Michigan vintage machine restorer

[Myk Rian]

My name is Myk, I live in Michigan, and am married with 4 kids, 11 Gkids and 2 GGkids. I retired as a skilled trades journeyman back in 2004, and have a work shop devoted to wood working. I have filled my shop with vintage machines that replaced newer ones made with questionable quality control.
A male, woodworking, vintage machine restorer? Yes, you might wonder what I am doing on a felting forum. I shall explain.

There is a website devoted to the preservation and restoration of vintage woodworking machinery. Members are from the world over, and we focus on those machines manufactured anywhere except Asia, and being more than 20 years old. Since parts are no longer available for machines 100+ years old, we either make them as needed, or some are so beaten and broken they are used for parts. We find them anywhere from dusty corners of barns and garages, to the middle of cow pastures and woods.
These machines have bearings, and require oil for those bearings. And that is why I am here.

Felt is/was used to provide dust seals for bearings, and to deliver oil to them. Many of them are of special shapes not to be made from a roll of felt found at a craft store, so they must be custom made. And what greater resource can there be but a forum devoted to felting. So, I shall browse the forum for info and tips, and ask questions when I find it necessary.

Thanks
Myk

[Pandagirl]

Welcome Myk! I'm so glad to hear there is place for old machines. I have a few that are 25 plus. I hope we can help you find a solution for your felt machine parts. Please ask questions and perhaps share a picture or two of the the shapes and sizes you are challenged to make. We have felters around the globe who are very resourceful.

[MTRuth]

Welcome Myk - what an interesting use for felt. I hope you'll be able to find some answers to your questions here. Felt can be made into any shape so it's just a matter of working out the shrinkage and size needed and what shape will work best for you. So please ask as many questions as you'd like.

[Myk Rian]

Thank you, Marilyn, and Ruth for the warm welcomes.

I registered on another feltingforum a couple days ago, and left an intro much like the one above. I have not received confirmation nor e-mail from the Admin, and last time I visited to edit my profile, a window popped up notifying me that I was banned. Maybe Male, and Machines are not conducive to their idea of felting. So I widened my search, and here I am. This forum appears to be much more active anyway.

I'll get some pictures together of my first felting project, and begin a new thread showing the machine, and the felt seal I need to make.

Again, thanks for the welcome
Myk

[halay]

Myk, you've come to the right place. I'm sure you'll get the answers to your questions. So we are going interdisciplinary now, aren't we?

[luvswool and dyestuff]

Welcome, Myk! Our attitude on this forum: The more the merrier!

[Pandagirl]

You're quite welcome Myk. We're here to help!

[lyn]

Hello Myk - interesting avatar! Looking forward to seeing what you make.

[Myk Rian]

Mar 14, 2014 22:36:00 GMT lyn said:

Hello Myk - interesting avatar! Looking forward to seeing what you make.

Lol. Here's a better look at him. He's looking for a new home.

[zed]

Hi Myk, welcome to the forum

I think you must have discovered the ghost town relics of a long abandoned forum, there are a few members seemingly trapped there like a weird twighlight zone.

Don't be surprised if you find your brains being picked, we're always talking about making/altering machines to help in felting

[Myk Rian]

Mar 15, 2014 9:45:04 GMT zed said:

Hi Myk, welcome to the forum

Thank you.

]I think you must have discovered the ghost town relics of a long abandoned forum, there are a few members seemingly trapped there like a weird twighlight zone.

It seems the only ones posting are new users. I've abandoned that forum.

Don't be surprised if you find your brains being picked, we're always talking about making/altering machines to help in felting

Be glad to help if I can.

[zed]

Yeah, I just happened upon that forum the other day and noticed a whole page of new users introducing themselves. It's a shame there's no way to contact them to let them know we exist.

I hope you'll show us photos of your vintage machines

[Myk Rian]

I finally got my intro approved, so was able to let a couple of them know about this site. BUT, my posts still need approval to be posted. So....

My first project is posted in the needle felting forum, so here are a few more of my machines.

This is a 1934 Delta drill press. Nice small bench-top model. This has a felt oiler which will be my next felting project.




Next is a 1966 Delta band saw. It had sat for a couple decades in a damp basement that was prone to flooding.




My first restoration was a 1958 DeWalt radial arm saw. This is one of the most used machines in my shop.




A 1938 Wallace 8" jointer. I have since sold this machine, and have replaced it with a 1976 Rockwell.




And we'll end with a 1955 Delta drill press. This gets used almost daily.




Not a restoration, but one of the first projects I built when I retired. Made of cherry.

[Pandagirl]

Wow Myk, you really know how to make things brand new again and the cherry dresser is gorgeous! You must have a huge work area for all that machinery. Thanks for sharing!

[MTRuth]

You are doing a great job with your restorations. I bet that takes a lot of time and patience. Do you have problems finding spare parts or parts machines?