Illinois Die Filer Overhaul

[682bear]

Back in January, I bought an old Illinois Tool Works die filer. It was pretty rough, but operated smoothly. The original cast iron stand was still with it, but it was missing both of the upper support arms.





It did have a shop made file support with it, but I doubt it was actually usable...



A few weeks ago, I decided to begin refurbishing the machine. I disassembled it and began cleaning/ stripping/ painting everything. I picked a blue color that I thought would be more gray... I must be colorblind... anyway, I'm not terribly crazy about the color, but it's ok, I guess.



I've been looking for months trying to find the arms with no luck, until a couple of weeks ago, I found a Craigslist ad for 2 complete machines... in Ohio...



A 'quick' 27 hour drive later, I had both of them back home, along with an old Ideal Duplex die filer... one of the Illinois machines had a faulty centrifugal switch in the motor, (which I managed to repair) and the other had a stuck crankcase (I've repaired it, also).

I removed the arms from both machines to check them out... both of the upper arms are useable, but both lower arms were broken in the same place...



I decided to machine a new one... trying to make it look close to the original.



I did 'redesign' the way the finger clamps...

After doing the final assembly and rewiring it, this is what it looks like...









I haven't installed the lower arm yet... it is still hanging in the basement with wet paint.



There was another plate on the side of the base that I want to refurbish... but I'm not sure how to do it...



I'm open to any ideas or suggestions about it, or is there anyone who can refurbish these old plates?

-Bear

 

[Winegrower]

I have a Butterfly die filer that does not have the overarm file support. It's plenty useful without that, my question for you is how much difference did the top support make? When do you find that valuable? For speed, accuracy, etc?

P.S., wow, that looks nice!

 

[682bear]

I have a Butterfly die filer that does not have the overarm file support. It's plenty useful without that, my question for you is how much difference did the top support make? When do you find that valuable? For speed, accuracy, etc?

P.S., wow, that looks nice!

I don't know... I would guess it makes a considerable difference when using a smaller file that might break off at the lower support under pressure... it holds the file more rigidly to reduce any bending, flexing, etc...

The shop made support that came with it would only work when using pressure directly back toward the support... any 'side-load' might tend to bend or bow the file?

-Bear

 

[Papa Charlie]

Nice rebuild job. Looks brand new.