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[jakesrocks]

That Poly arbor is one of the best ever made. Hold the belt away from the pulley & try spinning it. If it turns easy & without any grinding noises the bearings are still good. Do not, & I repeat, do not run that arbor under motor power until you have removed that chipped wheel. It will be out of balance & will probably fly apart under motor power. Can you say hand grenade right in front of you ?
The hoods on that arbor appear to be the narrow ones. Use that arbor for hard grinding wheels. The wider expando wheels won't fit inside of them. Poly also made wide hoods, but they're almost impossible to find now.

The other arbor appears to be a home built. If you can remove the cover over the bearings, post another pic of it. Many of the old timers used bronze bushing type arbors to build lapidary equipment. Not good. Those are only junk that will give nothing but problems.
The wheels however appear to be 6" expando's. Check them for cracking of the rubber parts. If no cracking, they're worth saving. The home made wide hoods are also worth saving.

Edit  I just went back & took another look at your pics. Does the emblem on the front of that second arbor say Highland, or Highland Park ? If so, you have a fine arbor there. Sorry I didn't spot that earlier. See if there is a number on that tag. I have a Highland Park catalog from the 60's, & can find a pic of your arbor as it looked new.

[kyanite_cutie]

WOW! Jake, I had no idea the Poly arbor was one of the best ever made. I seriously wanted to toss it the second I saw it. It does turn easy so I figure the bearings are still good. I think it needs a new belt and motor? I will be sure to remove the chipped wheel asap. Do you have any links to hard grinding wheels? Should I post the width of the arbor hood since they are so narrow. That will make a difference in what hard grinding wheel to get.

It says Highland Park. I am about to post a picture of the serial number. The wheels look okay too me but I will post a close up as well.

[kyanite_cutie]

Highland Park Emblem

[kyanite_cutie]

Highland Park wheel

[jakesrocks]

Just as I suspected, it's a B-1. That's a keeper. In your first pics it looked like someone had modified it by cutting the mounting bracket off, but in your last pic the bracket appears to still be there. Mounted with the bracket bolted down it will take up to an 8" wheel.

The expando drum you pictured appears to still be in good condition. That appears to be a 6" drum. Measure across the drum just to be sure. It should be slightly less than 6" across when not running at speed. With a belt on, when you power it up, the slots in the sides of the drum will allow it to expand & hold the belt tightly.

A little trick I learned a long time ago. Go to your local drug store & buy a bottle of glycerine. If you coat all rubber parts of your drums with glycerine & let them sit overnight before wiping the wheel clean, you can greatly extend the life of those drums.

[jakesrocks]

Finally Photobucket is up & running again. Here's a pic of a bump wheel so you can compare it to the wheels you have. There are several different makes of bump wheels, but they all work the same way. Both ends of a sanding strip go through the slot in the wheel, & through a slotted shaft. On this wheel there is a locking nut & a screwdriver slot. By loosening the nut, a screwdriver can be used to tighten the sanding strip around the wheel. When tight, just tighten the nut to lock the strip in place.

[kyanite_cutie]

Okay, so I do not think I have a bump wheel. Does that serve the same purpose of an expando drum? I have 3 expando drums. Could you summarize everything you think I need to get that star up and running. Should I replace its expando drum with the expando drums from the Highland Park model? The buy I am helping gets in town tomorrow and it would be good to have a list of things I need to get these things running.

[Back]

Hi KC

Big day to day. So to get the Star up and running. The wheel on the left does look like an expando. The pic show 5" that is an odd size. The other expandoes that you have are they of a different size? If they are of a standard 4" 6" or 8" and they will fit on the arbor then your in business. If not then you will probally have to rethink things. If you are lucky 1 of them will fit and when you get all of the supplies in you will have a bunch of belts that will fit.

Bless
Shawn

[kyanite_cutie]

The expando drum on the star does need replacing? I should replace it with one of the expando drums from the highland park model? If one of them fits I need to buy silicon carbide belts to fit the expando drum? What about the other wheel on the star? What needs to be done with that side?

[Back]

Hi KC

The wheel on the right from the pictures looks to be OK so at the moment dont worry about it. Yes the expando does look to be an odd size. if the expandos from the HP are standard size 4"6" or 8" and will fit then you have a head start in getting something working ASAP. If 1 of them does fit then if in the other supplies your are getting have no belts then I would say you will need to find some belts.

I hope this helps

Bless
Shawn

[jakesrocks]

This is your Highland Park arbor as it appeared in their 1969 catalog. It would have cost $33.00 back then. You'd be very lucky to find one for $100.00 now.



My advice would be to check the bearings on both arbors. Just spin them by hand & see which is the quietest. The HP would be my choice, but Star made good equipment too.

Whichever you decide to use, be sure to run one of the cupped washers on each side of your expando drum to keep the drum from wobbling.

My guess is that the H.P. has a 3/4" arbor shaft. I'm not sure of the size on the Star. If your friend has room for them, I'd use both arbors. Run a course & a fine grinding wheel on the Star, and leave the expandos on the H.P. It would be a more efficient setup with less belt changes needed.

Check any new equipment that you get. The pans & hoods for the H.P. arbor might be among them. If so, and if they're also H.P., you have some rare treasures.

[jakesrocks]

For your reference, this is what the complete B-1 setup would have looked like. Watch for these hoods in the other equipment you'll be getting. Please post pics of the other equipment as it arrives. We'll help you sort it out.

[jakesrocks]

Since you seem to be new to lapidary equipment there's 1 very important thing to point out. Facing the front of your arbor the left end will have left handed threads, & the right end will have right handed threads. To take the nuts off for removing wheels this is important to remember.