Reassembling C&P 10x15- camshaft question
Hello all! I just completed a marathon move of a basement-dwelling Indiana C&P 10x15 press to our gMichigan garage. Now I’m facing the daunting task of putting it back together. I’ve downloaded the link that had been shared in other threads to the manual, and we also marked most of the parts/ bolts/holes with numbers to make matching easier.
My question concerns the camshaft and gear. That gear must be crucial to the timing of the machine, since it only fits on the camshaft one way, and i need to get the teeth lined up correctly with the large cam wheel. My dad said that on cars, usually such assemblies have a dot or mark on the large wheel tooth, and a corresponding mark on the valley of the gear it needs to fit in. At this point of assembly, I can’t turn the large cam wheel to see a mark, but I can’t find one on the little gear anyway.
The bed is attached at the bottom, that shaft is thru, but the whole bed is laying on some stacked wood at about a 30 degree angle currently. Can I raise that into the closed position, and insert the camshaft and turn it to where it should be when the bed is in that position, and then slide the gear in to the cam wheel’s teeth? I would need to know what that camshaft is supposed to look like when the bed is closed- is the “u” part up, down?
If this will work, can someone take a pic of what rotation the camshaft should be in when the bed is closed? Or, can anyone offer any better tips? Or is there anyone around Zeeland, MI, that would like to help us reassemble for a monetary or alcoholic (beer) price? Thanks for any help!
Martha :)
Traditionally, if using a foot treadle, when the platen is almost closed, the “U” on the shaft should be down. This gives just a little bit of extra “oomph” as the press goes on impression.
On presses which have weighted flywheels, the weight should be timed so it is on the path downward when the press goes on impression, once again, providing a bit more power at that particular point in the cycle.
Martha:
I’m located in East Lansing, MI, but come up to Marne area regularly. I’d be happy to stop by and give an assist. I haven’t noticed any critical need to align the pinion gear with the bull gear. John Henry is correct that the position of the crank in the flywheel shaft can make treadling easier.
thank you! it does have a motor and not a treadle, but the power source doesn’t change that info, does it? i looked thru the pics we took when disassembling, and i can see where the gear and its key (and thus shaft) are in relation to a label on the wheel, which would allow me to line it up, but i cannot turn that wheel by hand to get it there. :/ the lwheel is 3/4 turned since that pic, and i can’t guestimate where the gear would be now.
if i assemble it and get it wrong, is the only way to correct it by taking it all apart again? i seem to remember we had to take a lot of things off to get to the shaft, and the gear was hard to remove.
when i think of all the labelling we did, why didn’t we mark how the gear was fitting? :P stupid.
arie, you replied while i was typing. :) you have no idea how great it would be to have help, if you were willing next time you are in the area. moving it has sucked almost all of my enthusiasm, haha.
one more question.. how can i tell if the flywheel is weighted? sorry for all the newb questions, i kinda put the cart before the horse here, but the deal kinda fell in our lap.
C&P press flywheels are not weighted. That is they are evenly weighted all around. I sent you an email through Briar Press to arrange a meeting…I should be in the general area tomorrow.
fantastic! i can not say thankyou enough, i mean it. i will email you back. :)
bluetulipdesign, please let me know if you have any additional questions. I somewhat recently disassembled and restored a C&P 10x15 (NS) and would be happy to help in any way. Have fun!