RFCasting | 19 Aug 2014 1:54 p.m. PST |
Where or who do you go to to get your machine repaired, if that's ever came up? The pulley wheel from the plates shaft has come loose, and completely worn itself and the shaft out, both are going to need replaced (so pretty much the entire drive system apart from the motor which is new anyway). I havent got the first clue where to look? Do Garages do this kind of thing? Plant maintenance? (They seem to look like they just do diggers and concrete mixers etc) I am completely in the dark here, anyone got any pointers as it looks like I'm just going to start ringing blindly round the yellow pages. :( |
Dye4minis | 19 Aug 2014 2:08 p.m. PST |
Romanoff in Rhode Island may be able to help. There are others scattered across the USA (am assuming you are in the USA?), but always dealt with Romanoff for the parts- me for the repairs. It's not as if it was working on a 2014 Mercedes where you need a computer to traslate what is wrong with the car…./>) Good luck. I know how frustrating a broken spin casting machine can be! |
martin goddard | 19 Aug 2014 2:14 p.m. PST |
May I suggest you look up the local engineering company (precision) on the trading estate. Once you start using them they can become your one stop shop. Your details give no indication of where you are so I cannot give any exact contacts as they might be too far away. You might be close to SEBA or AR or Empire?? martin
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bsrlee | 19 Aug 2014 2:14 p.m. PST |
Look for a 'small' engineering shop or a repairer of food preparation machines (pretty much the same thing these days). I suspect that food processing machinery is one of the few places left that are not totally throw away when something breaks, largely because you have to be able to take the machines apart to clean them as part of their normal work cycle. If the phone book doesn't list anyone locally you may have to phone around a few second hand machinery dealers or commercial food preparation places to find out where they send their repairs. |
RFCasting | 19 Aug 2014 2:19 p.m. PST |
UK, also my machine is 15+ years old from a now defunct manufacturer. So no standardised parts for me. The only reason I do this as my main job now is the complete lack of jobs since I was made redundant and its better than the endless humiliation of taking several "zero hour contract" jobs and having to go claim dole for the remainder ('welfare'), Im in the process of applying for a UK government 'small business startup loan' which they're pushing for people who went self employed in the recession – but until thats confirmed Im having to make do with the second hand hunk a junk I bought when casting was just a garage hobby for me. Drive belts and pulleys arent exactly rocket science, but I have no idea who would actually fix something this size. Most of the local engineering places near me are the scale of business who fix ships and oilrigs, not single bits of equipment :S I do have my eye on a Romanoff Machine Ive seen but thats dependant on the Startup Loan App. |
RFCasting | 19 Aug 2014 2:22 p.m. PST |
Thanks all. Just curious: Anyone else ever encountered a 'Fine Arts Casting' machine in their time? I'm assuming its as old as I am ha (27)! Ive modified it so I can lock the top plate down by hand when the bob weights dont give enough pressure. Team Valley trading estate in Tyne & Wear is very near me, so going to look around there tomorrow. Theres an engineers called NTG so will give them a call. |
45thdiv | 19 Aug 2014 2:55 p.m. PST |
Any machine shop should be able to handle the repair. A google search for your area of the UK should help. Matthew |
The Man With Two Bryans | 19 Aug 2014 8:11 p.m. PST |
A local engineering machine shop should be able to sort you out. Or you could try SEBA Developments seba.co.uk which makes casting machines and should have the necessary engineering skills |
napthyme | 19 Aug 2014 9:18 p.m. PST |
Check and see if thee is any local Biker shops or hot rod places that do lots of custom fabrication work. Any metal fabrication place should be able to make you a new part if they have the old one to look at. |
IUsedToBeSomeone | 20 Aug 2014 2:51 a.m. PST |
SEBA will repair MCP machines – what make is your machine and is it a bob-weight or compressor? |
RFCasting | 21 Aug 2014 4:20 a.m. PST |
Thanks for suggestions, it made this seem a bit less daunting. Well luckily for me a local engineer who specialised in driveshafts and pulleys took a look for free and told me what I need to do. Now I know what pieces are called and how it goes together I can likely fix it. 'Brammer' managed to source the pulley wheel and an obscure sized taper bush, and a local car/bike shop is doing the odd bits of grinding/welding to fix a bob weight arm. (One of three bob-weight arms was bent, leading my machine to effectively shake itself to pieces: The pulley wheel came loose from the drive shaft causing both to wear down and eventually shear off. Being new to this with a machine I didnt know much about I assumed the vibration and noise was normal!) Dont know if you can tell how oval it actually is from this, but the fact that these should be identical where the square is shows you how bad I let this get! Its about 3-4mm bigger where its worn.
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