# Alba 1A Restoration



## joco-nz (Sep 21, 2019)

It's finally arrived! The new-to-me Alba 1A Shaper.  This is my little restoration project that I plan to beetle away at over the coming months.

Its not going to be a fast project as I also have to completely reorganise my home shop to make way for a new Lathe.  I decided to take the plunge and do the garage workshop as I should have done it not the compromise it currently was.

Anyway, some pics of the little lady as she is, coming home for the first time.  I have seen her running. She could be just cleaned up for rust and ready to rock but I want to do a good a paint job as well.  Maybe a nice classic machine grey.  Something not so dark looking but shiny and "classic". 

Any advice on these machines gratefully received.

General overview pics - while there is obviously rusty and some crappy paint things are not looking too bad.  The table box is very clean with no dings. Even have the original handle and feed ratchet system. All the knobs are in place and none of the plastic parts have been broken or damaged.


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## joco-nz (Sep 21, 2019)

Some specifics:
The feed system needs some love and its so painted and messy its hard to tell if there are any graduation collars in amongst it all.  Not the end of world as they can be made or a magnetic backed indicator can be added in.  Something I will probably end up doing anyway. I have included a pic of the serial number in case someone can help with how I would identify the age of this wee machine.















The head moves ver smoothly even though it looks a bit worse for wear.  The clapper seems to have no sideways movement that I can detect. When its seated flat there is no wiggle at all.










Motor looks to be original as well.  I'm probably going to power this with a 230V-1ph to 380v-3ph inverter.  I have used that approach successfully on the mill.  The other advantage is that I can improve the speed range and get some very slow cutting speeds.  Worse case is I might need to add a fan in the case to get enough air flow over the motor.





The bull gear and the rocker/eccentric setup looks to be in very good condition.





Belt has seen better days and will need to be replaced but the clutch system and belt wheels all look to be in good condition.





Cheers,
J.


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## trlvn (Sep 23, 2019)

A fellow on Youtube has been restoring an Alba 1A over the past few months.  It is not finished but you may get some ideas from his work:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdOPminKhv7QRRnNzDu1DCw

BTW, there was some non-obvious damage to his that needed repair.

Craig


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## joco-nz (Sep 23, 2019)

Thanks Craig.  Youtube can be a great asset. I have watched Everett’s restoration videos several times now.  There is also a chap about 1.5 hrs drive from where I live who also did a 1A restoration.  He’s Neil9 on youtube. 

Between these chaps and others I have looked at I have some ideas of areas to check.

Plan is to pull it all apart to clean, check for damage, repair as needed, paint parts to be painted and then put it all together again.  Phew - this going to be some work.


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## joco-nz (Nov 18, 2020)

After a long pause I have finally gotten things going on cleaning up the Alba.   At the moment I'm in the phase of tearing it all down cleaning and painting parts and noting where there is wear that I would like to address. The eventual game plan will be to scrap some key parts in.  But I need to spend some time learning that skill on some straight edges and practice parts.

The only part I am going to have to repair, from what I can currently see, is the table cross feed nut.  It's been smashed at some point and has lost about 30-40% of its size.  There is still plenty of thread so it will work, but a new one should be made.  I'm not going to try and repair it in case I bugger up what could be my backup.  So a new cross feed nut it will be after all the cleaning/painting is done.

Here some pics of the current state of things.

pic 1: painted parts stack ready for eventual assembly
pic 2: some WIP painting drying
pic 3: parts either cleaned, stripped or waiting on either
pic 4: a bunch of the parts relating to gear train and clutch linkage.  In need of a good clean and some need stripping and painting
pic 5: the base castings separated and waiting on some attention

Cheers,
J.


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## MRA (Nov 18, 2020)

That looks very nice - I wish I had such space!  You probably know this, but 220 1ph to 220 3ph VFDs tend to be a lot more common and cheaper, than 220in 440 out jobs.  I rewired a similar old Brookes motor to yours to do this - it had no star-delta links, but it was possible to get in there, find the star point, unsolder it and bring all the leads out to reconnect in delta for 220.  Having said all that and looking again, yours is a funny speed - so maybe this is more tricky, more poles or something...


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## joco-nz (Nov 18, 2020)

Found this video I did before pulling things apart.  I was proofing the 220v  1P to 380v 3P VFD I had purchased was going to play ball nicely.


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## Madsciguy (Nov 18, 2020)

Synchronous speed for a 6 pole 50 Hz motor would be 1000 rpm, so 940 rpm  running speed sounds right. It will run faster on 60 Hz but the current and HP will be slightly lower.


