workshop.

The spindle/chuck mounting bodge of a cut off piece of bolt shown in earlier pics was just not good enough.

I made a new complete spindle from 3/4" (19.05mm) dia silver steel. Set up in the lathe and acurate to within 2 ten thousandths of an inch (0.00508mm) over it's length.

Pic below is after machining the chuck thread on the end-

 

 

Comparision of the old and newly machined spindle ends-

 

 

After measuring, I found I could reduce the length of the 3/16" (4.75mm) wide cut slot for the new one, which produces a better bearing surface. the chuck thread for the English made Jacobs chuck is 1/2" x 20 tpi UNF, and the smaller diameter top end threaded 3/8" Whitworth. Both were screwcut on the lathe (my 1st attempt at power feed screwcutting)-

 

 

Did a check with a 5/16" (7.95mm) diameter long Dowel Pin fitted in the chuck while still on the lathe and it had only 0.0015" (0.038mm) runout at 1.5 inches (38mm) from the chuck jaws!, so pretty good allowing for the age of the chuck.

Did the same after fitting back into the drill and adjusting lower bearing clearance, I got 0.003" deflection while applying a side load, so I am more than happy now with it's condition.

Regards

 

 

 

 

[Stormin 4,458]

 Nice job, Richard. 

[John G 0]

On 6/26/2022 at 12:37 PM, Anglo Traction said:

Bumped his topic as I had to make more improvements to it's condition. Plus I need to excercise the hands caused by R/Arthritis, so glad to get back into the workshop.

The spindle/chuck mounting bodge of a cut off piece of bolt shown in earlier pics was just not good enough.

I made a new complete spindle from 3/4" (19.05mm) dia silver steel. Set up in the lathe and acurate to within 2 ten thousandths of an inch (0.00508mm) over it's length.

Pic below is after machining the chuck thread on the end-

 

 

Comparision of the old and newly machined spindle ends-

 

 

After measuring, I found I could reduce the length of the 3/16" (4.75mm) wide cut slot for the new one, which produces a better bearing surface. the chuck thread for the English made Jacobs chuck is 1/2" x 20 tpi UNF, and the smaller diameter top end threaded 3/8" Whitworth. Both were screwcut on the lathe (my 1st attempt at power feed screwcutting)-

 

 

Did a check with a 5/16" (7.95mm) diameter long Dowel Pin fitted in the chuck while still on the lathe and it had only 0.0015" (0.038mm) runout at 1.5 inches (38mm) from the chuck jaws!, so pretty good allowing for the age of the chuck.

Did the same after fitting back into the drill and adjusting lower bearing clearance, I got 0.003" deflection while applying a side load, so I am more than happy now with it's condition.

Regards

 

 

 

 

Hello, I'm new to the site and I am restoring a Bradson No 14 for a friend but the spindle and chuck are missing. Please could you let me have the dimensions (lengths) of the spindle and the keyway in it.

[John G 0]

Hello, I'm new to the site and I am restoring a Bradson No 14 for a friend but the spindle and chuck are missing, as is the thrust bearing.

Please could you let me have the dimensions (lengths) of the spindle and the keyway in it, as I plan to make one on my lathe.

I'm also interested in what paint / colour you used as mine appears to be the same colour.

Edited April 13 by John G