I bought a 1911 LG 25 at auction. I'll follow up with pics and more info later but, I have a quick question. It sat in a barn for awhile and so has many muddabber nests throughout including the motor. Can I wash the motor inside? I'm sure the sandy soil they used won't do the motor any good!

For a few hundred or less you could buy a new 1 or 1 1/2 motor. I guess you have to ask yourself if the old motor is worth salvaging. If it is best to do a rebuild while you have it apart - not just a cleaning. I am facing a similar situation and have chosen to get a new motor. best of luck with you 25. That is a great 'little' machine.

I bought a 1911 LG 25 at auction. I'll follow up with pics and more info later but, I have a quick question. It sat in a barn for awhile and so has many muddabber nests throughout including the motor. Can I wash the motor inside? I'm sure the sandy soil they used won't do the motor any good!

I would run it by the local electric motor shop for an opinion. I lean towards buying a new/used motor. Put a 'wanted' ad on craigslist. Look for a totally enclosed motor to avoid the same problem down the road. Good luck with your new hammer.

Bob

Right now budgetary considerations dictate a conservative approach if at all possible. Is it harmful to wash the motor letting it dry before use of course?

Rust would be a concern I would have with washing it down with water.

What about taking the motor apart and using a brass or nylon brush & compressed air to clean the nests out?

Right now budgetary considerations dictate a conservative approach if at all possible. Is it harmful to wash the motor letting it dry before use of course?

Water? I wouldn't do that. I would soak it with some WD40 then use a blowgun to get the crap out. If you can take it apart first that would be even better. If you haven't ever done it before, you can do more harm than good.
Old motors can be well worth saving, they were built to last. Sometimes all the need is new brushes and that's no big deal
Pix would help...............mb

I have dried out motors that were in floods. I power washed them to get the sand and mud out.
Then we put them in a kitchen oven (not the wife's)and baked them at 250 degrees for 5 or 6
hours with the door blocked open about an inch to let the moisture out. The type of bearings
makes allot of difference good sealed bearings come thru it good, unsealed ball and bushing
type bearings will need to be removed cleaned and re-lubed. If we needed to remove bearings
we did the bake out while the motor was apart.

I would not worry about washing the motor if you dry it promptly after washing out. If you can spin it by hand and use compressed air to blow it out that may work as well. If really bad then take off the end caps and wash and dry like peacock said. Or leave in the sun on a hot day.
Rob

Thanks for all the advise. Pics tomorrow

Here's the hammer. It was $1150 at a farm auction, probably not a great deal but not terrible. It seems to have been rebuilt by a previous owner since it was repainted including the letters. Seems pretty tight.
The only obvious problem except for the mubdabbers is a crack in the sowblock. The piece may flake off eventually but the previous owner said it was that way when he bought it.

Here's the hammer. It was $1150 at a farm auction, probably not a great deal but not terrible. It seems to have been rebuilt by a previous owner since it was repainted including the letters. Seems pretty tight.
The only obvious problem except for the mubdabbers is a crack in the sowblock. The piece may flake off eventually but the previous owner said it was that way when he bought it.

It is hard to tell from the photo, but it might just be a cold shut from the sand casting. My Little Giant has a couple in it. Although cold shut are stress risers and can lead to cracks. If you see it start to grow or open up you will want to repair it. I have had good luck using die penatrant, groove out the crack, stop drilling the end and welding it up with with a nickel 99 electrode. Some might say you need to preheat to 500 degrees but I have been taught unless you can heat the whole cast and maintain the preheat you should just preheat enough to get the moisture to run. About 200 degrees should do it.

Here's the hammer. It was $1150 at a farm auction, probably not a great deal but not terrible. It seems to have been rebuilt by a previous owner since it was repainted including the letters. Seems pretty tight.
The only obvious problem except for the mubdabbers is a crack in the sowblock. The piece may flake off eventually but the previous owner said it was that way when he bought it.

My 25LG has some chips on the dovetail slot but nothing like this one. Mine also is a new style and if worse came to worse the it has a replaceable sow block. Your hammer doesn't look like the bottom die has been out for a loooong time. Will it come out? Not being able to change dies easily limits the usefulness of the machine. It doesn't look like it's been used for a long time.

I would have passed on this hammer.



Bob

Your hammer doesn't look like the bottom die has been out for a loooong time. Will it come out?
What goes in will come out, patience is the watch word.With penatrating oil, soak, tap, soak, tap and maybe a little heat ( not enough to have to re harden the die if possible).........it may take awhile............mb

Before it breaks off I would drill and tap down through it and put 2-3 high-strength bolts in it. Looks like the wedge is purposely short to take any strain off it.

Before it breaks off I would drill and tap down through it and put 2-3 high-strength bolts in it. Looks like the wedge is purposely short to take any strain off it.

