Gooday,
Well I finally had enough parts cleaned up and purchased to assemble the blower today.
After sand blasting the gear set plus the input shaft I found that the teeth on a few of the gears were in really bad condition. I didn't think there would be enough teeth contact but I had no choice, I used them as they were.
A couple of mishaps occurred during this restoration. While heating up the gears in the forge to loosen them up I left it in too long and burnt off of the three attaching lugs. Also the third gear in the "transmission" now has a crack in one side of it. That was my over zealous attempt to free the gears using the large handle that it comes with.
I learned a lot about restoring rusted cast iron and steel blowers.
#1 Heat is your friend - almost anything will come loose when it is red hot.
#2 Be patient - if one method of loosening up parts isn't working try another method.
Case in point to loosen up the gears I tried WD-40 and a heat gun, electrolysis, drenching it with ATF and lighting it on fire, heating it up in the forge.
When you get the gears turning just a little bit , one at a time, don't put it back in the fire!
Work the gears back and forth while applying a lubricant.
#3 Spare parts for this blower are non - existent so, get creative with repairing what you have.
I used scraps of stainless steel for replacement fan blades and I used small bits of galvanized wire(from old chain link fence) to "rivet" the new blades on.
Here are some pictures from the assembly.
The picture to the left is the gear housing. The largest hole is where the input shaft/gear sits. I installed a stock bronze bushing in there to take out some of the play. I don't think the blower had one to begin with or it just wore out completely.
I cut a slot in the bushing so it could be easily installed with out exerting too much force on the housing. The housing at this end was more evenly worn where as the opposite end where the input shaft connects to the handle adapter was worn un evenly. Installing a bushing at that end would require filing it off center to keep the shaft lined up.
After doing more research on You Tube about
Canedy Otto blowers I found out that these blowers were not kept full of oil. The writing that is cast on the outside of the gear housing says to keep full with oil to top of plug. But if you do that they will leak oil. I plan on adding some heavy weight oil as need to the gears and the handle. This model blower did not have little oiler caps on it. I have seen other Canedy Otto blowers have them , the Tiger and Royal Chieftain did have them. Maybe this one did but those parts were "robbed" . Who knows?
To tighten these square bolts use an open ended wrench 90* to the head and use a screwdriver or ratchet shaft to torque the wrench through
the box end of the wrench. See picture below.
The brass dust caps (three of them) were installed after this photo was taken. They seal the housings where the gear shafts sit.
I used a piece of hemp string as a gasket between the two halves of the gear housings.
This video is of the blower assembled and working. I still have to attach the handle and do some more paint, however the bulk of the work is complete!
Well I finally had enough parts cleaned up and purchased to assemble the blower today.
After sand blasting the gear set plus the input shaft I found that the teeth on a few of the gears were in really bad condition. I didn't think there would be enough teeth contact but I had no choice, I used them as they were.
A couple of mishaps occurred during this restoration. While heating up the gears in the forge to loosen them up I left it in too long and burnt off of the three attaching lugs. Also the third gear in the "transmission" now has a crack in one side of it. That was my over zealous attempt to free the gears using the large handle that it comes with.
I learned a lot about restoring rusted cast iron and steel blowers.
#1 Heat is your friend - almost anything will come loose when it is red hot.
#2 Be patient - if one method of loosening up parts isn't working try another method.
Case in point to loosen up the gears I tried WD-40 and a heat gun, electrolysis, drenching it with ATF and lighting it on fire, heating it up in the forge.
When you get the gears turning just a little bit , one at a time, don't put it back in the fire!
Work the gears back and forth while applying a lubricant.
#3 Spare parts for this blower are non - existent so, get creative with repairing what you have.
I used scraps of stainless steel for replacement fan blades and I used small bits of galvanized wire(from old chain link fence) to "rivet" the new blades on.
Here are some pictures from the assembly.
 |
| A split bushing was installed for the input shaft |
I cut a slot in the bushing so it could be easily installed with out exerting too much force on the housing. The housing at this end was more evenly worn where as the opposite end where the input shaft connects to the handle adapter was worn un evenly. Installing a bushing at that end would require filing it off center to keep the shaft lined up.
 |
| Lubriplate 105 worked great to lube everything. |
Canedy Otto blowers I found out that these blowers were not kept full of oil. The writing that is cast on the outside of the gear housing says to keep full with oil to top of plug. But if you do that they will leak oil. I plan on adding some heavy weight oil as need to the gears and the handle. This model blower did not have little oiler caps on it. I have seen other Canedy Otto blowers have them , the Tiger and Royal Chieftain did have them. Maybe this one did but those parts were "robbed" . Who knows?
To tighten these square bolts use an open ended wrench 90* to the head and use a screwdriver or ratchet shaft to torque the wrench through
the box end of the wrench. See picture below.
 |
| Torquing the square head bolts. |
 |
| Installing the freshly painted fan. |
 |
| Gear housing assembled to fan housing. |
The brass dust caps (three of them) were installed after this photo was taken. They seal the housings where the gear shafts sit.
I used a piece of hemp string as a gasket between the two halves of the gear housings.
This video is of the blower assembled and working. I still have to attach the handle and do some more paint, however the bulk of the work is complete!
All pictures and video supplied by Capital Forge of Calgary, Alberta
Great work on the forge blower eh ?!
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