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Here are the promised pictures. As you can see, now all the shafts are shining in all its glory. First all the rust/oil/dust crust is removed with 2000 grit sandpaper, then the pieces are submerged on a de-rusting and pasivating solution and finally they are buffed with a very fine wire brush. Even the leadscrew shines!

I also found a nut for the mandrel shaft. Its not the prettiest and accurate one but for now its good enough.




Regarding the mandrel, I managed to disassemble it with some gentle heat to allow the expansion of the pieces to loosen them. The dent is too hard to remove without distorting it so I grabbed a spare shell that i had. I discovered that the spare one was lighter because the lead ring that its inside was much thinner. Some more heating and some gentle tapping with wood hammer dislodged both of them as you can see in the next picture. The bushing of the small end of the mandrel is not the same size and I still have to figure out how remove them without distorting anything. Some sleep on it will surely help.



Thats all for today!

Some more progress! The mandrel is assembled and the motor is derusted and clean as a whistle. I also fabricated a yellow leather belt. (Yes, yellow, consider it a sort of signature )


Next step is to restore the springs of the governor. I already have the correct spring but Its going to be a challenge to remove the steel rivets.


I might not be able to update this thread until early next week. In the meantime the materials for the horn and reproducers supports are on the mail. Stay tuned!

Just a very small update. I manage to squeeze 10 minutes today to prepare all the materials for the governor weights. Tomorrow I will drill the spring steel with a dentist diamond drill and will figure how to rivet the weights.

This morning I did some half nuts and its spring. I decided to make the half nut in aluminium instead of brass because it's much easier to tap. I made some spares in case it wears quickly.

The spring was a challenge. I needed to de-temper it to be able to drill and bend and temper it again after. I've done more versions of it than I will never admit


Thats all for today. Have a nice Sunday!

Hi again,

Before telling you about my progress let me show you a couple of important pictures about the leadscrew and half nut.

As you can see, the thread is not symmetrical. One side is vertical and the other slanted. The vertical side is the "pushing side" so it is very important to put the half nut in its correct orientation.



This week end I finished the brake. I fabricated a brass piece to hold the spring blade to the part of the arm that remained. Two little 2 mm screws hold it in place and I managed to solder the blade to it. Solder stainless steel with silver tin is a nightmare. You need perfect clean surfaces, very good flux and just the right amount of heat to do it.



No, I dont like the shiny spring either I will have to find something more appropriate.

I also started working with the wood case. In some places it has the consistency of a weetabix! I gave it a good dose of woodworm treatment and derusted all the pieces.





I'm still investigating what kind of wood has been used in this case and hood. Some pieces look like walnut or maybe cherry tree but others are beech for sure. I will need to replace some of the pieces because they are literally falling apart. Its time for start investigating also about how this cases were finished. Maybe they were lacquered or they used some sort of acrylic varnish??

These were made of Walnut

Thank you Brandon!

Yes, I've found also a carpenter specialized in restoring old furniture and now it's 100% confirmed that its walnut but a specific kind called "Juglans Regia" that is more clear than the "Cinerea", "Nigra" or "Californica" species.

I've ordered the pieces today and will receive them next tuesday.

I also ordered some shellac to finish them and to glue the registering head stylus.

Stay tuned!

Some very good news!

I drilled the governor springs and installed the weights. One of the tiny screws was so rusted that the thread was gone but by luck I had one spare.

The plate of the governor was slightly bent and after endless tests I managed to leave it perfectly straight.
I oiled all the axles and it runs like a charm. Its amazingly silent and smooth.


So the only thing pending is the mandrel gear. I'm seriously thinking replacing all 3 gears because the mandrel one is totally destroyed and the other two ones are so worn they are going to make a lot of noise. The pitch of this gears is nothing that is even close to any standard of nowadays so maybe I will commit the sacrilege of changing it.

The eagle eyed will also notice that I changed the brake spring with a much nicer one.

Today's mission was to create a winding key. I've found some pictures of it and realized that the "wings" of the key were very similar to the ones of the Pathé 0 but turned around. I had one spare and some round stock so it was a matter taking some measurements, plugging the lathe and mill and in less than 30 minutes I did this:



Next challenge will be connector for the head and horn. I have to figure out how to drill the two screws that make the pivot points for the elbow precisely with less than 0,1 mm tolerance or it will not move free.

Stay tuned!

Wow this Coquet surely found lots of love as the title says!