Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Mike K]

Hey Tony

The VMVC had a club trip to the opening of that museum in 1978 . Two army MP's jumped in the museum's WW2 Jeep and drove it out along the Hume highway to meet us . The Jeep I was co-driving ran out of petrol a few miles out . A Stude came along and offered us some petrol, it was D Mottram of course, tail end charlie in the snail pace Stude . Anyway, then a army ACCO stopped and the driver tried to get some petrol out of the ACCO tank, he used a empty Coke can on a wire and he tried to fill the coke can with petrol , letting it down the ACCO filler neck . The club president , then drove out to rescue us ..gee what a comedy .

The rules were more relaxed then, they let us crawl all over the exhibits in the museum , inside tanks and I remember playing with the Jap Juki machine gun

There was a breakin and they had a lot of exhibit weapons stolen at some time , cannot recall exActly the date . Mike

[Private_collector]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

There was a breakin and they had a lot of exhibit weapons stolen at some time , cannot recall exactly the date . Mike

Whoa! That is the epitome of stupidity. Surely it must have been a military (or recently ex-military) person/people. What kind of schmuck would break into an active military base and do such a thing? Do you know if they got knicked eventually, or was it a Lord Lukin sort of case? There's lots of stuff in there I would love to have in my collection, BUT who would you be able to show it to if you weren't supposed to have it.


Finally returned home at 1820hrs, after a series of airline/flight plan/weather delays between Sydney and Sunshine Coast airport. It's my own fault, the flight from Albury to SYD went perfectly and on time, so I naively thought to myself 'everythings going well today'.

Feel a bit low this evening. Partly over tired, partly sadness of leaving my Son again. Doesn't get easier. In fact, I expect now that his car isn't here any more, it may feel he is even further away than before. The good news is, I get somewhere undercover to park my little blue car. Nowhere to cover the grey truck........yet. Maybe another carport required.

[Private_collector]

After a number of unforeseen delays, I finally had the chance to setup the sewing machine for my canvas work. Not having any operator or maintenance manual to work from, issues were expected. I was not disappointed. The new bar went in and was set up quite quickly, but because the needle went into the bar slightly shallower, it hit on the bobbin thread case. Another slight adjustment to bar height overcome that, and I made them miss each other by less than a 1mm at closest point of movement. That problem fixed! Next issue was the threading path of the, er, thread. Some trial and error here, because i had forgotten my instructions, AND didn't take a photo of the original path of cotton which the previous owner had kindly left in place for me to see. Some time later, I rediscovered how it should go, and took a photo (also made notes).

The thread I had bought was almost impossible to break with my hands, but incorrect upper thread tension adjustments managed to achieve that nicely. Sometimes it didn't break cleanly. In those instances, partial breakage resulted in a strand of thread getting to the canvas, and most of the thread backing up before entering the needle eye. Getting the adjustment correct solved that problem completely. Fortunately I didn't have to mess with bobbin thread tension / setup at all!
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The above photos are my test piece. It is the corner strengthening triangle from a canvas tarpaulin that was given to me by another MLU friend. Thanks Andy! The raggedy hole is where an eyelet used to be. My sewing is sound, but straight lines and presentation still elude me entirely!

Machine still runs too fast for my liking, despite changing motor pulley to smallest available. My clutch control is in embryonic stage, so no help there. When I can afford it, I intend to get a digital motor. Then I can dial the exact speed I want.

[Mike K]

Tony

The stitch length appears to be very short on your test piece , maybe the machine can be adjusted for that ? re the speed, you can do what I did , add another shaft and pullies , it really slows down the machine and it's a cheap option as well. Mike

[Private_collector]

Hello Mike,

Can you post a photo of your machine speed mod, please?

I think I know what you mean, but not 100% sure. Do you mean one of those gearbox looking setups?

Stitch length is at maximum on the test piece. Doesn't look too bad, really. Does make for a strong join, so that's one positive. Tried to rip apart my first join. It's stronger than I am.

[Private_collector]

download (1).jpg download (2).jpg
Is this what you mean, Mike?

[Grant Bowker]

The box type shown is one type, another is 2 pulleys close located on a mounting post such as http://shop.raphaelsewing.com/index....roducts_id=354 The post mount can be had on ebay as low as $125US while the box type is $220US, but the box type has the advantage of mounting to the table using the standard 3 hole pattern and having the same pattern to remount the motor to instead of requiring you to plan and adapt your motor mount.
Have you had any luck yet finding manuals for your sewing machine? One forum suggests that there are manuals available for the LS2-1130 which they claim is similar.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Attachment 76621 Attachment 76622
Is this what you mean, Mike?

Ýes that's the idea but I made one myself and you can too.

re the slowing down of the motor, it's a 240V single phase induction motor and if you use one of those light dimmers the motor will heat up and possibly be damaged .

You could use a 3 phase motor and buy a 3 phase inverter , I use them on my lathes and they work great ... they are available on ebay about 150$ for a 3hp unit . The inverter has variable speed control for the motor , basically its a microprocessor controller with software that has many parameters you can change eg ramp up/down speed and much more. The inverter runs from 240 V single phase and generates 3 phase 240V . The most common brand is HUANYANG .