[TheForge] New Acquisitions

Sun Jun 2 16:50:02 2002

Nice blower Rich:

I have a #40 and it looks like a pretty similar piece of equipment,
differing mostly in the orientation of the blower to the gear case. The
gears and blower are parallel in the #40 and the mounting flange on the
outlet is a bit different.

Mechanically they're pretty simple. The cap on the gear case is held on with
a couple 1/4" screws. If you remove them you can see all there is to see of
the device. First, dump any dirt, snake's nests, etc. then look for obvious
damage, rattle the gears for slop, etc. If there isn't any debris, aged
grease, oil sludge or such jamming the gears, fill the bottom of the case
with some light oil and let it soak to loosen the parts. A little working
back and forth won't hurt. You can remove sludge with gasoline, Gunk or
other degreaser. Use your imagination if there's a snake in it. <grin>

Once it's freed up, put the cap back on and oil it with a little 30wt or
whatever you have handy before every use and occasionally during a hard day
of cranking. You don't need to fill the case, though it won't hurt it and
you don't need to use heavy oil like chainsaw bar oil, 90w gear oil, etc.
they make it harder to crank.

For my oil can I add a little DuraLube as it really reduces the friction,
about a tsp. to the quart of oil. I do the same thing with my chainsaw bar
oil and the chain and bar hardly get warm, no readjusting the chain after
warmup.

If the gears or impeller are loose on the shafts, just align them by eye
with a little room between them so they don't rub and tighten the set
screws. No need to crank on the set screws, firm is plenty good.

All that being said, I've never broken the case or impeller housing open,
pulled the shafts, etc. so have no advise on the process other than I doubt
it's much of a hassle judging from eyeballing the works.

Bruce:

What size Champion drills do you have?

I have a #200 1/2 Champion and it's about 3x the size of the Buffalo #65 I
just recently aquired. The Buffalo is almost pristine and I'm looking for a
flywheel for the Champion. Recently I've been cleaning and painting some of
my machinery and painted the Buffalo gloss black, it was so pretty I pin
striped it in red. Most of my other machinery has seen serious use so I'm
painting them my shop colors; emerald green and gold. Even that beast of a
#200 1/2 is pretty now, though it was pretty flashy from the factory. After
removing the better part of a century's worth of hardened grease, oil and
who knows what else I discovered it's original colors were gloss black with
gold highlighting.

Don't have any manual type information though. <sigh>

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

>
> --
>
> On Sun, 2 Jun 2002 10:46:02
>  Rafter Lazy C wrote:
> >Hello All-

> >The blower is a Champion No.400 hand crank blower with stand.  I have
never
> >had one of these before, but have used one of them before and really
liked
> >it.  My question is, what should I do to it, or not do to it in the way
of
> >cleaning up and starting to use it?  Never having had one like this
before,
> >I have no idea what I should mess with, and REALLY don't want to mess
this
> >up.  I got a hand crank post drill a couple of years ago that worked, but
is
> >covered with 2 to 3 inches of old grease and dirt, etc.  I thought I was
> >smart and started to take it apart, and the main crank wheel promptly
broke
> >and froze in place halfway off.  Never have been able to get any farther.
> >So I don't want to mess up again.  If you look at the pics, this seems to
> >have bearing covers at the shaft ends.  Do I remove them for cleaning?
Do I
> >leave them strictly alone?  Please give me some pointers, you guys that
have
> >had these before.
> >
> >Thanks in advance,
> >
> >Rick Crawford at  Rafter Lazy C
> >Home of Rick's Forge and Lem the Wonder Mule
> >email = [email protected]
> >home page = http://www.tbcnet.com/~rafterlazyc/
> >
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Godlesky" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] New Acquisitions

> >
> >Rick  I picked up a 400 last week. Crank was stiff but not tight or
locked up. Squirted oil into the oiler every day and gave it a couple of
turns.After 3-4 days it loosened right up and is ready to go to work.
> Also, yesterday I picked up a Champion drill press. It's twice the size of
the Champion I have now. Haven't really tried it for true. Needs a cleaning
and oil. Do you know anyplace I can find info about these presses?
>
>