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## joco-nz (Nov 18, 2020)

Madsciguy said:


> Synchronous speed for a 6 pole 50 Hz motor would be 1000 rpm, so 940 rpm  running speed sounds right. It will run faster on 60 Hz but the current and HP will be slightly lower.


Yup.  It’s all setup per the motor plate.  Being an English motor it’s spec’d at 50Hz. So feed all that data into the VFD config and it sorts the bulk of it out.  There are a bunch of parameters relating to slip and starting torque that I have left as default.  Will see how things behave under load before I try and get cute with things.


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## awake (Nov 19, 2020)

James, this looks like a very nice little shaper. I have gotten a lot of use out of my 7" Southbend, but this Alba looks like it might be the Cadillac to my little Chevrolet - at the very least, it has a much more sophisticated clutch than the Southbend has.

A question about the Alba: Is there some sort of speed control in the base of this unit? Maybe a Reeves drive setup? I would think there would be some way to change speeds (on my Southbend, it is simply changing the belt to one of 4 positions). There is a little handle sticking out of the front of the cabinet in one picture that made me think of a Reeves type drive.


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## joco-nz (Nov 19, 2020)

awake said:


> A question about the Alba: Is there some sort of speed control in the base of this unit? Maybe a Reeves drive setup? I would think there would be some way to change speeds (on my Southbend, it is simply changing the belt to one of 4 positions). There is a little handle sticking out of the front of the cabinet in one picture that made me think of a Reeves type drive.



Andy - similar to the southbend the 1A has four speeds. Two belt pulley ratios and a two ratio gear change from a simple sliding gear drive inside the top casing. Photo 2 in the second post of the thread shows the clutch lever and below that the pull/push gear ratio rod.

One of the benefits I hope to gain from the VFD is some further speed control refinement on top of the base 4 speed selection.

cheers - J.


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## awake (Nov 19, 2020)

Interesting that they used both gear and pulley to achieve the speeds. In my usage, I have never felt a need for more than the 4 speeds, but if I had it I'm sure I'd use it.


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## joco-nz (Nov 19, 2020)

Shifting speed using the gears is easier than mucking about with belt tensioning to be able to move the belt.  At least it is on this machine. The belt setting gets you in the ball park then you can easily flick between the gear setting.

Agree on the speed front.  I suspect I will probably not need all the adjustability the VFD can provide.  Its primary purpose is to cope with the voltage/phase conversion.  The variable speed ability it gives is just a (potentially) nice side benefit.

cheers.


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## joco-nz (Nov 26, 2020)

Have been quietly working away and pondering things.  Got the base onto a 450kg rated moving dolly.  Best purchase ever! It has made moving this inside and out for cleaning soo much easier.

Anyway, when cleaning the top chip tray I found a hole    

What to do.  So after some pondering I took to it with a carbide bur to get the worst of the junk out of the way then JB Weld to the rescue!

Pic 1 - the top chip tray, you can probably see the hole post cleanup

Pic 2 - the HOLE.    

Pic 3 - JB Weld to the rescue - I hope

Pic 4 -  More sodding holes these ones put there on purpose by previous owner(s). Oh well, some steel round as plugs, JB Weld as putty/glue and they will get solved.


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## aarggh (Nov 27, 2020)

Very nice! Looking forward to see how you go!

I've got a shaper coming my way (finally!) very soon so I well understand the excitement! I just love watching these working away!

I was thinking when I do mine using one of the hammered metal machine spray paints, they look pretty awesome and cover marks well.


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## packrat (Nov 28, 2020)

After seeing your shaper restoring post , it makes me want to get my old shaper out and clean it up. But its too cold here now.
Good luck with yours. packrat


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## joco-nz (Nov 29, 2020)

After some filling of holes and associated sanding I have the stand casting primed. Surprising amount of area to paint.  There are a few minor dings that the "painters putty" stuff I have will fill in.  It required a primer coat to be on before use.


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## aarggh (Nov 30, 2020)

Sensational!

Out of curiosity, do you know how much your Alba weighs?


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## joco-nz (Nov 30, 2020)

The manual specs it at:
Net: 381kg
Gross: 458kg

I’ve never been too sure what the difference between those actually is.  Based on the weight of parts I have been handling and how the crane has behaved I think with everything on its pushing to that gross weight figure.


