Suffolk Colt Mower.

Hi,

Thanks Sandy.

I'm grounded today due to dire weather; I'm fed up of the soakings I keep getting from my personal black cloud blackie and still the rain is coming down. We keep putting the central heating on and earlier this morning had to switch on my desk lamp in order to use the keyboard; it won't be long before Christmas items are on the store shelves and I'm still dreaming of working outside in comfort.

I'm now rewarded for my efforts with a bit of a sore throat; earache and a sore patch on my head but I don't recall banging my head against anything. The sore throat could be due to using various materials in the workshop with the workshop doors closed against our continuing dire climate. Paraffin; paint stripper; brake cleaner; dust and I've been doing a bit of paint spraying but tried to vacate the workshop quickly in order to let the fumes settle; I've also been brush painting; oh how I detest this terrible wet weather. It's dark most of the time and even with five 2' square LED panel lamps lit I still have difficulty seeing what I'm doing; I'm sure with my bad luck should I visit the Sahara Desert there would be monsoons.

Anyway not to moan too much tomorrow is another day.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Hi,

WOW the rain stopped so I headed into the workshop this morning. Next on the bench was the petrol tank rusty cap; this cap was rusted so solid onto the tank when I brought the mower home I had to apply a lot of heat to it to break the rust seal; it's imperative the tank is totally empty of fuel and fuel fumes if heat is being applied. I used my scrapers made of an old hacksaw blade; abrasive paper and a UPOL abrasive pad; this small job seemed to take forever.

Next was the engine cowl and this cowl was oily and dirty on the inside so I used Gunk degreaser for the first time in over 40 years; I've just bought 5L of Gunk so this was a good excuse to use some and it worked just as good as it did all those years ago; the Gunk was then washed off in a bucket of warm water. A wipe with paper towel removed most of the water and a short while later I could rub the cowl down with coarse abrasive paper where it was rusty then I flatted the lot with a UPOL abrasive pad; these Upol pads are brilliant quickly knocking the gloss from paint leaving a perfect surface ready to receive new paint. At last I could spray primer onto the tank cap and engine cowl; a coat of new paint even primer makes a lot of difference. I enjoyed this session in the workshop bringing me up to dinner time; after dinner I took Bron over to M&S in Pudsey for some well earned retail therapy so another day slips quietly by. Tomorrow I'll apply the gloss top coat.

Kind regards, Colin.


The engine cowl after it's been decreased and washed with warm water.


I've seen similar abrasive pads on eBay at £1 each; I have a good stock of rolls of 35 pads these rolls only costing £5 for two rolls at Rufforth Auto Jumble on the UPOL stand; I use lots of these pads when I'm decorating because they don't clog with paint whilst removing the gloss; much better and quicker than sandpaper and the pads are good to the last bit; I cut each pad into three pieces making handling easier; these pads really are brilliant.


Free engineers scrapers; old hacksaw blades broken in half and the ends ground to any profile I need; running the teeth over the grinding wheel makes them comfortable to handle; I use these a lot for many jobs in the workshop; when blunt a quick touch up on the grinder and they are sharp again; they last for ages; I never throw old hacksaw blades away.


I buy my rattle cans from the UPOL stand at Rufforth these big cans at only £2.50 each; I use clear UPOL lacquer on some of my woodturning so rather than just buy the odd can I buy a full box of 12 cans to keep me going a bit. The UPOL stand sells lots of vintage auto cellulose colours and thinners; there is usually a huge stall selling all manner of auto finishing products including spray guns and buffing materials; Rufforth to me is as a candy store is to a child; Rufforth is the first Saturday of every month; whoopee another Rufforth is imminent.



I didn't even have to strip the original paint only using coarse abrasive paper on the rusty areas then going over with a UPOL pad; once the top coat of paint goes on is it a brand new cowl? I love tinkering around like this and one of these mowers is small enough to afford a lot of interest without taking forever to fully restore and they won't break the bank. £20 for the mower then buy the spares needed; even if the total bill comes to £100 the mower will be well worth it; so far it's cost a lot less than £100; better than wasting money on booze or drugs with something to show for it at the end.

 

Very nice, and I do agree with your last two sentences.

 

Hi,

Thanks Sandy.

Everything outside soaking wet as usual; oh for some hot dry weather; I was in the workshop early this morning spraying a coat of black gloss onto the petrol tank and engine cowl then I quickly vacated the workshop to get out of the paint fumes. I decided to add a bit of contrast to the rest of the green; I used a UPOL rattle can of black. Whilst the fumes settled I then wandered up the mountain and moved a ground cover conifer I had planted a couple of months ago; this was being smothered by the new meadow I've created so it's lower down the garden where it can breathe.

