Landis 12 G Outsole Stitcher moving, cleaning, partial disassembly, resurrection

[AlizabethThomas]

I got to work on reconnecting all the heater wires. These are insulated with asbestos. Mmm, genuine asbestos. I had to heat shrink some tubing on to where some of it was crumbling. These little resistor pack heat pads providing 200 degrees to this cast iron all these years made the whatever part of the wire that holds the asbestos together get crumbly where the heat was. Hopefully I won't need the heating circuit now that I'm using cold liquid wax, but if the machine still needs to be warmed, hopefully all the heat shrink tubing will do is shrink or get soft. If I blow a fuse, I could add some modern fiberglass sleeves to the ends where I applied heat shrink. Note that the small black thermostat wires are not in the right place. There was another conduit box that was later swung into place that had a carbon resistor inside, and unlike the other heating pads, this one wasn't in contact with a part of the machine near thread handling. The heat is to keep the wax melty. The placement of this box out in the open with the resistor block that din't look like the heaters, along with the fact that the ring terminals on these flexible black thermostat wires fit the large threaded studs which were much bigger than the little machine screws that hold wires to heating elements led me to conclude it's the hanging junction box where the thermostat wires belonged. I knew I would figure it out right when I took it apart without taking pictures. I usually just ask myself, is this part of the machine different enough that it has a best correct fit that is different from the other places it could connect, if it could matter? 

Edited April 12, 2021 by AlizabethThomas

[AlizabethThomas]

While I had the touchup paint mix perfect, I took the time to prep and paint a few things mainly for the front of the machine like the table and tombstone cover. All that's left to do is secure the motor and it's belt to the clutch shaft, make some leather drive belts, and thread the machine. That would render it ready to be put into motorized service, and may require some slight troubleshooting to make it run perfectly. 

[jimi]

Great job Alizabeth!, that was lucky you were not missing any important parts.... and it is not exactly a small portable machine, and in the end the machine looks like new!! I am sure this will last another 100yrs.

[DonInReno]

Thanks for sharing your adventure - what a fun machine.

[MikeRock]

In the photo of the oiling points, don't forget that little Gits oil cup, next to a bolt head.

[AlizabethThomas]

23 hours ago, MikeRock said:

In the photo of the oiling points, don't forget that little Gits oil cup, next to a bolt head.

I didn't paint any oil cups red because they're obviously oil cups, unless you are talking about an oil hole that is not painted red...

[MikeRock]

Good enough!  Gits brothers are the guys who make all the oil cups.  The ones on my steam engine are HUGE......  You are doing such great work on this old machine, it does my heart good to see it coming to life.

Mike

[AlizabethThomas]

On 4/14/2021 at 7:09 PM, MikeRock said:

Good enough!  Gits brothers are the guys who make all the oil cups.  The ones on my steam engine are HUGE......  You are doing such great work on this old machine, it does my heart good to see it coming to life.

Mike

Haha, I was wondering what was with this "make sure you GIT that one wit' yer oiler" as I was interpreting it earlier. I was especially confused to see that your location was Wisconsin with that kind of talk (lived there 5 years). So thanks for the clarification. I made the effort to inspect them and they are indeed genuine, original Gits Bros. brand oil cups bearing that mark!

 

[AlizabethThomas]

I had ordered a new left thread holder. The one that had come with the machine was snapped off and re-drilled, and had a piece of whittled down broomstick as the center post. I just couldn't live with it. I saw one for sale on Ebay and snapped it up for about $30. It was now time to re-thread the wax pot and adjust the strippers. This is still an ongoing process, the rubber is going to compress, and I still have to figure out how much to tighten it over time as a factor to thread tension. 

[AlizabethThomas]

I made some new belts out of the round belt material that came with the machine. I sttiched it together with a 1/8" hole being drilled 1/2" from the end and stainless steel wire I have passed through the holes twice and then an L shaped end tucked in and all pounded flat. The main machine belt stretched enough that it was slipping and loose later on. I cut and re-stitched it an inch shorter to make it tight again. I might have to get used to the re-stitching a few times before it settles. The glazed over, hard one originally on there showed no elasticity left. I started anew because it seemed like it was going to be slippery. I'm not sure how much of a factor belt slippage is for regular users of these machines. I ended up using some spray adhesive to maximize traction temporarily, but it still slips some. Not sure if there is a belt dressing for leather belts, or a giant o-ring sized right for this machine. It has a lot of weight and rolling momentum that seems to like a certain speed and a pulsation of power to it seems to be the best way to keep the speed in the lower range, I later realized.

Edited April 19, 2021 by AlizabethThomas