Novelty Merchantman lattice crane boom part wanted

[gameswat]

Hi there, I could do with a decent replacement lattice boom as shown in my photos if someone has a spare to sell please. I've nearly finished restoring the machine but realised I have an issue while testing.....the pot metal boom casting has bowed noticeably with age, which causes the bucket to hang closer than it should, and when set on "REAR" the bucket or claw usually won't clear the ships hull! I already repaired a crack to the bottom of it years ago anyway so probably easier now just to find a decent example rather than possibly figuring out some way of flattening this one and keeping it that way. Cheers.

[jingle]

Would this be what your looking for

[gameswat]

Yes Jingle! But only the latticed boom, the rest of the parts are fine. I'll PM you now thanks!!

[jingle]

Cost !! Just keep throwing cherries at me and
I'll tell you when to stop

[treefrog]

Cost !! Just keep throwing cherries at me and
I'll tell you when to stop

Bet the cherries are nice in Oz, probably huge.

[jingle]

Thanks rory
Part posted ,,
Anyone else need any crane parts get in
Touch
Thanks
Bob

[gameswat]

Thank you Jingle and thank you for the forum PM! It's pretty awesome when a plan comes together this damn fast. Believe it or not I was looking at the casting earlier today on the bench and thought, why not just mill a new one out of alloy billet that I have laying around? Filing the lattice squares seemed to be the only tedious part. And I'm sure if I hadn't found something within a few days I'd have probably gone down that route - as never have to worry about potel metal cancer or the casting being so old and delicate. The warping on mine was about 2.5" at the tip off dead flat. Pretty sure it's gotten worse the last 15 years I've had it. This was operated locally at least into the late 1960's so I guess the hot Aussie summers didn't help anything.

[jimmycowman]

Anyone got the cast front panel (pull) like in the photo? I'm missing all of it...

[gameswat]

How cool is that One Penny casting behind the glass! Never seen that before.

[jingle]

I'll look tomorrow jim

Actually got this on my PC
Don't know if same tho

[glittering-prize67]

Maybe with a valuable item such as this crane one might think of getting parts re cast. There are companies that do it. And it helps retain originality and value.

[gameswat]

Lot's of reasons why this part wasn't suitable for me to cast - biggest problem was nothing to copy from as the original is stuffed! Turn around would be an issue too as I need this quickly as already sold, my foundy will take on tiny jobs as a favour to me but only when they have time so can take weeks or months. And it's not cheap with still a lot hand work to finish off something as intricate as this. There would likely be some minor issues due to casting shrinkage on something this long. Whereas a milled piece would be perfect size and I could've had it fitted in a day or two. The original part was diecast using pot metal so a sand casting in alloy or brass wasn't going to be a faithful copy anyway.

[jimmycowman]

The draw is a start. Was after the whole panel really. See what turns up. Thanks jingle