Old Bill

Sorry, but I am afraid that one escapes me. Mind you, flat caps are becoming mandatory but I think that is an age thing!

As you know, we are recreating one of the Army's first recovery or 'Ambulance' lorries as they were known. When Tim turned up the original drawings in the National Archive they included a list of the equipment to be carried and, not surprisingly, this includes a couple of jacks. We have been fortunate enough to find this one, a Charles Willets Mk1 screw jack of 1915. We think it is of about five tons capacity and will do the job admirably.

1915 dated!

Generally, it is in very good order with just a couple of things to fix.

After taking it apart, I sorted out the bend in the rotating ring. It was just a case of heat and a bit of tube to lean on it in the vice and it was soon fixed. The tube also provided a replacement handle.

The lifting handle on the front was there but two of the screws had sheared off.

I drilled them and then tried my E-Z out extractor. I am usually very wary of these things as I usually end up with a sheared stud with a hard centre! However, in this case, they worked well.

Then painting.

I have just this evening reassembled it all with lots of grease and am well pleased with the result.

Something else to store!

Steve🙂

Hi David. We try to avoid a specific date unless we are pretty certain we can hit it. The Dennis for Brighton in May 2011 was just about do-able but was pretty borderline. The last couple of months make pretty good reading, however! We don't have a date for this lorry but plan to have it on the road this year.

I have been pushing on with the bodywork and have been making tailboard hinges. I reported my trial bending of the eyes and have now done the remainder with the correct section of steel. 10mm x 50 which is quite chunky to wrap around a 20mm pin.

The top one, below, was my first attempt at the 50mm strip. I heated it with the propane and then had a go but still left a little too much metal to close it as tightly as I would have liked. The second one was better and the third better still.

As you can see here, the three hinges differ in that one bends each way to form the retaining pin eye and the centre one is straight. I cut and drilled the centre one and that was quite straightforward.

The end ones are bent on a 13" radius. I gave them some thought but felt that my blacksmithing skills were just not up to hammering them round and I felt that I might do a better job with the press. Bending the plates edgeways looked tricky with the risk of firing them out sideways if I didn't set them up carefully. I therefore came up with these slotted rollers to keep them upright and also support them over an area without damaging the edges.

They worked well and I am pleased with the results. I was also pleased that the press was big enough to actually bend the bars

I gave them a push before moving them along and giving another push, repeating the exercise until I had the curve I wanted. The back plates on the inside of the tailboard, I had already had laser cut to profile and they made a nice gauge to check the curve against.

Old time platers would have marked out the surface plate in chalk. My plate isn't big enough so I had to use the floor. At this point, I realised that the job would have been a whole lot easier if I had put another two inches on my piece of steel. Never mind. They were both just long enough.

I have drilled and finished the ends and it only remains to bore the 1" holes for the locking pins.

The woodwork is all quite easy. It is the ironwork that takes the time!

Steve     🙂

We seem to be slowing down a bit. It is getting harder and harder to motivate oneself to go out in the shed of an evening after work. Getting old I think! We did do a bit over Easter although it was a family weekend really. Dad has been painting endlessly and had finished the kerb rails and the underside of the floor planks.

We set up the kerb rails and bolted them down, using bolts from stock. It did take a bit of a rummage to find them but we had just enough in the end.

Then I started laying out the planks. They had been cut to length and width by our chippy, Mark, who was impressively accurate. Not a gap anywhere by the end!

The planks are all grooved with loose tongues.

We had to slacken off a kerb rail and use a sash clamp to pull them up but the final fit was perfect.

Then it was a case of screwing them down. Exactly 100 screws, again taken from stock. It is lovely now that we have got to this stage and have everything around us.

I had a trial fit of my new brake rods. Rather strangely there was insufficient room for the joint as I had taken it apart.

I took out the 90° link and all was well. I have since found a photo of it done like this so that is OK. The rods are now out again for painting.

Tim gave me exactly the right magneto switch for Christmas a couple of years ago so I made a start on cleaning it up. It wasn't bad and I didn't want to be too aggressive with it so I used a fibreglass scratch brush to move the tarnish.

It came out quite well although the nickle is a bit tired. That is fine as there is no reason that it should not look old.

