Getting The 128 Ready For A New (Old) Hand Crank

If you read the post about the 128 my sister bought for me in exchange for the 221 I bought her, then you might remember this picture.

One of the little issues with it.

I had moved the reproduction hand crank on the Philmont 15 onto it for playing around.  I really like sewing with it so the reproduction crank needed to go.

I ordered an original hand crank for it from Helen Howes over in the UK.  To get the machine ready for such an auspicious accessory I decided that it should at least be wearing its bottom.

It was also almost 60 degrees here and me and my son had just installed an 18,000 lumen shop light in the garage, so I decided it was a good time to work on getting the base completed.  After getting the drill press put back together.

The project isn't all that difficult.  Just some trimming of the wood.

I picked up the wood for the project at random home improvement box store a couple of weeks ago.  48" x 5.5" x 1/4" cheapo poplar I paid like a dollar for.

 It's too narrow to fill the bottom as a single piece so I needed to cut it into two pieces.  Rather than have a seam for pins to drop through when it eventually begins to warp I decided to create an overlapping joint along the center line.  I routed a 1/2" x 1/8" groove along the entire length.  Then cut the board into two 24" segments.

I matched the grooves together, glued and clamped the whole thing for the night.

I used the Gorilla Glue from the 221 case project.  Gotta say, I'm not liking the Gorilla at all at this point.  It dries in the applicator nozzle even when closed.  Maybe that's why they call it Gorilla, you have to have gorilla strength to get it to flow.  It came out with solid chunks that had to be pulled off before clamping.  I think that bottle is heading to the trash and something more workable will take its place.

How about those 18,000 lumens though.  Even the camera's flash couldn't get rid of the shadows that light casts.  It was cheap too. And only 117, or maybe 177 watts.  Uses 18 gauge wiring, which freaked me out a bit at first, but its only pulling like 1-1.5 amps so I'm growing comfortable with it

After letting the glue dry overnight I trimmed everything down down to fit with a scroll saw and belt sander.  It was my first time using either.  I had bought them about two hours earlier from 'The Junk Shop' in Canton CT.

The scroll saw is modern, but the belt sander along with an electric planer and jigsaw are all 1950s era Craftsman.

I have to admit, I put the base at this angle for the picture so as to hide the little bit of a gap on the floor end of the base.  But still I am happy with the results of my first foray into bentwood case repair.

I reused most of the nails from the original bottom to affix it.  I will still need to stain it.  I think I'll leave the inside light so pins and stuff that get into the bed will be easy to see.

But I think it makes the 128 really pop.  Doesn't it?

I'm going back to the Junk Shop tomorrow to buy a table mounted belt sander and see what else I can dig out of their $10 tool pile.