Has anyone used a Morgan Pivot Polisher? I'm thinking of buying one or some other make but I would like to hear some feedback on what other clockmakers are using. I have always done it by hand and it does a good job, however if a PP is faster and better, I will probably buy one.
Thanks for your replies in advance.

Regards,

Bob

I would like to see more info about it also. The only one I heard of is the Rollimat.

This is a Morgan installed on a Peerless driven by the aux end of a double shaft motor. This unit belongs to my cousin Steven M. Jencso, Steven D. Jencso's dad.
Steve has had this unit for (I'm guessing) about three years. I used to do my time only and my t&s clocks by hand. When I had a chime clock to do I'd box up the wheels and go to Steve's and knock them all out in about twenty minutes. Not only is it much faster than doing it by hand, it's also safer and produces a consistently better finish.
It was very convenient when he lived only a mile away. However his moving fourty miles away was enough of an incentive for me to purchase my own Morgan

The standard Morgan setup requires a lot of collet changes to get through an entire clock. When I got my Morgan I wanted to speed things up by using a three jaw chuck. The problem with the standard setup is the limit on headstock to tailstock distance imposed by the length of the double shaft motor.
I needed more distance between the head and tailstock so I came up with what you see in this picture.

Here's another view

And yet another view.

Here we're about to conduct some business.

This is what it's all about.

I made my own shaft to mount it to the tailstock. To keep it short for rigidity and to conserve bed length, I had to mill away a little of the tailstock snout for pulley clearance.

Great series of pictures George. Thanks a lot for posting. That is a very interesting set up. I have never used a pivot polisher. I still do them all by hand, but the time and effort is considerable on some movements.

When you press down on the wheel during polishing there is a tendancy to overpower the the shaft lock and the unit (which is solidly clamped to the shaft) will rotate slightly loosening the belt. This happens alot and gets rather annoying.
To overcome this problem I milled a notch in the shaft and installed the tention screw shown in this picture. The problem has been solved and the unit is working great.
There are a couple of changes that I want to make in the way I've coupled the motor to the jackshaft, mostly because I tend to get a bit critical from time to time.
After using a Morgan for some time now I wouldn't want to be without it.

Thanks George. Very interesting pictures and explanation of the use and you're of the Morgan Pivot Polisher.

Hi George...beautiful job on the jack shaft extension. What material did you use for the black framework. Is it metal? Do you think some of the new "stealth" carbon fiber plastics would be adequate to support the shaft?

Bill

Hello William. The whole structure is machined from aluminum plate and bar stock. The jackshaft is supported at three points with ball bearings. The paint I used is KRYLON black wrinkle finish. I don't see why you couldn't use some space-age plastic or fiber material, but I would stay away from anything that might be flexible. If you build one hi-tech, post some shots.
George.