I picked up some steel over the break and have made up the remaining shovel brackets using my nice new bending tool. That is proving to be a worthwhile investment.

Riveting can be very satisfying.

Heads polished off with the flap wheel.

And back in the paint shop. Mine this time!

Dad is still painting, the headboard planks and the body brackets, ready for our next get-together. We really are very close now. If only it wasn't so far away!

Steve  🙂

Lovely! A real boost to the enthusiasm!

Steve😁

We have had this done elsewhere in the past but it is nice to be self-sufficient. I always wondered how it was done and this was a good incentive to find out!

Steve  🙂

I had a bit of 40x10 strip in stock here so I thought I would have a trial bend.

Difficult to photograph on ones own but I got the end hot with the propane, estimated how much  length I would need and had a go. It wasn't actually too bad a guess but I didn't pull it over far enough and the pin picked up in the plates and jammed.

After dismantling the lot, pressing the pin out and then easing the holes, I warmed it up again and had another go. I am very pleased with the result although I left it slightly too long to close up completely.

I will pick up some steel of the correct section the next time I go southwards and do the job properly.

I have also been cleaning up Peerless greasers. Dad did a batch a while back but we need some more. They are of a very distinctive pattern with a central spindle which pushes a piston down, forcing the grease through the hole.

Unfortunately, the leather seals had all failed or worn away and needed replacing. Rather than try to make up cup washers and rivet them between plates, I turned up some brass pistons and fitted them with O-rings.

The difficult bit was the thread. One cup dismantled completely so I measured the thread as 1/4x20 UNC LH and made them all up. Unfortunately for me, all of the other examples had a different pitch of thread! Beeing Peerless, they seem to be 22tpi which is another non-standard size so I had to make up a 1/4x22 LH tap from a bit of silver steel. It wasn't very good but was just good enough the ease the 20tpi threads already cut and allow me to reassemble the things.

Another Peerless googly!

We want to fit the radiator tape shortly so I have made up a bifurcated rivet attachment for my mole grips.

Seems to work!

Dad is still painting planks and getting a bit cheesed off with it all. The next mission will be to assemble the body floor which will give us some more space and allow us to start on the side and end planks.

We will be out this year!

Steve  🙂

40 minutes ago, Asciidv said:

Nice stamping...you don't get a second chance!

Yes, that was my first thought too!

They will have to be hot as they are 50mm x 10mm thick around a 20mm pin so hefty stuff. I found a nice clip of it on Youtube and copied it from there. Now I have to make it work!

Steve

I have painted the linkage and made a couple more rod ends for the throttle linkage. Now I am thinking about the remaining body brackets. To that end, I have treated myself to a new toy:

It's use is not obvious but the instructions give some very good ideas and it is quite well thought out. First brackets I have bent are parts of the pick and shovel mountings.

I was quite pleased with the result. Much better than beating it in the vice and more consistent as this lorry needs three of each rather than just one.

The pick bracket is shorter and more difficult to fit in. However, you can see an extra, smaller hole just behind the pin for a bit of bar. I used that and all was well.

I was pleased with these and they are being painted. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up any steel for the pick handle bracket so that will have to await another visit to Devon.

The tailboard hinges are more challenging. They are 50x10mm flat, rolled into an eye at one end for the hinge pin. Hand forging these is beyond my blacksmithing skills but in my trawling of Youtube, I found a hinge bending tool. I have therefore made one up.

Here is a bit of 10mm strip in place. I have not yet had a chance to try it.

We are going to need a bonnet soon so I may have to go back on the drawing board until I can get some more steel.

Steve🙂

On 3/6/2024 at 1:26 AM, dgrev said:

Good improvisation with the anti-whip device.

Thanks. There is a potential hazard there but a bit of thought mitigates it. Just need to think the job through before starting!

Steve

Once the chains were on and the axle positioned, I could try my new brake rods. Pleased to say that theylook satisfactory.

Then we spent some time setting up the floor planks for painting. It is a bit of a nuisance when your project is also your workbench!

Dad soon had them in primer.

He has also painted the underside of the wings. He will do the top in situe.

In the mean time, I am thinking about fittings. Painting rope hooks is a pain so I have screwed them down to make life a bit easier.

