Ransomes Ajax Mk3

Powdercoat or rattle cans for the paint?  Very nice job,who did your rollers? wheres the grassbox?

Rattle cans for the silver paint. Brush on Tractol enamel for the green and hammerite red aerosol for the cylinder. The rollers were from Ebay. I've still the handles and grassbox to clean up and paint. It might be worth getting the grassbox blasted. I'm getting a bit tired of using wire mops on electric hand drills.

Thanks , paint isnt what it was, hammerite especially, I got 3 tins of spray for my Atco for £12 and its gone on very well over a coat of etch primer. Tried Halfords caliper brush on on the cylinder not impressed. Sprayed over it with some crimson but not great. Will see how she mows before deciding if I try repainting it with a better quality brush on paint.

Let us know how your blasting goes , have a few grassboxes that need attention.

From distant memory when i worked at RS&J in the lawn mower works, there was a coveyor system know as the paint line and cutting cylinders were dipped in large paint containers but the silver side covers were sprayed in a booth.I was an inspector there and spent a few weeks on the Ajax assembly line. We built just over 100 each day.

The silver parts were painted in a hammer finish in a booth about the same size as a garage.

The Ajax assembly line was not automated but machines were passed from one man to the next. The machine was then inspected and cut checked with paper and then passed to the packer and boxed up. The rolls were built up by one of the Pipe brothers, (the other worked on a lathe). Ron who worked on the Ajax line and he was partially sighted but his brother , Terry,was totally blind and worked on an automatic lathe. You could never fault either of these chap's work. Incredible.!!              There must have been around 200 workers there in the 60's or more. I started to compile a list of names and got around 30 or so but memory is fading as that was some time ago. At the same time RS&J had nearly 3000 employees. Now how many ?

Hi Hedley. The Ajax 3 restoration looks great. Puts my Ajax 5 to shame!

Hi Sparkymike. Really enjoyed reading about some of your memories from working at RSJ, really interesting. I have an Ajax 5 and am more than pleased with the results it gives. I do like to try to get the brochures, user instructions etc for my mowers and have to say I have been lucky, with the help of fellow OLMC members to obtain some great items relating to it. The Grinding In Pin, and Spanner took a while to find but managed to find both eventually. Cheers. Rob

I believe the silver parts were done in a paint sililar to Hammerite and had a mottled finish. I will ask a good friend who worked there with me he might remember the type or make of the paint.  Re.the paint travelling line, one of out apprentices managed to walk into one of the paint troughs and ending up ankle deep in the green or red paint, I forget which. I leant a great deal re. engineering in that factory as each week or so I was moved into a different section such as drill bay, mill bay, welding bay,assembly shop etc. The press work such as the chain covers on Marquis etc.were done in a large press shop in another factory across the road from the lawnmower works.

Mike.

Thanks Sparkymike for sharing memories of your time at RS&J, it gives all the mower enthusiasts a back story to their hobbies. It sounds like it was a busy and interesting place to work. You should get everything written down and recorded for future mower fans!

Thanks to Ransomesrob for your compliment on my Mk3, it's still without handles but will be complete within a month or so. I will be worried when I use it now in case I chip the paint! Will probably use my Mk4 more often as it's in good original condition and the paint on these is tougher than modern the stuff.

I'm hoping to display my small collection next summer at the Flookburgh Steam Gathering in Cumbria. Will share pictures with the club and hopefully spark an interest up here locally.

Re. Ajax machine, I have a Mk.3 Ajax that I restored when I worked at Ransomes. Needless to say, no shortage there of spare parts. I bought a new cutting cylinder and that only cost me a few shillings then.!! I had the side covers sprayed at work. This machine has the plough type handles and the wooden handles are past restoring. I should turn up some new ones. Anyone know what type of hardwood they were ? Ash ? The grassbox had the Ransomes coat of arms. Much nicer than the plain strip seem on newer machines. Nice machines, so easy to push when set up correctly.

Mike.