Death of a Tech 1

[Bex]

Or how I managed to ruin a 100 year old machine in 6 months.....
Hello strangers!!
My tech 1 and I have been merrily shredding tobacco over the winter, while waiting for spring planting time. I usually shred one week's worth of tobacco every Sunday. Last week, I noticed that the machine was having difficulty moving the tobacco through to the blades. Upon investigating further, I noticed that the little brass spiral gear that moves the wooden wheel along was getting damaged - the 'spirals' were being compressed so that they no longer grabbed the teeth gear on the wooden wheel properly. I don't know how this happened, and as the brass is rather soft, it appears to be almost impossible to fix. The brass teeth on the gear on the wooden wheel also appear to have burrs on them. I would assume that there are no aftermarket parts for this - I'm wondering if any of the other Tech 1 owners here have ever encountered a similar problem???

 

[Matty]

Sounds like the spiral gear was out of line with the roller. I take very good care of mine and disassemble it once in awhile for adjustment. New gears could be made, with a little creativity and ingenuity. The gear on the roller could be made with a section of copper pipe and the spiral gear might be made using a section of a threaded bolt.

 

[DrBob]

just a little bit of grease would have saved the day. Unfortunately parts are very hard to come by.

 

[Bex]

I bought this off of ebay.de, sight unseen, of course...I have never been able to get the large wheel off of it - PB Blaster, heat, and my last attempt with a small flywheel puller 'frightened' me, considering the amount of force I was using without any effect. I have been keeping it clean, and trying to maintain it, knowing that parts are impossible to get. That aside, I never noticed any difficulty in turning the wheel, feeding the tobacco etc., up until I noticed the crushed spiral piece. Without being able to get the large wheel off, it's impossible to disassemble this - I've been sharpening the blades by removing them from the wheel, and doing whatever other maintenance with the wheel attached. When I used the machine today, I fed the tobacco to the blades by hand - not really ideal. Thanks for the suggestion about a possible repair. I love this little machine, and want to try to fix it. Although I am hoping not to use brass replacements.....

 

[Matty]

I can't get the wheel off mine either so I take the whole shaft out. Take the wood roller off first, undo the screw on the spiral gear, then take the nut off the the other end of the wheel shaft. Carefully slide the shaft out.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Can we get a picture of the gear? Please.

 

[Knucklehead]

Do you have a local machine shop that could look at your machine? They could give you a price on making new gears and will have some little tricks for removing the large wheel.

 

[Brown Thumb]

You can adjust the wooden draw drum brass gear assy. side to side to get closer to the drive gear.
I don't know how stripped they are tho.

 

[DrBob]

this is a photo of the roller and gear. you do not need to remove the cutter wheel, remove the nut on the shaft on the back end and loosen the set screw on the brass worm gear and pull the shaft out on the cutter wheel end wheel and all. Possibly you could get a new gear made. but it may be cheaper to just buy another teck 1

 

[Bex]

Re: Death of a Teck 1

I feel like one of those 'helpless' people that always have an excuse for why they can't do something.....I understand that I could disassemble the machine by removing the little brass screw on the gear, removing the nut in the back, and sliding the wheel and rod out through the front....I have never been able to get the little brass screw out of the gear, either. I have a neighbor coming who does a lot of machine work, to look at this. I think that if I can get a replacement for the spiral gear (that idea of a machine screw or similar might be doable), I should be ok. I don't know if you can see the damage on the gear:

Or that the thread of the spiral gear no longer fits into the teeth on the drum, when the damaged part comes around:


As the spiral gear is so damaged (and in my own defense, I must say that I didn't notice any difference in the way the machine was working, until the damage caused the roller to stop pushing the tobacco), I cannot see how this piece can be repaired. I'm afraid it will have to be replaced in some way.....????

Edit: There is a machine shop near here - if I can get the brass spiral thingy off, I imagine they should be able to make one for me. Hopefully......

 

[leverhead]

Re: Death of a Teck 1

You may want to take the whole machine with you to the shop, they'll need the other parts to come up with the unworn dimensions and be more likely to be able to take it apart without breaking anything. Be ready for price shock, shop rates aren't cheap, another machine may be cheaper. If you go the route of having a new spiral thingy made (it's called a worm), have the new part made from steel. Dissimilar materials will wear better, the only metal that runs well on itself is cast iron.