After the hand brake, I thought it time to have a look at the footbrake linkage. I have lubricated all the bits and assembled them into place. I also added a couple of greasers,

You may remember  us trying to dismantle the link between the pedal and the first rod.

Unfortunately, we had to give up in the end and cut it to get the centre casting out. I found the bits and the ends for the main pull rod. The two bits on the right should be six feet apart!

I have made up a new rod by screwing an eye onto the end and then silver soldering it as usual. I am concious that this is part of the brakes so I will give it a good pull when we fit it just for reassurance.

Then of course, the problem of turning a six foot long piece of rod in the Myford. This was my solution to stop the end whirling. I also ran the lathe fairly slowly and fortunately, all went well.

Then to drill out and tap the original eye.

And silver solder again.

The whole length of the bench!

And to finish up, a few new clevis pins. The remaining originals that we have are definitely looking a bit tired now.

Throttle linkage and painting next!

Steve    🙂

Hi Mike.

Yes, just for ease of maintenance. It is so much easier to get the pins out when you can see them and also to knock the link pins through. At the moment, they are relatively clean but it is a grim job when they are covered in greasy filth!

Steve

Thanks for the explanation Gordon. It is a bit disheartening to have one's patterns totally destroyed.

Anyway, onwards. Father has been exercising the paintbrush with wing brackets,

wings

and lots of bits of wood. The task is never-ending at this point in the project.

I have been focusing on the drive chains. Not too difficult but a lot of repetition involved. I took all of the links apart and went over all of the components with a wire brush.

Then it was time for reasssembly. Somehow, all of the links had developed a major interference with the pins so I had to dress them out just a touch.

I greased every pin and reassembled the bits, finally inserting new split pins.

I did this in small sections as it is a horrible thing to handle.

The first chain went quite well but the second had a number of links with broken rollers and was short of links as well.

I found another chain of the same pattern but the rollers on that one were very poorly. After another look, I found another chain of a different pattern but with slightly better rollers so I stripped both down to mix and match rollers and links and give me a full chain length. A tedious job!

At long last, I had two serviceable chains and a few spare links for the toolbox.

We have had much discussion about chain lubricant for which many thanks. In the end, I opted for a spray-on chain lube. I understand that this is a very thin solution which penetrates all of the joints before the solvent evaporates leaving the grease behind. I must say that it actually seems to work. Mind you, the solvent is banana scented so the whole shed smells of bananas at the moment!

I put the chains in a drip tray and sprayed them all over.

It left them rather sticky with grease. Coupled with the lethality of all of the split pins, I made sure to handle them in thick gloves. The gloves are now sticky as well but I managed to avoid slicing my fingers.

We wrapped a bit of rope between the links and Dad pulled up the ends whilst I inserted the last link and pinned it.

The chain has a tensioning arrangement whereby the axle is jacked backwards using a large spanner. The locknut is then tightened using an even larger spanner and that is secured by a ring which is bolted to the top surface. Once that is done, there is a pinch bolt to grip the thread. They were certainly determined that it wouldn't work loose!

My problem then was to decide how tight the chains should be. I settled on a vertical movement in the slack side of 2" as it looks about right. No doubt time will tell.

I celebrated by turning the handle at the front and watching the wheels move at the back. Very satisfying.

Now we can make it go, we need to be able to stop it so brakes next!

Steve     🙂

Still making some progress albeit slowly. Dad went to the foundry this week to pick up the latest castings.

The castings are fine but foundries are notoriously brutal with patterns. Ours is usually OK but this time they were a bit heavy handed. Not quite sure what happened here....

Last time we got together, Dad had cleaned up the radiator stay so we fitted that and then did a trial fit of the rod.

That was trimmed to length and is now being painted.

It is time we had some brakes so I laid out a set of rigging for the hand brake.

It was all a bit beaten up but generally salvageable. The two adjuster clevises were past it and I have made some new ones as detailed earlier.

Dad painted them hung between centres on the lathe!

I had a nice set of parts ready to assemble.

The cam lever is right back as the new linings are much thicker than the worn originals.

There is a carrier casting in the middle, held down with 5/16" UNS nuts. Fortunately, Dad had made some a while back.

