Photo Index - Parks Woodworking Machine Co. - New Rapid

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Parks Woodworking Machine Co.
Cincinnati, OH.

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Mortising Machine
Machine Size:	3" deep, 12" highest work piece
Submitted By:	Rick Barozinsky

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	New Rapid
Date of Manufacturer:	1925-1937
Serial Number:	N/A
Last Updated	1/14/2012 12:55:40 PM

Comments:

Found this locally, it belonged to the seller's FIL. Not much else in the way of history though. Hard to date as there is an ad for this mortiser in a 1925 Craftsman catalog, and at the latest in a 1937 Parks catalog. They even used the same drawing, so there were no clues there.

If you ever take one of these apart, witness mark everything. Really. These appear to be assembled in the factory, and then adjusted. It's not like they have a machined casting as the foundation, these angle iron sections are not real accurate. As an interesting note, the angle iron was "scaly" compared to today's metals. It made it tough to know if I had old paint on the surface, or it was the layers of metal itself.

The restoration was straight forward, lots of elbow grease as it appeared the machine was assembled, adjusted and then painted.

Some PO lost the flat belt pulley, but I would not have used it anyway.

This is also the first time that I had parts cast. I had to have another hold down, and a knob made, and it turned out great.

The paint is Al Ciemian's Powermatic mix from the Wiki.

Photo 1: