Geo. Thomas Universal Pillartool

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Not sure if this is the right place for this question but here goes
I built one of these pillartools many years ago but never had it up and running and I'm thinking that now is the time but I don't have an electric motor for it. Motors have come a long way since I built this (I think) and so, I'm wondering if anyone can suggest one that would be suitable, please.

Jon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I seem to have answered my own question as I not only found the construction manual (those bookshelves weren't a waste of time) but managed to buy a motor on ebay. I don't think ebay was about when I built the pillartool.

Jon
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Jon,

Please do post some pictures when you make the mods. I have one at the back of the bench, needing a bit of tlc.

Cheers
Simon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Er, I just managed to find the one that the man recommended., I'll look it up tomorrow. I had to drag out a few old text books to find out how to convert hp to watts and came up with something a tad under his recommendations if my grasp was correct. Pictures of the machine tomorrow and still waiting for delivery of the motor. I used to do a lot of model engineering and thought that this tool would be ideal so, I made one. But, as soon as the engineering part slowed down, so did the need for the pillartool and the motor never appeared. However, now that I'm getting into the G3 mode more, something small and delicate like this seems to make sense.

Jon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Well, here are a couple of pictures, sorry about the background :rolleyes:. I spent the afternoon cleaning it up as it has sat at the back of the shed for maybe 25yrs or more! I'm gauging it on how hold the children are now and how old they could have been at the time. I can't find the two jockey wheels nor the little collars that stop them flying off the spindle. Oh and, I can't find the, what seemed expensive at the time, rubber belt to drive it with. The motor has arrived now complete with a lose condenser. The condenser has two white wires and the motor has two white wires and one black, all very confusing to me. I'm going to have to find a friendly electrician for some advise on how to wire it up. But then, a thought occurred to me, why not wire in (try to) a pedal switch similar to those that power sewing machines and then the chuck speed could be variable. Not sure how this would work in practise though, may end up with a lot of broken drills.

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
For those that like things that shine.
I machined up two new jockey pulleys from Dural and sleeved them with brass, machined up the little collars that prevent them flying off their spindle and sleeved the motor pulley because, for some reason or other, I'd made it with an half inch bore whereas the motor spindle is 10mm.

For Adrian. The motor is a Parvalux, single phase, 0.41 amps, 55 watts output and running at 1400 rpm.

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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Here are a couple of pictures to show progress so far. I've mounted the whole thing on a new board and because the mdf was slightly bowed, have screwed it down. On the table is a jig that I made up to hold the Bond-a-Band belting in alignment while it was heated and then pushed together while it cooled. On the end of the soldering iron is a little gizmo that I made up to heat the belt at the correct temperature, 200 degrees, so that it could be joined. In actual fact and despite the fact that I filled the end of the little tube with solder, there seemed to be poor heat transfer so, I wound up the unit to 350 to compensate for any loses. The first time that I cut and joined worked very well but, I made the belt too short and had to let a piece in and have another go, good thing that I didn't throw away the off cuts. The suppliers suggest allowing 6% for stretch but this was far too much and the motor wouldn't turn. Back to Mr Thomas's book and he suggests 3.5% and a very good way to achieve this which was simply to move the head of the unit, simple when you think about it. I tried that and it worked fine until one of the jockey pulleys seized up. These have/had brass bearings but I bored out the pulleys and fitted some ballrace bearings that I had 'in store'. They are not sealed for life but I think that they will be fine in this case. When I tried this time, the pulleys ran fine but the belt snapped at a join so, back into the jig for another go. The jig took me a good day to make but I'm now finding that it was time well spent :). The supplier states that full strength is achieved in five days so, that's how long I'm going to leave it this time before I have another test run. The little vice on the table I picked up at a local second hand tool shop. I cleaned it up, machined the base flat, painted it and made a new fixed jaw, the reason escaping me for the minute. I wanted to paint it the same colour as the Pillartool but Halfords didn't have the same colour in stock. Well, it was over twenty five years ago when I bought the original paint so, can't blame them really.

Jon
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Jon,

I have a small pillar drill in a similar style to your George Thomas machine and I do remember the trials and tribulations of joining the round plastic belt. In the end I gave up in disgust and went searching and came upon a round belt in a washing machine spares supplier which was about the correct length. Another advantage is that it is elastic so speed changing is quite easy. I did go looking for something similar to suggest to you earlier, but all washing machine belts these days seem to be "V" or Poly "V" and round belt doesn't seem to be in fashion any longer.

It might have been something like this

Hotpoint Twin Tub Washing Machine Pump Belt, Small Thin Stretch Type Elastic Round Belt,1450, 1460, 1465, 1475, 9400, 9402, 9403, 9404, 9410, 9414 - See Full Model Fitment List Below.: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home

No dimensions are given so I don't know if it would be worth trying. Another supplier prices it at nearly £20 so a bit expensive to try one.

Jim.
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
I have been using 3mm round polyurethane drive belt for the pantograph milling machine since the stock of old translucent belts all broke. The type I have is green and made in Germany. It is readily available, a search for 'polyurethane drive belt' or similar should find it. It is sold by the metre and should only cost a few pounds a metre. It is easy to join, I just used a soldering iron and pushed it together while holding the two ends, and the strength is immediate.
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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A couple of pictures to show the Pillartool in action set up to drill the backs of the brake blocks, for the LBSCR Craven Brake Van, 1mm and to be taped 12BA for the securing screws. It's not shown here but the little stop collar is set so that the depths all come out the same and the drill doesn't pass right through the block.

Jon
 
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