I've just given another coat of paint then after dinner I'll blow over with clear gloss lacquer then two more components will be completed; what a difference a coat of paint and a bit of TLC makes.

The sun keeps showing its face which is a cheek given it's absence for so long. If it were sunny and warm I could do a lot of spraying on our driveway to save time but I'll do the job my usual way; the hard way.

Kind regards, Colin.


A coat of clear gloss lacquer will finish both these components so the job is steadily moving forward.



A bit of TLC and a blow over with paint makes a huge difference; I'll get there in the end.

 

Great thread, really enjoying your passion.
I’ll be sending my machines your way for a service

 

@Liz the pot at least you know that if @Retired did them, they would be done properly...

As a little aside on this thread, I wonder if @Retired likes this:



I think that our very own @Fat Controller might remember it...

 

Hi,

Thanks Liz; it's an awful long queue.

Many thanks for your kind comments Sandy; behave yourself though you'll only get me going on another project adding interesting videos to tempt me.

Few days living here on the valley side go smoothly but at the moment I could scream with frustration. About an hour ago I said to Bron I'll only be a few minutes as I'm popping down to the workshop to blow a bit of finish on the mower components. The black paint looked pretty good so all it now needed was the top clear coat gloss? So I sprayed on the clear coat and stood back only to watch it "bloom" turning the black grey. I detest this climate with a passion always interfering with my life; if I go into the garden I either receive a soaking from Blackie or everything is already soaking wet; if it's not Blackie then it's his terrible sister Gale with her prevailing breeze.

This as usual is our huge joke called summer? 2:30pm and so cool in the workshop it turns black paint grey; I daren't put the fan heater on in case of explosion and I need to open the workshop door to let the paint fumes out hence also heat. With five 2' square LED panel lamps its still so dark that I spray in shadows; nothing for it but to pull the car out of the driveway and do the spraying it being hot very rare sunshine; cutting a dustbin liner to spread on the low wall Gale now joined in blowing the liner around before I could weight the liner down with bricks; abort the liner and spread an old bed sheet this time the sheet was pinned down. Carry the engine cowl out and place it on timber supports then wait ten minutes for the cowl to heat up in the sunshine; spray the cowl then back the car in. I kid you not it's a downright pain living here on the valley side but it's our home and neither Blackie or Gale will drive us out.I'm as stubborn as they come and this cowl was going to be finished to my satisfaction; I did actually expect millions of bugs to use it as a seat.

Most of today spent just painting the cowl; petrol tank and tank filler cap but in spite of this weather I've won in the end. Just another day in my life and I wonder what kind of work I could really do if I was working in comfort; I think the only time I've ever spent working in dust was 50 years ago whilst working down a deep coal mine. BAHHHHHHHH.

Kind regards, Colin.


This is black; at least it says so on the tin but then the instructions on the tin don't state "must not be used in Huddersfield".


Finally sprayed with clear lacquer so quit whilst I'm ahead. Bricks needed to pin the bed sheet to the ground about sums up our summers. I could take up knitting but I've already done that having spent a year working nights industrial knitting Crimplene; Jersey and Lurex etc. I moan for England but I'll never give in.

 

Oh, really @Fat Controller Do you not recall me posting these photos a couple of years ago?

 

@Fat Controller No need to apologise whatsoever. Chunks of my memory are missing also... they are called "the '60's" and "the '70's" I dont really believe they actually happened!

 

@Retired - sorry Colin for not replying to your question about metal bashing. Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it - and proudly kept my test piece from the lathe work for about 30 years! My late husband was also a physicist turned programmer (and did the same little bit of metal bashing in his course), and once we had more room he set up a workshop with lathe and various other tools for fettling his model aircraft. He flew gas turbine engines though he was realistic about his lack of time so didn't try making them from scratch like some members of the GTBA society!

 

Hi,

Thanks CarolineL. I'm sorry to hear about your husband. As an apprentice I too had to make a test piece this near the end of a 6 month course at Crigglestone Colliery. My test piece was a large tap holder similar to this but very robust to deal with the big Whitworth taps we used;



We apprentices had done the turning including the knurling on the lathes but there was only one shaping machine so we queued in order to machine the flats whilst the instructors kept watch over us; I was about half way down the queue when it suddenly occurred to me perhaps I could use the lathe instead of the shaper so I quietly left the queue and went to my lathe; the lathes were equipped with independent four jaw chucks and I set about chucking using packing and clocking (DTI) to get the work to run true and very quickly completed the job; other apprentices in the queue then followed my lead and from that point on I couldn't do anything wrong on the course; I completed the course in record time and my test piece went off to an exhibition; I never saw it again. Having completed my mechanical course so quickly I was then allowed to wander over and join the apprentice sparkies where at 16 I was taught how to connect big industrial 3 phase motors; I spent mornings with the sparkies then was allowed home on full pay in the afternoons. I'm not in any way clever or smart but at the pit I worked at we had top class engineers who taught me so much; a very important thing they taught me was to think for myself and this is exactly what I did in leaving the queue at the training center. I could never be an electrician because I'm hopelessly colour blind so I went into mechanical engineering.