When I got to the front, I could only connect the adjuster on the very last thread. If you look at the thread on the LH rod, you can see that it is very short and I suspect that it has been cut back when the linings got thin rather than replace the linings! As the axle will move backwards when I tighten the chains and I will need even more length, this is no good at all and I had to set to and make a new pair of rods.

The rods have an eye forged on the end. They would have been done with a set of dies. I don't have those but thought that I might be able to upset the end enough by hand to fashion them. I lit up my fire pot for the first time in several years and had a go.

Sadly, with remarkably little success! It is much harder than it looks and I could really have done with an expert to show me how. Oh well. I have to fabricate them.

I am a little concerned about this as they are for part of the brakes. However, the original rods were actually tubes and a 7/16" UNF thread has a core area larger than the section of the tubes. I resorted the screwing them together and silver soldering with a good fillet. The solder ran through the thread so I am confident they will be OK.

It is essential that the thread on the other end be straight with the correct pitch as it screws into the turnbuckle which has quite a long thread. To make sure that it came out OK, I screw cut the rods to most of the required depth and then just ran the die over the top to take the last few thou off and give it some form.

All is well and we have brake rods. Must break out the primer tin this week.

Steve🙂

You may remember that we have had a pair of front wings made. We have two LH wings with brackets so I have salvaged the brackets.

Not quite sure how we ended up with LH wings but they must have come from different vehicles and have different types of bracket. We have decided to use them as they are original parts and we don't think anyone will notice.

Dad has done a great job of cleaning them up but they do show some corrosion damage.

And at the point just next to the chassis rail.

I cut some new mounting plates.

And then trimmed out the wastage.

Then made a fill-in piece.

All of the bits were welded in by a pal.

I had a couple of happy hours with the angle grinder tidying them up.

I couldn't resist a trial fit.

The rh one, I put in the vice and twisted a bit to bring it into line but after that they aligned quite well.

They will shortly be heading for the paint shop, the next time Dad gets the primer brush out.

Steve   🙂

Hi there!

Generally, I don't trouble. My woodworking skills are not accurate enough to notice the difference! I usually add generous machining allowances which is fine for one-offs. In a production environment, the foundry wants to give the customer as little metal as possible and the machinist wants to remove as little as possible. The only place I have really noticed is with the Dennis radiator tanks as they are 30" wide. I did leave myself short there and the ends show signs of the rough casting.

I'm blacksmithing today but with little success. I'll report later and ask for some advice!

Steve🙂

A bit more pattern making. These should be the last but time will tell. The Peerless has cast floor panels around the base of the steering column and we are fortunate to have most of one of them. Along with a photo showing the other half, I have enough information to make the patterns.

I turned and bored a bit of oak for the column radii.

Then put some flat strip through the thicknesser. That was a good investment. I don't use it often but makes some jobs very easy. I cut and glued the strips into place.

A trim up with the Dremel and the job was well on the way.

The original piece showed some strips around the borders so these were soon cut and glued.

The Dremel soon made short work of trimming them up. I then went all round with the sanding drum to put a taper on the flanges. Not very much but, hopefully, enough to allow them to be drawn from the sand.

A couple of coats of Bondaprime and we are ready to go!

Dad delivered them to the foundry this week.

Steve 🙂

Thanks for the curved spoke comments. I had forgotten that but a lot of early traction engines had curved spokes. I just fancied the challenge!

The starting handle teeth are machined in a sleeve on the end of the crankshaft and we have that. In the outside of the sleeve is a keyway to locate the fan pulley. I have managed to make the fan with the centre line of its pulley further forward than the original so I have put an extra long boss on the drive pulley to allow it to be mounted forwards as well. It may mean that the starting dog begins to enter the bore of the fan but we will find out shortly. There are so many details to get right!

I have found today that my new paint is sticking the backing board to the spokes so I shall have to ease them now. Oh well.

Steve

Back on pattern making now! Something we don't have is a fan drive pulley. We took the opportunity to measure the diameter of the Bovington example and with this photo, I could make a pattern.

However, we also had a photo of the Banfield one. I rather liked the curved spokes so I though I would try to replicate it.

