Cassese underpinner musings

[WannabeFramer]

Just pondering really and wondering about future costs with the Casesse situation. I am starting to run low on some wedges and need to go shopping which has got me looking at spare parts too.

I have a CS88 and a CS79. I prefer the CS88 but it does have a habit of jamming. The clamp has never worked as I've not been able to source all the parts for it, and the spring has a habit of sticking. Nothing I can't deal with, but its not in pristine condition.

The CS79 has been listed for sale for ages with little interest and I was going to keep it as a spare. But today I've got a possible buyer which has got me thinking. And wondering whether to keep it or not.

Underpinner Spares say that once their stock of parts are gone, they are gone for good. Framers Equipment have said they can't get everything. So future options are going to be limited. A service spares kit is £202 but I don't know if that is enough to future proof things for a few years? And if I start looking at refillable cartridges they seem to be expensive too, so I could easily be looking at £4-500 maybe for some spare parts and chutes once cartridges sell out.

If you were me, would you invest in some bits and bobs to eke as much life as possible out of the CS88 or would it be wise to start putting some money by for a different machine in future? Is it overkill to keep the CS79 (which is frankly in the way) when I have someone willing to buy it?

In short, what are all you Cassese folk doing? Are the refillable cartridges OK and can you recommend a supplier? I don't really know much about them, but as my CS88 randomly likes to jam at inopportune moments I don't want to cause further problems.

[Mark Thornton]

To be fair are you sure you should be selling your Cs79? as it utilises parts that are fitted to your Cs88 (hammer, distributor block, pull cord, cartridge spring etc etc) which could prolong the life of your cs88 for the foreseeable future.

Reusable wedge chutes and universal wedges will replace the Cassese variant which will work out far cheaper then trying obtain a different new machine + wedges.

In short don’t sell unless you have to as you own a great machine in the cs88 and whilst stocks of spares are reducing you will be ok for quite a while to come.

Mark

Oh and wedges jamming in your current machine is usually down to the cartridge spring loosing tension and needs replacing, i have lots of these available as well.

[Not your average framer]

I too have a Cassesse CS-88. It is the second one that I have owned. I have been able to overcome most of the issues I have encountered in keeping my CS-88 working and might have some useful advice about how I have been able to keep my CS-88 going. About 4 years ago, my first CS-88 had a nut come lose and part of the mechanism came out of alignment. various parts were worn and I found it necessary to order new parts. Getting it back to fully operational took some time and was affecting my business, so I found it necessary to buy a new CS-88 to keep framing.

Then due to earlier health issues, The second machine has had a lighter level of use and since then and is in more, or less new condition. Then Cassesse went bust, which has not been helpful, but selling a fairly new machine for almost nothing did not seem like a smart move. I have a box of empty wedge cartridges, which I have been refilling with Alfamacchine universal wedges for years, so I can carry on does this for quite a while. Eventually the little ratchet bits break off the sliding bits which fit into the inside of the cartridges and there does not seem to be any way of stopping this.

Different wedge sizes use physically different cartridge designs and each design can only ever be refilled with it's original size of wedges. Since the 3mm wedges were only ever available from Cassesse, you can't refill these cartridges, because there now is no source other for 3mm wedges, but the little sliding bits inside this size of cartridge can be fitted into other sizes of wedge cartridge to replace those where the little ratchet bits break off. I can also get by without the 12mm and 15mm wedges and refill other more useful size wedge cartridge using these sliding bits as the need arises.

Providing nothing else fails and needs replacing with an unobtainable part, I expect that my fairly new CS-88 should last for years. Eventually secondhand CS-88's will only be bought for spares and will sell for peanuts and perhaps this will become the main way to obtain spare parts. I expect that gradually all my wedge caridge will fall to pieces and maybe it will be time to move to anothe brand of underpinner if no solution can be found.

[WannabeFramer]

Thank you Mark(s), that's really helpful.

So the CS79 would have everything I need to repair the CS88?

[Not your average framer]

Well maybe! There are some bits that don't necessarily last the life of the machine, so you need to be aware of this. I'm talking particularly about the hammer blade on a Cassesse underpinner. it's a very thin bent piece of metal and now that you may not be able to obtain such spare parts anything which is more vunerable needs looking after. I suggest regularly cleaning and lubricating moving parts, so that everything is smooth in it's operation and does not get jammed and unnecessarily get subjected to unnecessry force, which may have an undesired effect on a potentially unreplacable part.

There is a spray lubricant called "GT-85". You can get it from places like Halford's, it is a clear lubricated containing very small teflon particles. You can't see these tiny particles, but the are very slippery and reduce friction and therefore wear. Something which can slide freely it not very likely to get jammed and therefore become subjected to excessive force, risking unnecessary damage, or wear. A new CS-88 comes with a bent piece of metal which can be inserted into the top of the receiver block to clear any build up of dried glue for the path of the hammer blade and the wedges.

For some reason Cassesse supply this helpful bent piece of metal, but don't make it super obvious what to do with it, or useful it can be to keep the inside of the receive block clear. Another part of the receiver block which can accumilate contamination is at the rear, where the wedge cartride fits in. A small nylon tooth brush and a squirt of GT-85 usually helps to keep this area clean. Cassesse wedge cartridge are normally filled with lubricated wedges and as I refill my cartridges with universal wedges and the wedge loading spring is only just about strong enough to push the wedges forward in the wedge cartridge, you need some lubrication to enable the wedge to move freely forward in the magazine.

As a result, I squirt some Gt-85 down each side of the stick of universal wedges. This also helps to prevent wedge jams and misfires. The top pulley for the foot pedal cable can get stuck and destroy the foot pedal cable, so you need to keep the centre pivot bearing properly lubricated, as you may no longer be able to source a new cable when you want one. The sliding tube, which pulls down the top clamp is also subject to wear, which can create unwanted movement which eventually can allow the top clamp to no longer operate accurately in the vertical dirrect, so a generous squirt of gt-85 into the bronze bearing bush every couple of weeks will extend the life of the bearing and the outside of the tube.

Now we can no longer obtain spare parts for these machines, preserving any vunerable parts is probably our best course of action!

[WannabeFramer]

Thanks, I've decided to keep the CS79 as a backup, as it will be typical if my 88 breaks down I'll regret it!