Found a starter Mill project

[Macdabs]

I work a lot and drive a lot just been busy with life but keeping up the hunt in the state I travel in for a mill . All the leads I get have been 6 hours plus and with only so much free time and logging 800 miles on average during a 5 day long work week the family life gets in the way .
Last week I got a lead on a 12' mill from an estate sell with no pictures ,Just that had been sitting for at least 30 years in the barn and never installed and there was oil in the crate but the Vane was sold to neighbor a year earlier cause they couldn't find the rest of the mill .They claim they paid a good bit for it and was asking around 1/3 of the purchase price . The only picture I got was the crate of the steps for the tower but had no idea of the size of the tower or what was all there. They looked in the crate looking for the mill and thought it was a tractor part at first the reason it didn't go with the farm that was just sold .

I took a gamble and drove the distance all 6 plus hours . When I arrived I noticed the long crate and two quarts. I asked where the sails where and was told under all the ther parts. I knew right away two quarts and the size of the crate could not hold 12' sails and all the other harware I was looking at . My hunch was correct and it was a 8 ft mill with a 40' tower. We struck a deal in the end for a lot less money since I was taking a chance on if everything was in the two cratees or boxes . Also the Vane the neighbor down the road will not sell no matter what . She snookered the lady for $15.00 dollars and wants for wall art.
I went through everything and the only items I found missing are the brake tower lever handle. The angles and v bolt is there . The pumping rod and of course the Vane. They think the platform is in the rafters with stiff on it .They thought it was just scrap wood .
Appears to be an early 802 with the fiberglass helmet . I figured it never lasted in production cause doesn't appear to be very stout and i never saw fiberglass last long with a leaking Corvette . I'll begin the hunt for the missing stuff if the seller can't find it. Either way for my first mill I'm excited .

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Congratulations on your find neighbor. Dan from NY. !!!!

[CTXmiller]

A very nice find.

[windybob]

What a great find. Parts you need are just a snap away.

[mtblah]

Your great find will be a good learning process , have fun .

[Kansas Rust Buzzard]

Glad it was worth the drive!

[Macdabs]

Started sorting the tower parts. The supplied hardware for the tower is the regular hex nuts instead of square and galv.
Probably going to go with galv hardware instead and made the list to order from Site Pro/ valmont . How do you determine the manufacturer date from the tag on the gear box? Also was the fiberglass helmet a one year only when production went back to Texas from Argentina?

[Ron Stauffer]

Yours is not an early 802 as those were the green weenies out of Conway. It was built in 1991, five years after production started in San Angelo.

The helmet is an anomaly though in addition to that crate for the motor. 802 motors with metal helmets were shipped bolted to the pallet. If the fglass helmet doesn’t have the inner lip, it will leak oil that is thrown against the inside at high rpm. Save the helmet with the crate for when it gets to the museum…

Hex hardware was started around 20 years before by Aermotor but usually had oversized SAE NC nuts. The only 32nd old English thread you will find on these mills will be in the hub and corresponding spoke end.

Later produced San Angelo fan sections and vanes had an option of being hot dipped. It makes the fan stronger and more quiet.

Your tower would have universal steps. It is surprising it has lower X braces with rolled ends as prior Argentina stopped rolling ends. The tower could be done as a 27 by dropping the middle section and using the shortest sets of holes in the lower section X braces.

It likely has lead washers included for spoke timing. Throw them away and get steel shim timing washers from Aermotor.

There was a time San Angelo switched to hex bolts at the mast base and they would pull through the base. They are again square head mast base bolts.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

[Macdabs]

Ron thanks for the information .The knowledge and history you have on these mills from installing and servicing these mills is a lost art. The helmet has the lip and I assume the handle in the bag is for helmet since it has two holes drilled .I’m going to replace the helmet with a steel one for durability and oil and fiber glass never end well . I noticed the hex bolts for the mast and thought the same on the hardware supplied then . I have a lot of galv hardware with most of the stuff we use has pale nuts or is stainless . I miss the days of a local manufacturing plant that made fasteners before going over seas that use to give me boxes of hardware hat swept up from the factory floor or was extra.
Thanks for the heads up on the washers and the info on the tower. I may go with the 27 vs the 40 depending on the final location .

Thanks again,
Mac

[Minnemiller]

Not that I would have passed up this deal either, but Ron gives even more reasons to appreciate working with the vintage 702s and 602's built in Chicago.