This is basically what Sid recommended. Would you say two 1/4" long enough to go around 3/8" into the block w/ washers/lock washers would do it?
The previous owner bought it this way and had it about 6 years. He used it on plow blades but it sat in the barn the last two years. The dies are almost used up so I'll probably change them out for the changeable dies.
As far as passing on it, I bought what I could afford (actually a little more). I'd certainly like to have been able to buy one of Sid's rebuilts! I'd hadn't seen aay others in this price range. What needs to be done to it can be done in stages.

I bought a 1911 LG 25 at auction. I'll follow up with pics and more info later but, I have a quick question. It sat in a barn for awhile and so has many muddabber nests throughout including the motor. Can I wash the motor inside? I'm sure the sandy soil they used won't do the motor any good!

You might be able to find an old table saw with a good motor. I picked one up for $25 with a 1 hp motor.

Grant is spot on. !/4 inch is not enough. I have used this repair many times.
I would use 2 or 3, 1/2 inch bolts. drill 1/2 inch holes to about depth of crack
them tap drill below the crack. when tapping blow the chips out often use at least
grade 5 bolts. Don't try to remove the die till you do the repair.

Grant is spot on. !/4 inch is not enough. I have used this repair many times.
I would use 2 or 3, 1/2 inch bolts. drill 1/2 inch holes to about depth of crack
them tap drill below the crack. when tapping blow the chips out often use at least
grade 5 bolts. Don't try to remove the die till you do the repair.

I meant 1/4" diameter bolts then tap drill about 3/8" below the crack . The chip is about 2" long from a feather edge to about 1/2" thick at the end. Would 1/2" bolts leave enough original material? Not trying to argue just understand.

On my latest hammer (#1 Champion), I was able to cross drill the end of the wedge and fasten a bolt though it I could attach to my come-along. Then after a couple of weeks soaking the wedge in PB blaster I put a couple of hundred pounds of pull on the wedge and started tapping it. Came out surprisingly easy...

Be wary of tapping the "small end" as wedges will often upset and so make it harder to remove.

And as always on full length wedges---make sure you're going the right way! (I had a friend who was having trouble removing the wedge on his *first* powerhammer and after a couple of hours at it he called me to take a look. I looked it over carefully and told him "It comes out the *other* way!" 15 minutes later *ping* and it was free...

If you can weld a rod to the fat end of the wedge you can fab a simple ''slide hammer'' to tap the wedge in reverse,thus eliminating the need to bugger the small end of the wedge. Careful you don't pinch your fingers in it, they can really do a number on em'...................Soak,soak,soak

I think you did good on this purchase, that repair is an easy fix, clean that motor out it should work, or replace with another motor, but save the old one if you do replace it you can always rebuild it later. I went to look at a 25 lb Little Giant and the guy had replaced the motor and thrown away the old one "It was too big and heavy" (made to last)

I think you did good on this purchase, that repair is an easy fix, clean that motor out it should work, or replace with another motor, but save the old one if you do replace it you can always rebuild it later. I went to look at a 25 lb Little Giant and the guy had replaced the motor and thrown away the old one "It was too big and heavy" (made to last)

Yeah, I really wish I had the original motor. This one is from 1969. I called Baldor which owns them, gave them the model number and they sent me the orignal manu. sheet. Amazing.

C14G0502N.PDF

A little more info for the folks suggestiong bolting down the chip.
The chip is a 2"X2" 90 degree triangle. It's feather-edge on the hypotenuse-side and about 5/8" thick at the 90 degree point.
It looks like it might be a little tight to get two 1/2" bolts in there as one person suggested since you only have 2 sq.ins. of surface area to drill in. What do you think?

In cast iron you'll need about 4 X dia for threads. So mark the two spots and pilot drill (1/4") down about 2-3/4" then open that to 27/64" (tap drill for 1/2 NC) and then drill with exactly 1/2" drill down about 3/4". This will guide the tap and make a bushing fit (close) for the bolt. Blow out the holes and coat the threads of the bolts with Loc-tite ™. Only use a lock washer. This sketch is to scale and it looks like you can fit it in there. You should be able to do the drilling and tapping dry, which will by much better for the Loc-Tite. Be sure to try the bolts dry first to make sure of everything.

Thanks for the work Grant. I'll have to disassemble the ram guide to get the drill to the chip. But, I was going to take off one of the bolts to put a cage around it. I saw a great and simple cage this weekend at another smithie's shop. Plus I have to change the belt to new doubles so I needed to lift the driveshaft off. Anyone have good recommendations for the drive pulley/belt combo?

What does 4 X dia mean? I understand that a 1/2" bolt will have deeper threads than a 1/4" bolt. Is that what it's related to?