Photo Index - Wadkin Ltd. - RB Surface Planer - Bench Type

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Wadkin Ltd.
Nottingham

True Manufacturer:
Wadkin Ltd., Nottingham

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Jointer
Machine Size:	9"
Submitted By:	John Vannisselroy

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	RB Surface Planer - Bench Type
Date of Manufacturer:	1926
Serial Number:	RB 113
Last Updated	8/5/2024 5:51:28 AM

Comments:

This machine is located at a railway museum in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's not an exhibit, but is used in the restoration of railway exhibits.

It is one of twelve RBs ordered by New Zealand Government Railways in 1926, as part of an upgrade of railway workshops in New Zealand at the time, and was probably delivered in 1928. It is one of three landed at the Port of Lyttleton - I presume all three went to the nearby Addington Railway Workshops. It was later sold (probably when the workshops were closed down ~1990) to the museum.

It is numbered RB 113 - and as Wadkin started their model numbers at 105 it is just the 9th RB made by Wadkin & Co. It was tested at Wadkin's Green Lane works, Leicester, England on 14th October, 1926, before being shipped to New Zealand.

It has a 5" diameter round cutterblock which holds two 9" cutters on a slight skew. According to catalogue pages of later models of this machine, the tables are 5' long, but this early machine has 3' 9" tables.

The motor is 1.5hp 3 phase, and drives the cutterblock spindle through herringbone gears enclosed in a gearcase. The motor is manufactured by English Electric Co. at their Phoenix Works in Bradford, England (serial number X11330B).

Photo 1:

Comments: General view.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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Photo 2:

Comments: End view.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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Photo 3:

Comments: Rear view. Note the "Surty" type guard fitted - actually an "Ideal" guard made by JT Peat Pty Ltd of Sydney, Australia.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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Photo 4:

Comments: A closer view of the motor and gearcase.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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Photo 5:

Comments: Maker's tag.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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Photo 6:

Comments: Motor tag.
Source: Photo by D Hansen.

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