Progress Report on motorizing Drum Carder- (I know this is long but it took me all day to do it... and maybe I'm just a little bit proud that it's finished... almost):
I went to Grainger's in Tigard Wednesday morning and bought two pulleys, one 8" and one 7". They only had one 8" pulley or I would have bought two, so instead had to get a 7" one. I already had two 1 1/2" pulleys but I also needed two block bearings, which I had to swallow hard after seeing how much they cost. Since I don't have my own business, I had to almost beg to be able to buy from them, even gave them my neighbor's company name but that didn't spell shit with them, so they let me buy this one time. Total cost was $47.81.
Took the stuff home. Already had a 1/2" shaft for the counter shaft which was needed to slow the 1,765 rpm motor down to a managable speed, so cleaned it up, sanded it so the bearings would slip on, then found some aluminum sheeting in my garage, (it pays to keep stuff being the pack rat I am). That was for mounting the motor and the counter shaft and pulleys. The 1/4 horse electric motor I also had just laying around, (again pays to keep stuff). So I started assembling it all on the piece of aluminum. Had to do some cutting of course. Then as luck would have it, a couple of weeks ago, my neighbor was going to throw out some V belts that were new but he no longer wanted them so being the packrat I am, I asked if I could have them and from those belts... (what a scrounger I am), I picked out a couple to use for this project. Took the drum carder out to the garage, swallowed hard and hack sawed the crank handle of the drum carder off leaving enough room to put on the 7" pulley. Then set the whole thing up temporarily, brought it all in the house and on the dog's grooming table that I was told to use, plugged it in and to my surprise... (maybe even more to my wife's surprise)... it worked!!!! We even carded some mohair and silk that my wife needed for her group she belongs to where they send samples of their work around. So now I need to cut a slot in the table top so the belt can drop down to the motor platform below, then mount the motor platform permanently and that should take care of a Valentine's present for her. That's the kind of stuff I like to do... even if it's a bit late...
Thanks Nina for the inspiration to start things that have been put off for too long.
Oh... and for anyone interested in the old stereo viewers like your grandparents may have used, here's and updated version. Check this link out, (may take a while to load), but if your interested in stereo photography, it's worth it:Today's answer to the antique stereo viewer. I want one.
I went to Grainger's in Tigard Wednesday morning and bought two pulleys, one 8" and one 7". They only had one 8" pulley or I would have bought two, so instead had to get a 7" one. I already had two 1 1/2" pulleys but I also needed two block bearings, which I had to swallow hard after seeing how much they cost. Since I don't have my own business, I had to almost beg to be able to buy from them, even gave them my neighbor's company name but that didn't spell shit with them, so they let me buy this one time. Total cost was $47.81.
Took the stuff home. Already had a 1/2" shaft for the counter shaft which was needed to slow the 1,765 rpm motor down to a managable speed, so cleaned it up, sanded it so the bearings would slip on, then found some aluminum sheeting in my garage, (it pays to keep stuff being the pack rat I am). That was for mounting the motor and the counter shaft and pulleys. The 1/4 horse electric motor I also had just laying around, (again pays to keep stuff). So I started assembling it all on the piece of aluminum. Had to do some cutting of course. Then as luck would have it, a couple of weeks ago, my neighbor was going to throw out some V belts that were new but he no longer wanted them so being the packrat I am, I asked if I could have them and from those belts... (what a scrounger I am), I picked out a couple to use for this project. Took the drum carder out to the garage, swallowed hard and hack sawed the crank handle of the drum carder off leaving enough room to put on the 7" pulley. Then set the whole thing up temporarily, brought it all in the house and on the dog's grooming table that I was told to use, plugged it in and to my surprise... (maybe even more to my wife's surprise)... it worked!!!! We even carded some mohair and silk that my wife needed for her group she belongs to where they send samples of their work around. So now I need to cut a slot in the table top so the belt can drop down to the motor platform below, then mount the motor platform permanently and that should take care of a Valentine's present for her. That's the kind of stuff I like to do... even if it's a bit late...
Thanks Nina for the inspiration to start things that have been put off for too long.
Oh... and for anyone interested in the old stereo viewers like your grandparents may have used, here's and updated version. Check this link out, (may take a while to load), but if your interested in stereo photography, it's worth it:Today's answer to the antique stereo viewer. I want one.