MDF is my normal material of choice but this time I opted for a hardwood plywood. It consists of a flat centre with two rings glued onto it.

I am very fortunate to have a wood turning lathe. I don't use it often enough so I am not very good at it but I felt that it would be the tool for the job.

I managed to produce a nice clean outside diameter and a radius from the ring to the centre.

When I did the Dennis radiator pattern, I acquired a scroll saw to cut out the badge. This was just the ticket to cut between the spokes.

The pieces I cut out, I used to make a backing board to help the moulder. They just needed a bit of filler in the holes.

A couple of coats of Bondaprime with some wire wool to polish them and we are ready for a trip to the foundry.

This shows how I think the backing board will work. The idea is that it provides a centre line for the mould so it doesn't have to be hand cut in the sand.

Another outing for Father!

Steve   🙂

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, I don't have anything capable of turning one in this position. Something for our next investment!

We did do some more over Christmas and we haven't stopped although nothing very visible to report. The kerb rails are jointed at the corners so I cut them.

Always difficult with a 12' beam supported on plastic trestles!

Then it was a case of trying to make some room for Father to carry on with the painting. A board on two trestles was a good start.

But the main bench is the back of the lorry which is thoroughly inconvenient!

Two primer, two undercoat and two topcoat. The damp weather isn't helping.

Making use of every inch of space!

I have made up the radiator stay.

It will need trimming to length the next time I go down.

Two parts of the handbrake pull-rodding were very poorly so I made up some replacements. I felt that having some confidence in the brakes would be a good idea.

One ready for paint and the other still requiring some attention with a file

They have, of course, left hand threads so I made up a pair of locknuts. I didn't have any hex in stock and had to make that as well!

Then the last ball joint from the throttle linkage. That can be assembled soon too.

All of the painting represents an awful lot of hours from Father but the photographs are not inspiring, unfortunately. A picture of the second coat of green looks very much like the first! Anyway we are at a point where the first body parts can be permanently attached and we can get set up to paint the undersides of the floor planks. They are always easier to do before fitting them!

Steve   🙂

Renault of some description?

Steve

Well, the Christmas break is coming to an end but we have done some more. Progress has been a bit slow but we have made up four pieces of angle to secure the cross-members to the chassis frame.

The two at the front use pre-existing 3/4" diameter holes but I had to cut two more for those towards the rear. This is a pain as I have nothing which could drill them so they were a chain-drill and file exercise.

Successful in the end and I could then spot through the timber.

The rear brace plates were also missing some bolt holes as I had not worked out where they should be. These were drilled and then spotted through.

The crossmembers had been left square at the ends to make it easier for me to drill the kerb rail bolt holes. Once these were complete along with their counterbores, I could radius the ends. This was done with a chop saw and glasspaper and was quite satisfactory.

The preparation work is now complete and Dad can get on with the painting so we have once again rearranged the chassis into a painting bench.

Back on the kerb rails next, cutting the corner joints. Then they can join the painting queue.

Cheers!

Steve   🙂

That's useful information too. Thanks for your thoughts Chaps.

We have found a few hours to have a play. First job was to clear the decks and then put the crossmembers into place to see how they look. Makes it tall and wide!

I had forgotten to cut some steel for the rear braces so we started with them. Dad's bandsaw saves an awful lot of graft!

Drilled them through and bolted them up.

Ready to fit.

Under the rear cross-member is the corner gusset and rivets which I had forgotten.

A bit of hand work to make it fit properly.

Then a trial fit.

Notches were then cut to dodge the rivet heads.

The brackets were also notched to clear rivet heads and have been clamped into position ready to drill the chassis rails.

A job for tomorrow!

Steve🙂

Brilliant idea! I can get that locally too!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Steve  🎅

Hi Hedd.

Many thanks for that. As we have the chain completely in bits, we can make sure that every joint has grease put in it. I have a tin of grease, described as 'heavy grease' which is more like a block of lard that we picked up somewhere. That may be the one to use. I would have to use a knife as you can't smear it with your fingers! Looks like a good winter's evening job.

Just packing up to get on with the Christmas project. Hopefully, we can make a bit of progress towards our goal of being out next year.

Steve 🙂