Monday morning I awoke at 4.15am and set off for The Star & Garter Home at around 5.15am to 5.30am. Despite the sat-nav (always the sat-navs fault) sending me the wrong way I eventually arrived at the impressive Star & Garter Home. After parking, feeding the meter and unloading my tools I was then shown the Gibbons I was to work on.
Removing the brass cover plate and then the cover plate beneath I discovered the mechanism was sat in water and had probably been that way for years.
I decided the only way forward was to drill the box from the floor which took over 5 hours of continuous drilling, eventually I removed the box to see the protrusions underneath the box and understood why it had been so difficult to remove from the floor. I then quickly removed two later Yannedis supplied 400's that had their pins cut off, packed my tools away and grabbed a bag I was handed earlier which I found out contained two versions of more modern model Gibbons.
Leaving site at around 5.30pm I ran into the notorious London rush hour traffic, arriving home at 9.30pm, dirty and tired.
Today I started work on the Gibbons at 8.30am, getting it back together at around 5.30pm after fabricating a new leather seal, changing the broken springs, drilling out a few snapped screws and re-tapping the holes.
I benched tested the Gibbons and discovered the piston was only working for the last 20% of the swing, I will now strip the Gibbons on Wednesday to find the reason/s for the poor performance of the piston/Gibbons floor spring.
Removing the brass cover plate and then the cover plate beneath I discovered the mechanism was sat in water and had probably been that way for years.
I decided the only way forward was to drill the box from the floor which took over 5 hours of continuous drilling, eventually I removed the box to see the protrusions underneath the box and understood why it had been so difficult to remove from the floor. I then quickly removed two later Yannedis supplied 400's that had their pins cut off, packed my tools away and grabbed a bag I was handed earlier which I found out contained two versions of more modern model Gibbons.
Leaving site at around 5.30pm I ran into the notorious London rush hour traffic, arriving home at 9.30pm, dirty and tired.
Today I started work on the Gibbons at 8.30am, getting it back together at around 5.30pm after fabricating a new leather seal, changing the broken springs, drilling out a few snapped screws and re-tapping the holes.
I benched tested the Gibbons and discovered the piston was only working for the last 20% of the swing, I will now strip the Gibbons on Wednesday to find the reason/s for the poor performance of the piston/Gibbons floor spring.
Gibbons/The Royal Star & Garter Home up date -
Work continues on with the Gibbons pneumatic floor springs and the more modern hydraulic type from the Star & Garter.
Last week I managed to take out 4 newer hydraulic Gibbons, these are far easier to remove because they are housed in a box that is separate from the floor spring itself. This therefore requires no drilling of the concrete to remove them from the floor to work on them.
I have also removed the component parts only from 8 of the much older Gibbons, in an attempt to speed up the repair process to save time and money. I also returned the two repaired/serviced single action 'modern' Gibbons and temporarily re-fitted the Gibbons I had to drill from the floor the previous week, only to find out that the shoe on the door is rusted/seized up solid, meaning there will be a problem in the centering of the doors when eventually rehung permanently if not attended to.
Below of some shots from the front/street side of the site.
Work continues on with the Gibbons pneumatic floor springs and the more modern hydraulic type from the Star & Garter.
Last week I managed to take out 4 newer hydraulic Gibbons, these are far easier to remove because they are housed in a box that is separate from the floor spring itself. This therefore requires no drilling of the concrete to remove them from the floor to work on them.
I have also removed the component parts only from 8 of the much older Gibbons, in an attempt to speed up the repair process to save time and money. I also returned the two repaired/serviced single action 'modern' Gibbons and temporarily re-fitted the Gibbons I had to drill from the floor the previous week, only to find out that the shoe on the door is rusted/seized up solid, meaning there will be a problem in the centering of the doors when eventually rehung permanently if not attended to.
Below of some shots from the front/street side of the site.
And from the rear.
From the interior.
And finally a few shots of some of the various Gibbons contained within the walls of The Royal Star & Garter Home.
Here are a few more pictures before I go back to install the Gibbons to full working order, including my home made spring compressor.
In this last shot I am heating up this home manufactured part for one of the antique Gibbons so I can shrink fit it in place.
Further pictures of the Gibbons from The Royal Star and Garter Home contract:
When returning to salvage parts from the above to replace parts missing from other Gibbons I found more concrete had covered them, fortunately and after much effort I was still able to get a few parts out, in particular the pistons as can be seen, the yokes however I was not able to save.
In this last shot you can clearly see the original link arms are of differing length, the pneumatic Gibbons were handcrafted and custom fitted, each one either finished on a bench or on site as required.
Gibbons/The Royal Star & Garter Home, even further up date pictures -
Here I am straightening shoes and then freeing the seized solid lateral adjuster after converting my home made spring compressor.
The above is one of the floor springs I had to return to after it became full of water, it was not yet sealed and meant that this floor spring and its twin was stripped and serviced 3 times.
Below are top pivots and shoes I stripped and serviced, repainted, had rejected and were then plated.
A couple of shots showing some of the piston seal damage I have encountered.
Drilling out snapped screws on site before re-tapping.
Above is possibly wear but may yet be a hold open function.
Advice will have to be sought on whether this "bullet" hole (maybe one of the old soldiers didn't like the Matron) will be considered character or not.
These last two shots show the Gibbons on the way to inspection, where it is determined what parts are missing, what can be salvaged and what parts may need to be manufactured.
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