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## joco-nz (Dec 13, 2020)

After a lot of painting things are finally starting to come together and a bunch of parts are starting to look like a machine again.

Cheers - J.


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## aarggh (Dec 16, 2020)

Sensational work James!

And as an added bonus, I think I've nutted out a few details on my new shaper's mechanical config from looking at your pics!

cheers, Ian


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## joco-nz (Dec 20, 2020)

A little update as I keep chipping away at this.   Tool head and clapper installed as well as the table crossslide and vertical screw.


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## peterfalm (Dec 21, 2020)

I restored an Alba 2B years ago. The only part which was really worn was the bottom pivot support pin.
I replaced the 2” diameter pin but hadn’t  the facilities to do anything  about the bushes. Worked fine after.
wish I still had it.


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## DickG (Dec 22, 2020)

I have a 1A which I bought from a dealer for scrap value as it was minus the pitman arm. It cost me me 10 GBP plus the diesel to collect from 125 miles away.
I fabricated a new pitman arm and modified the bottom bearing to allow the arm to slide on a bronze block. This followed a mod that a fellow model engineer in the village had done to his. I did initially change the motor for a single phase one but quickly reverted back to the 3-phase original. The 3-phase supply is by a home made rotary converter which also supplies the grinders. The mill and lathes all have 3-phase motors each with its own VFD inverter.


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## joco-nz (Dec 23, 2020)

The next real challenge I have to solve is making a new horizontal leadscrew nut.  The original has been munched at some point as you can see from the photos.  This will entail making a suitable ACME threading tool, shaping this part, dilling and threading it so that things are correctly aligned and centred.

The attached photo show its had a dang good bashing at some point.  You can also see that there is some special shape to this part that is needed to achieve needed clearance.  The circular "pin" section that actually drives the box table horizontally needs to be a very close/smooth fit to minimise backlash.

While I have done a reasonable amount of metric threading I have never done any ACME threads. On that basis I think I will do some practice threads on some simple round first.

But with the xmas holiday season I'm not going to get much traction until early Jan.

Cheers - J.


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## joco-nz (Dec 26, 2020)

A little proof after reassembly of the gears, clutch, pulley, motor and ram linkage. Definitely feel like progress is being made.


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## aarggh (Dec 27, 2020)

What a beautiful sight!


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## joco-nz (Jan 4, 2021)

After some measuring up did some plans for the leadscrew nut that needs remaking.  I still need to finalise some of the dimensions but this covers the bulk of things.


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## joco-nz (Jan 7, 2021)

I managed to get some time to prove to myself that I could make a HSS ACME threading tool for 6tpi threads and use said tool to internal thread a nut such that it would get a good fit on the Shapers horizontal leadscrew.   Overall I think I can call this a success.   The boring bar is a bit hacky but seems to be working and so long as a I take things slowly and accept that I need to do 3-4 spring passes for a final depth it looks like things have come out pretty reasonably.

It is worth noting that this test part was already metric threaded so I cleaned out enough to get approx the hole needed.  You can see the remains of the original threads in the 3rd pic.  However this is really only cosmetic and for testing purposes not relevant.

Cheers - J.


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## joco-nz (Jan 8, 2021)

Update on the acme threading - I had another look at the pics and thought I should clarify the topslide (compounds) position that can be seen.   It is CLEARLY not set at the proper angle and that is for a reason, it wasn't used. I treated this more as a forming operation and just controlled the depth of cut via the cross slide.  I took things very slowly with 0.1mm depth of cuts and cutting oil.   While this is not what you would do in a job shop as it takes some time to get to 2.1mm depth that eventually lead to a nice screw engagement it did work with no noticable chatter on the sides of the thread and nothing I could hear.

Given this was a through hole I was able to use 130 rpm no problems and could probably have gone to ~200.  The lathe manual states not to exceed 240rpm when threading to avoid excessive stresses on the leadscrew/half-nut.

Anyway, thought that clarification was probably in order.

Cheers - J.


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## joco-nz (Jan 12, 2021)

More progress on constructing the replacement horizontal leadscrew nut.
Pics 1 and 2 show the prep work on the cast iron round into a rectangle of suitable size.  I then drilled a couple of reference points to support setup in the mill.

Pic 3 shows setting up the offset using an alignment bar and DTI.

Pic 4 is after a LOT carefull threading.  We have a finished 6tpi acme thread.  It's perhaps not as good a fit as I might like but it doesn't seem to have much if any slope down the axis of travel.

Cheers,
J.


