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Hi all

Sorry for not posting in the last months. Too much work and moving to a new house (with a much bigger shop) took all my available time for posting my restorations. Anyway, things are getting sorted now so I hope to start again documenting my restorations for your enjoyment.

I was asked to restore a Kalamazoo bought as "in very good condition" but found to be with several serious flaws that needed to be addressed.

My first thought when I received it on my shop is that this machine was previously restored only for been displayed and never been used. The motor was a Columbia, the turnplate was too big, a swiss style brake was installed, a crude speed regulator lever was fabricated, the horns were missing it silk covering, the lid had 3 extra holes hidden with gigantic zinc plated washers, and the reproducer was a sort of kit that from outside looked like the real thing but was very crudely made inside and with all the pieces glued together. Yes, even the screws were glued!

So, after assessing it, I decided with the customer to do the following:

- Keep the Columbia motor. It is very similar to the a Kalamazoo, a reproduction was too expensive and there are genuine Kalamazoos with Columbia motors. It was extremely worn so it needed new bronze sleeve bearings on some gears.
- Recreate the correct speed/brake mechanism but using the available attach points on the Columbia motor.
- Remove that horrible swiss brake!
- Adapt a new turnplate of the correct diameter
- Cover the horns with black silk and add the decals.
- Make a new replica reproducer using/modifying the available parts when possible

These are the pictures I took during the restoration. Sorry if they are not all pretty and well illuminated. I do most of them for my reference or for asking the customer a specific question. I will group them by component.

Reproducer:

As found. The diaphragms were glued to the lids and stylus with superglue. There were no space between the lids and diaphragms so it will never could work like this. As you can also see, everything was just glued. I started by machining the ring of the body to give clearance to the diaphragms. Then I soldered the stylus supports after shortening them After lots of measurements, I did a double stylus with the exact width I cut new gaskets and diaphragms and did a first assembly test. The lids also needed their tubes to be soldered. I did also new screws for them. One lid in place. And finished! We discussed if it was necessary to nickel plate it or not and we finally decided against it because like it it it will blend much better with the rest of the machine and it can be done later if needed. More coming soon (dinner time approaching so need to go now)

Regards,

Pedro Martinez
http://www.pedrofono.com

Excellent work Pedro!!

Excellent work !

Some more pictures of the restoration for your enjoyment:

Brake system:

The Kalamazoo uses a very clever mechanism of speed regulator and brake combined on one single lever. This is a challenge because if the dimensions and geometry are not absolutely perfect it is not possible to do both things in only 20º of rotation.

After studying all the available pictures and measuring the position of the pivoting point and distance to the speed regulator disk I decided to replicate one of the regulator/brake systems that were originally available. As far as I know there were at least 3 variations)

This is what it was installed when I recieved it. The shaft was at an angle, it binded on the motor base hole (a shaft running on a threaded hole!) and it only was working as a speed regulator. I reamed that hole to have a perfect fit for the new shaft and started taking al the dimensions for the arms of the pads. The space is very tight to avoid the weights of the speed regulator. As you can see, I installed 2 arms for the pads and started figurating their shape and angle to work both as speed regulator and brake. After shaping both arms to its final form, I added the supports of the leather pads. I also made the lever that protrudes from the top board. And here you can see it on the speed regulating position and brake position. Works like a charm!

Regards,

Pedro Martínez

Adapt a correct turnplate and miscellaneous work on the top board.

We sourced a correct turnplate but it was sitting too low.
On top of that, it allowed to show 4 horrible and mismatched zinc coated washers that needed to be removed asap. I fabricated a set of 8 washers. 4 for under the turnplate and another 4 a little bit thicker to set the motor at the perfect height for the winding handle. All the washers were aged to match the existing hardware. Then, I turned a sort of socket that went under and around the existing one of the turnplate to give it the additional 4 mm it needed. I also fabricated the latch receiver. In this picture you can also see how neat looking are the rubber and new washers for the motor. Tomorrow I will finalise the thread with the description of the work that needed the motor and the horns.

Enjoy!

Pedro Martínez
www.pedrofono.com

Your work on this machine is totally top notch and very creative, finding some great solutions and workarounds to the issues. Really enjoying following this and look forward to seeing more, thanks for sharing

Brad

Finally I have some minutes to end the description of the restoration:

Motor:

The motor was in very bad shape. Some gears had so much wear that it could be moved alarmingly side to side. To fix it, I rebored them, press fitted a new core and turn them into a correct size bush. The speed regulator needed also a total rebuild. Someone in the past added mild steel springs to the existing ones in an attempt to stiffen them and made this disaster: So, I cut and drilled new springs and installed them. Horns:

I really enjoyed this part of the restoration. Some research led me to sourcing the correct cloth to cover them and, some euros later, a big roll arrived home. I also sourced the correct decals.

Before covering them, I cleaned the brass to a medium shine to coordinate them with the rest of the machine. Then with some ingenuity I did a huge compass to draw the patterns on the cloth. I trimmed al the edges and glued them to the horns. I'm pretty pleased with the end result. The last touch was to cover the small end of the horns with rubber to allow them to fit perfectly on the elbows. And that's it!

I hope you enjoy reading al the restoration as much as I did restoring it.

Regards,

Pedro Martínez
http://www.pedrofono.com

Simply a superb job all around. Congratulations!

George P.

I always enjoy and admire your restoration reports. Another great machine preserved for the future.

Thanks
Andreas

I enjoy and admire your craftsmanship and excellent command of English.
Dave D