Photo Index - Sidney Tool Co. - mortiser

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Sidney Tool Co.
Sidney, OH

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Mortising Machine
Machine Size:	??
Submitted By:	William Thomas

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	mortiser
Date of Manufacturer:	??
Serial Number:
Last Updated	9/2/2004 8:08:25 PM

Comments:

Pictures posted on owwm recently ()of a mortiser made by the Sidney Tool Co. reminded me that I once owned one of them. I dug around and came up with this slide, which is not very clear but at least gives some record of it. I do not recall knowing the model number, but do know that it was different from the other one pictured in that it did not have a travelling table. The table moved in and out and up and down, but to cut mortises I had to build a work holding jig which would allow the workpiece to slide. This is visible in the photo. The spindle drive was complicated. There was a vertical jackshaft behind the column with a large diameter pulley at the top which ran the spindle with a flat belt. This jackshaft was powered through bevel gears at the bottom by a short horizontal shaft which held tight and loose pulleys. Shifter forks were mounted next to these pulleys and were controlled by a lever mounted on the column. All the bearings were babbitts. At the time I had this mortiser, my shop had a lineshaft, so I ran it from that using the old double pulley clutch set up. There was a major design flaw, however: the horizontal belt from the jackshaft to the spindle would fall off as soon as any downward motion was made by the spindle, or resistance felt from the drill entering the wood. The large pulley was crowned, but that wasn't enought to overcome the action of gravity plus the spindle movement. I placed a 2X4 through the column so that it rested just below the belt, and that helped some, but the belt was constantly falling off, necessitating a complete shutdown to replace the belt. Of course, as the belt heated up it stretched, making the problem worse. Mortises sometimes took a very long time to complete. I finally got sick of it and used the machine as part of a trade for my L. Power jointer.

Photo 1:

Comments: poor quality photo, I'm afraid
Source: scanned from a slide

Direct Link
IMG Code