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## joco-nz (Jan 17, 2021)

Finally finished the leadscrew nut today.   After a test fit I discovered there was no value to be gained by rounding the end over like the original.  I suspect that was done on the original casting to save material.  It is not needed for clearance.

Pics attached ...

#1 to #4 show the initial machining results.
#5 shows the relief cut into the new nut
#6 installed and ready to have the table assembly begin.   I have installed the table slide and tested things.  It runs super smooth.  Very happy.

Cheers - J.


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## joco-nz (Jan 18, 2021)

Just a little video of the travel:


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## joco-nz (Jan 22, 2021)

Finished.  A a fully assemebled and working shaper. The only thing to complete now is some leveling feet.  I'll keep a track of progress and design on those and post here.  In the mean time here is my little youtube vid showing the fully functional shaper.


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## petertha (Jan 22, 2021)

Congratulations, nice restoration.


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## aarggh (Jan 23, 2021)

Beautiful!

Brilliant job James!


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## joco-nz (Jan 30, 2021)

Right the leveling feet are done and installed.  I have some photos and will describe the key dimensions and parts.

Pic 1:  The main parts.  We have
(a) an ice hockey puck.  These are around 75mm OD and about 25mm thick. The hollow that has been bored out is 49.8mm diameter and 11.5mm deep. I used aluminium inserts on a boring bar to cut the rubber.  Given these inserts of rather sharp they worked a treat.  You could use a HSS tool as well, but you would want to make sure it has a super fine hone on its edge.  This rubber liked very sharp tooling.
(b) M16 x 2mm all thread cut to a length of between 100-110mm
(c) the metal disk is 75mm OD and 17mm thick. The inner circle is 50mm and has been releaved around it so it has a height of 11.5mm.  Therefore when looking side on to the part in its elevation you have two discs.  One being 5.5mm thick with a diameter of 75mm and one being 11.5mm thick with a diameter of 50mm.  The metal disk also has a through hole that is threaded M16 for the all thread rod.  I did this on the lathe but if you have a tap that would be a convenient method.  On the plus side having to do more single point threading did get me more acquanted with using the thread chasing dial on the lathe.  By the time I fgot to the 3rd one I was getting quite proficient.

Pic 2 & 3: Show initial assembly

Pic 4: All the parts having been made, the threaded rod TIG welded into the metal bases from the under side.  It's not going anywhere.   

Pic 5: Feet installed and working a treat.  With the gap between floor and casting I can get an oil drip tray under there. Given this is a loosely oiling system there is a lot of dripping if you are keeping key parts properly lubricated.

Cheers - J.


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## olympic (Jan 31, 2021)

Very clever. Practical, too.


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## joco-nz (Feb 4, 2021)

This should really be the last on this topic.  Anything else will be net new content and I will post on a new thread.

This is a little video showing how I set the stroke length and ram position on the Alba.  I then do what are probably my second ever set of cuts on this machine.


Cheers - James.


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## aarggh (Feb 5, 2021)

Just beautiful!

How close to tolerances are you getting do you reckon?


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## joco-nz (Feb 5, 2021)

No workshop time for the next two days. But I’ll do some measurement checks when after that and post what I find.


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## joco-nz (Feb 7, 2021)

Ok - got home a bit earlier than expected so did some test cuts for measurement.  Given the vice is not very good and getting metal to sit in flat in it is a bit of a fight I think measurements of within 6 tenths isn't too bad.   That would be about 0.015mm I think.

Once I get a better vice and have things fettled in I mght be able to get a bit better.  But for what I plan to use it for 0.01mm will be dang good and anything better than that is a bonus.

I also did a test to see if I got a close measurement change based on the 1 thou increment on the head down feed and that looks to be pretty close.  If I need to be super accurate I can quickly mount a DI on an arm to check the down travel is exactly what needs to be dialed in. I also plan to look at if I need a way to lock the gib on the head.   It has 3 setscrews and I am wondering if replacing the middle one with a T handled screw that can be kept snug then tightened for clamping.  I'm not too keen to drill another hole if I can come up with a way to avoid it.  Assuming I even need it.

Cheers - J.


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## aarggh (Feb 7, 2021)

That's pretty damn good!

For a lot of the stuff I do I'm usually just happy if it doesn't turn out an obvious parallelogram! ;-)


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## joco-nz (Feb 7, 2021)

lol - yup.  Know that feeling!   I suffer from decimal point envy.  When I see 0.1 I'll start mucking about to get 0.01 etc. You can see where this is going.  ;-)


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