Wood Shop

Paper Pulley

Yes, this is a paper pulley, a technology which was once common, say 80 years ago or so.  This one is brand new from the one remaining company that makes these.  It was later mounted to the motor for our restoration of an American Wood Working Company tilt top table saw.

Tenoner Drive Belts

Earlier this week I mentioned that our restoration of an H B Smith tenoner has moved to the stage where we can run it a bit.  This is the end where all the drive belts reside.  Note that we have 'derailed' the belts for the cope head and cut off saw, so the tests can focus on the other shafting and operations.

Outfeed End

At the outfeed end, you can see the cutoff saw, and sharp eyed viewers will spot the lower cope head.

Infeed End

At the infeed end are the cutters for the tenons themselves and scoring blades for the cheek cuts.

Tenoner

Here is a pic from Kirk Warner of me in the cage and Jim Griffith working on the HB Smith tenoner we obtained last fall.  Trolley fans will remember this in use at the Illinois Terminal main shops at Decatur about 1910.  A lot of work in the meantime, and late yesterday we were able to run the motor and machine for very short periods, proceeding to fine tune or fix each problem as they were discovered.

Left Side

Right Side

Here are two pics of work being done on CRT 1268, the second end to be rebuilt this year.  The left side shows new posts and grooved siding, the right side yet to be completed.  There has been a lot of sawdust produced in the shop on this project.  Tim Peters is the Project Manager, carpenter, painter, millwright, designer, engineer, etc.

Not exactly the WOOD SHOP category, but we are helping a small bit on this project.

Inside the Car

Pictured is Karolina Ash, daughter of longtime member Fred Ash.  Fred has been leading the way to use one of the Michigan ArtTrain cars for a new exhibit at IRM.  Karolina helped, with some friends, in cleaning the display cases, and sprucing up the car interior.  Lights are working, and I suspect the first display boards were mounted late yesterday.