I spent yesterday helping a friend check out an old large industrial bag stitcher. I used to keep them up at a salt plant (road and water softener salt) years ago so I went along to give him another opinion. The bag stitcher (about thirty years old) was installed in a production line that hadn't run in years. The guy who owned the place said the last time he used it was to sew up his boat cushions about fifteen years ago. Bag stitchers are pretty simple and this one was in decent shape. It definitely didn't have any rust on it. Whoever mothballed the line coated the bag stitcher in something. It reminded me of how WD-40 looks when it gums up (yellow, sticky), but really thick.
The owner was willing to sell it for cheap but didn't want it cut loose from the rails unless we were going to take it. Also, someone did an excellent job of guarding the whole production line (metal mesh bolted or spot welded around any moving part). It made checking the machine out difficult. Getting parts and linkages moving started with PB Blaster and soon went to Berryman Brake cleaner. Moving assemblies back and forth to break them loose in restricted spaces was a chore. Needle-nosed pliers (especially the really long ones) were the best tool for reaching into something and expanding them to move a linkage that was nearly epoxied in place by the gummy residue. Snap ring pliers came in handy a couple of times. Twice we made up a homemade machinist's screw jack with a bolt, nut, and a small piece of tubing to force something apart.
I'm sure many people have run into this situation before. Trying to generate some sort of mechanical force in a hole or other restricted area. Aside from sticking long-nose plier jaws in and pulling the handles apart or prying with a screwdriver or bar, is there some other tool or trick for this?
Thanks, TAW
We did get it loosened up enought to see that it stitched and my friend bought the stitcher.