Maka SM6-Pii

[Brian Holcombe]

Fixing up a few parts. This is the floating dovetail, allows for adjustment in the ways. It was a special mess, I thought I would clean up the reference and the angle but instead it needed all sides trued. Likely I will need to cut slotted holes for the adjustment. I found a twist in it, so I started by cutting a new reference and working from there.





I trimmed the ends and recut the angle, I will have to take a photo.

Onto the chisel holder, needed quite a bit of help. I recut the seat and installed threaded inserts then filed them flush to make them disappear as best as possible.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Brian, fascinating to watch. Impressed with the attention to detail - - but not at all surprised!

Best, Patrick

[michael langman]

You have been doing a fine job on the rebuild Brian. Bringing back some memories too. Your gonna be making some really nice projects with the Maka pretty soon.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks gents, much appreciated!

[Brian Holcombe]

Received the table back from the shop, I’m very glad that it was machined as The machinist made mention that one corner was low by a few thousandths. Nice to fix that in addition to having a nice surface to look at. The site of the crash could not be completely removed but it was considerably reduced.

Table back on;



This is only a mock up, the ways are .030” from closing. There are oversized holes in the table to allow adjustment. I’ve decided to elongate those to allow the remainder of the adjustment and a touch of clearance. The ways need probably a few thou clearance and that is all. So I await sized end mills.

Covered the air lines





Finished reinstalling these parts



Next will be a batch of machine work, I’m currently searching for a boring head for the mill in order to process a fence and some other parts.

[Jim Becker]

Wow....that re-milled table looks great! (as well as the other stuff, too)

[Jeff Bartley]

Looking great Brian! What did you use to cover the air lines? It almost looks like tubular nylon webbing, the type used for rock climbing rigs.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you both!

Jeff, that describes it accurately. McMaster describes it as expandable polyester sleeving, this is the first that I’ve used it and I think it works quite well. I sized it to one tube and it expanded to cover both tightly.

The sleeve around the foot pedal tubing was more of a dense weave, very similar to the material used on welders.

I ordered a new air piston, and a big hunk of aluminum to make a mount. I matched sizing to the original as best as possible. The piston is 2-1/2” rather than the original which I believe is 60mm. I found some npt to BSPP fittings for that but I may simply recut the thread to accommodate BSPP and have the assembly look factory.

Given how many different shafts I need to fit im now on the hunt for a boring head for the mill.

[Joe Calhoon]

The Maka is looking great Brian! Your metal working skills are awesome. Are you spraying the paint and what brand?

[Mark Hennebury]

Brian, Great work! the Maka should cut crisp, clean accurate joints with how tight you have made it.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you, both! I am eagerly awaiting the point where I can begin cutting joints with the Maka. This restoration has been very helpful in my understanding of the machine.

Joe, the paint is Duplicolor, I’ve been pretty happy with it but I might go back to VHT again at some point to see how they compare.

[Brian Holcombe]

Spotted the adjuster holes slightly. I sprayed wax onto the table previously.




And finally, I tightened up the ways, it moves nicely.

I’m now able to move some parts out of my way.



I replaced the hardware for the fence with shouldered bolts and washers. I’m a bit nutty about hardware, I like heavy washers and washer faced bolts for bridging a gap. The bolts I’m replacing were probably themselves replacements for the originals, they were a hex bolt and washers, two washers which collapsed in on themselves slightly.

[Brian Holcombe]

Air piston arrived; my heart was aflutter. I have not seen the competition, but this looks real fancy. I will build a mount for it next, this will bolt to the mount.



Im debating my approach now to the air system for blowing out chips, I’ve been thinking to use a solenoid which goes on with the motor and turns on two small spray nozzles (one for each mortise).

Plumbed some heavy weight copper. Still waiting on a gauge for the regulator. I’m waiting Mainly because I haven’t bought one yet.



I managed to strip the key for old lock, so I replaced it with this one which just uses an Allen key, and replaced the cord grip.




Next up, note machining work. I’ve also got to fab some sort of dust hood, I wonder if any of you have photos of the originals.

[Peter Christensen]

Do you have good air dryers keeping the lines dry? Of not I would put a "T" instead of the elbow and a short length below with a quarter turn tap to drain the line if it gets any water in it.

[Jim Becker]

Do you have good air dryers keeping the lines dry? Of not I would put a "T" instead of the elbow and a short length below with a quarter turn tap to drain the line if it gets any water in it.

Agree........