Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

HELLO OUT THERE ! I'M ONE OF THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK & I HOPE I KNOW HOW TO POST A QUESTION . I HAVE NEVER JOINED A FORUM BEFORE . I'M ON THE NEW TOPIC PAGE & I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD BE . ANYWAY , HERE GOES . I'M IN THE PROCESS OF RECOVERING & TAKING APART AN OLD SAMSON MODEL S . WHEN I FOUND IT ON SOME RANCH LAND IT WAS ON THE GROUND & HAD A HUGE PACKRAT NEST RIGHT ON TOP OF IT . IT WAS ALSO WEDGED INTO A MESQUITE TREE STUMP . ONE OF THE ITEMS ON THE OLD RANCH IS A CONCRETE STOCK TROUGH . IT'S A LONG & NARROW ONE . SOMEONE SCRATCHED " 1918 " IN THE FRESH CONCRETE . I DON'T KNOW IF THE SAMSON IS THAT OLD--HA !
AT THIS POINT IN TIME , I HAVE PACKED OUT THE REMAINS & HAVE TRIED TO GET IT APART . THE FAN IS A REAL MESS . DOES ANYONE KNOW THE EASIEST WAY TO REMOVE THE RIVETS FROM THE VANES ? I HAVE TRIED EVERY METHOD I HAVE RESEARCHED ON THE WEB TO NO AVAIL .IT APPEARS THE RIVET SHANKS SWELL AFTER THE HEADS HAVE BEEN SMASHED TIGHT . I TRIED GRINDING THE HEADS OFF BOTH SIDES OF ONE RIVET & I CAN'T DRIVE OUT THE SHANK . CALLING THEM TITE WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT !
I HAVE SOMEHOW,BY THE GRACE OF GOD , MANAGED TO GET THE " TOP END " OF THE GEARBOX PARTS REMOVED . I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO GET THE HUB OFF THE SHAFT WITHOUT BREAKING IT . I MAY TRY AN ELECTROLYSIS BATH . I'M A PRETTY FAIR CAR MECHANIC & HAVE WORKED ON A BUNCH OF FLYWHEEL ENGINES , BUT I'M GREEN AROUND THE GILLS ON WINDMILLS . ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED ! I MAY TRY TO ATTACH SOME PICS . MIKE

Welcome! We can help. First of all, don't get in a hurry, and don't toss anything out. You'd be surprised at what can be repaired. I will check back tomorrow sometime, I'm in the middle of other stuff. You are correct about it being a model S Samson Stover it looks like to me.

Grind the heads off the rivets, center punch them, and drill them out. 1/4 bit should work. Take the wheel apart first, it helps to downsize it.

Mike , looks like you are taking the correct approach , soak , wait , soak some more , wait even longer , wait .........
dont try to hurry dissembly , the old machines have been together for a hundred + years, so they dont want to come apart easily !
Windy is right , fan blades , , grind off heads , drill hole through the rivits , eases tension / stress on the rivet

You wrote: "ONE OF THE ITEMS ON THE OLD RANCH IS A CONCRETE STOCK TROUGH . IT'S A LONG & NARROW ONE . SOMEONE SCRATCHED " 1918 " IN THE FRESH CONCRETE . I DON'T KNOW IF THE SAMSON IS THAT OLD."

Hate to have to say it, but its not. Wondybob is right, it is a Samson Oil-Rite Model S, introduced in 1927.

Looking at that wheel, you do have one thing going in your favor--in later years, Stover would often bead the ends of the blades, yours does not have that feature. Makes it a bit easier to run them through a set of sheet metal rolls to "iron out" some of the kinks and bends. You could also use that to make a new blade, I noticed at least one had broken off at the outer rim. I believe that "Harbor Freight" did or does import such devices, other members of the forum could fill you in on details of where to get one, and how to use it.

Challenge 27

Thanks.

Mike, whatever questions you have please post them. Don't worry about how minor they may seem. All questions are important.

As far as getting the hub off the shaft, usually you would take the hub/shaft combo out of the head first by taking loose the pinion gears. I'm not positive at the moment how the pinions are held on the shaft. Could be pinned thu the gear hub, or the gear itself between the teeth. Could be a tapered key for each gear. You should be able to tell by looking closely. Once the pinions are loose, then see if the hub/shaft will come out.

It is possible that there is a front bearing in the snout, up by the hub. I think the model S's have Timken bearings. If so, then the hub may need to be removed first, then the front bearing may come out or come loose. I'm not positive about this aspect, as I am not a Stover guy (per-se). There should be some info here in the library section for STOVER mills, check it out. I'm going there now to see how the front of an S model is parted out.

It appears that the front of the shaft in the snout has a roller bearing, however I see no blocking part the would keep the shaft from sliding out, once the pinions are loose. There is a nose plate under the hub that keeps the bearing in the nose, and that plate would come off to replace the bearing. I think I saw setscrews in the pinion gear hubs, but that might be for the larger size mills , I think they used the same photos for all the sizes. Never the less, once the pinions are loose, it appears the shaft will slide out, considering how much gunk is built up on it behind the front bearing.

HELLO ALL
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE INFO .

MIKE IN ARIZONA