Thread: Mystery Project. What is this???

Neighbour came in with a broken wedge of wood.
It used to have a 5/16 UNC cap head bolt through it,
but the machine it was in "bumped" it badly enough to crack the head off the bolt,
and split the wood.

So, rush job to find a bolt, and to make a few strange wedges of wood:
IMG_0213.jpg
(broken originals on the left. One is wood, one is Bakelite or fibre sheet)


The only hardwood I could find that wasn't full of tiny cracks was some Gordonia.
It is a very fine, irregular, grain. Lots of SIlica. Hard to work.
Sliced it with a fine metal bandsaw blade (which is probably now half blunt).



So, what do you reckon it is for?

Some sort of motor mount????
Kryn

Its a steady, from a Repco crankshaft grinder:

IMG_0214.jpg IMG_0216.jpg

There are two large (Taylor) chucks at the end, on driving plates that can be offset from the spindle, and large weights to balance the crankshaft mass:

37746506.jpg

but when grinding the main journals or crank pins – particularly on 1m long, weak spindly cranks – there is sometimes a little bit of wobble. The steady helps when chasing tenths of a thou of roundness.


Can't really see it from this photo:
37746519.jpg

but that swing down assembly is a steady, that also has two opposing swing in levers with a dial indicator.