 

[Bex]

Ef it. I got it taken apart - I had to use a hammer to make a better groove in the small brass screw, and with about a quart of WD40, got that off. Getting the rear nut off wasn't easy, either - I'll bet that bolt hasn't been off in 50 years. I was afraid of wedging anything near the blades to keep the wheel from turning, so instead I wedged by socket wrench against the nut, and turned the wheel - it took all of my weight to do this, and (seriously) I'm only slightly bloody. After that, I had to hammer the rod out of the machine. Anyway, it's all taken apart. You should be able to see the damage better in these photos:

 

[Bex]

Re: Death of a Teck 1

You may want to take the whole machine with you to the shop, they'll need the other parts to come up with the unworn dimensions and be more likely to be able to take it apart without breaking anything. Be ready for price shock, shop rates aren't cheap, another machine may be cheaper. If you go the route of having a new spiral thingy made (it's called a worm), have the new part made from steel. Dissimilar materials will wear better, the only metal that runs well on itself is cast iron.

Thanks for the advice. And the nomenclature - if I go in asking to reproduce my worm, the guy will think I know what I'm talking about and will charge me less....!! I think I'll bring the wooden roller in with me as well - the teeth on that are no longer fully straight, either. Hopefully I can get this re-done. It would be hateful to have to replace this old machine, rather than repairing it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Ef it. I got it taken apart...I'm only slightly bloody.

Hurray for you! Now you're sounding like an auto mechanic.

Bob

 

[leverhead]

Re: Death of a Teck 1

...the guy will think I know what I'm talking about and will charge me less....!!

Or he may call your bluff and stick it to you. Most of us don't get along well with regular people.

I think I'll bring the wooden roller in with me as well - the teeth on that are no longer fully straight, either. Hopefully I can get this re-done. It would be hateful to have to replace this old machine, rather than repairing it.

Bring the whole machine. They will need to measure the distance from the worm to the gear to know what diameter to make the new worm. If you can save them time, you'll probably save money. If it's a good shop, it should take about an hour to make the new part. If they're busy, you may have to wait a week or more for them to fit it in, be patient and polite.

"a little bloody", I carry band aids in my wallet, "leaks" are common.

 

[Bex]

Hurray for you! Now you're sounding like an auto mechanic.

Bob

Funnily enough, I actually post on a car forum.....

 

[Bex]

Re: Death of a Teck 1

Or he may call your bluff and stick it to you. Most of us don't get along well with regular people.

Whoops, I guess I fit in pretty well here then. Cranky is my middle name....

be patient and polite.

I snorted when I read this......

Hopefully the guy will do this for me quickly - when pushing the tobacco through by hand, I was lucky to shred at 1mm, if that. If he takes longer to make this (if he does it at all), I'll have to use my coffee grinder for my week's worth of tobacco - it's the way I started, and I never really liked the smoke with the tobacco flaked like that.....
It's good to talk to you guys again - I've been hibernating here all winter - never even got to use my freezer as a kiln. We've been sitting here in 50mph winds for the better part of the winter. Funnily enough, although it's slightly ripped, my polytunnel has survived. I'll probably start my seedlings within the next 10 days or so....hopefully this year's curing exercise will be an easier venture.....

 

[Knucklehead]

It's good to have you back. Best of luck with the new season.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Bex, You might even want to see what it would cost to make a few extra. You might be able to sell them to people that own these and actually use them.

 

[Bex]

Bex, You might even want to see what it would cost to make a few extra. You might be able to sell them to people that own these and actually use them.

There appears to be a businessman in our midst.... !!
Actually, quite a good idea. I've been looking on the internet, and studying about worms - the worm 'gear' on the Teck 1 is different than what I'm seeing.....most worm gears look like, well actual gears with teeth on them where the teeth run out flat from the circular gear, whereas on the Tech 1, the teeth 'stand up' from the circular gear, if you know what I mean. There is a whole bunch of math involved in making the worm - so far, all I have accomplished is defining that the worm gear has 50 teeth. Hope to bring the whole machine down to the machine shop tomorrow, and will report back as to whether or not this guy will (or can) do this. Fingers crossed......