I still enjoy restoring machines and these petrol mowers are interesting restorations involving time rather than money; I can play with them for hours just pottering around. One of my restorations was a Lorch Schmidt precision engineering lathe; this lathe had been stored in a scrap yard for over twenty years and it appeared locally on eBay; it looked like scrap but it got my attention so I popped over to the other side of Huddersfield to be nosy; when it arrived on top of a lorry Bron said that looks like a load of junk but she knew it wouldn't remain looking like that; I might start another thread on the Lorch restoration but here it is just for interest and to encourage anyone to have a go at restoring anything that looks like junk. As long as I keep busy I'm happy.

Many thanks moderators for allowing me to wander off topic; I've got so many completed restorations on file covering a whole range of subjects. What a shame I didn't take pictures years ago but I now take pictures of everything I do.

Kind regards, Colin.


Lorch Schmidt (German) lathe as bought.


The same lathe nearing completion but since the restoration I also extensively modified it to run 3 phase through a VFD giving variable speed with reverse also Poly-V drive; it runs very sweetly indeed and is a joy to own and use. It's very rare and quite valuable; I've spent hours on the web but haven't yet seen another like this.



As I say as long as I'm pottering around I'll have a go at restoring anything; here's a DeVilbiss industrial sprayer I restored; after restoring it I discovered on the web someone had run into expensive problems using this type of paint sprayer; he had been spraying a cricket pavillion unaware the over spray had been carried on the breeze to the cars parked in the car park. I sold the sprayer without ever using it; I had intended to spray the outside woodwork of our bungalow. I've rambled on enough so time now to wander down to the workshop.

 

Hi,

A bit more painting today; unfortunately once the paint is applied then the job stops until the paint dries so I try to paint a few items at once; these small items are fiddly and take a surprising amount of time to get ready for painting but detail counts.

I think I'm pretty near doing a bit of assembly soon so the job should move on apace.

Kind regards, Colin.


This part of the clutch assembly can catch the unwary out; it's not clear at first how it comes apart. It's obvious looking at the picture because it clearly shows a plain circlip; this circlip actually looked more like a shoulder on the shaft also from the front when fully assembled the weld cannot be seen so I'm taking a bit of extra time to show this. With the paint removed from the circlip the only clue it was a circlip looked more like a scratch at the circlip joint the joint being fully closed. The unit had lots of rust inside but now having taken it apart I could make a much better job of cleaning and painting it.


Smaller components primer painted.



Masking tape applied over threads and shafts where paint wasn't needed; painting over threads isn't a good idea.



Here's an interesting problem; the original muffler had been damaged and was very rusty; I think something had been dropped upon it but when I straightened it the muffler split showing how the metal had been eaten away by the rust. I browsed eBay for a new Colt muffler but couldn't find one and the second hand mufflers simply weren't worth the asking prices. However I did find the muffler shown and as the original muffler was "cranked" I thought I'd be in for a bit of cutting and welding? Sure enough this muffler being "Straight" fouls the carburettor so the carburettor cannot be installed. I won't expand on it at the moment but I've an idea how to get around this problem. Having bought the straight muffler typical of my luck a new Colt muffler popped up on eBay but why do things the easy way when I can do them as I normally do the hard way. Had I wanted to do a total restoration I'd have completely stripped everything and also repainted the engine but I want this to be a working mower not just a showpiece.

 

Hi,

A question is very easy once the answer is known. I can now expand on the muffler problem; as I stated earlier I knew I'd have problems with this non standard muffler but by cutting and welding I could put a bend in its mounting allowing it to clear the carburettor? I thought rather than welding which is very easy for me others will be faced with this problem so could I make it fit without welding; well yes I can; I bought an 1/2" BSP (British Standard Pipe) 45 degree bend it being galvanized from Wrekin Pneumatics in Telford only costing £4. So now anyone can fit one of these non standard straight mufflers.

Kind regards, Colin.


Just testing for fit.


The new straight muffler and 45 degree BSP bend.



Plenty of clearance now to fit the carburettor. Muffler and carburettor loosely installed for taking the picture. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade so have knowledge of pipe fittings which comes in handy here but a novice would struggle with this problem. the bend is both 1/2" BSP male and female. Once the engine is installed I can adjust the muffler.