Woodworking machine rebuild

Rebuilding a Dominion Elliot Supreme combination woodworking machine

It is quite a beast, weighing in at 1.6 tons, with a 16" x 9" planer thicknesser, a 24" circular saw, and a 20" radial arm saw.

Picture gallery: Before the rebuild

This particular machine was re-built at some time by Dominion probably in the early 1970's and it had been sprayed in a mid green Hammerite, so rather reluctantly I decided to use the same. However Hammerite have sold out to ICI and changed the colour range and formulation. Latest stuff is white spirit based and not very tough and a different colour! I managed to find an industrial supplier of 'hammer finish' that not only matched the colour but is xylene based like the original. I sprayed it fairly thinly to reduce the hammer effect as far as possible. The castings had been heavily filled to make good imperfections, but I didn't re-do this filling, leaving it 'as cast war finish'. The tables were cleaned up with a wire brush and elbow grease and as with all the metalwork covered in a rust inhibiting wax polish. The steel parts were de-rusted by soaking in citric acid for a few days, most were recoverable but some were re-made. The radial arm saw safety cover casting was broken, but I tracked down (thanks Bob & Hans) a slightly earlier model that was being scrapped and modified it to suit.

Although a large undertaking this was a relatively trivial rebuild as being a woodworking machine was low tech and relatively low precision.

Well the rebuild is pretty well finished. All I have to do now is sort out the motor wiring and re-fit the saw bench sawdust collector and side panel.

Picture gallery: After rebuild

You should see the various lathes, milling machines both manual and CNC that I've done over the years !! Currently working on a CNC wire erroder. Next on the list is my Case 300 trencher as having laid half a mile of water pipe on the farm with it it needs to go back on ebay looking pretty! Then there's the Fanuc Arc Mate welding robot somewhere down the list. I just hope I live long enough to complete my list of hobby projects!!!!!!

Andrew Mawson