N50 Arrived...now for the refurb
Woohoo - my new second hand N50 (ML-33777) just arrived tonight. As the seller had said, there's some superficial wear and tear - mostly worn paint. The bowl lock tab was snapped off, and the rubber feet are missing, as are the attahment cap and its thumb screw. The switch cover is also a little warped and the attachment hub spring is broken. And the wire whip is missing some tynes. Annoyingly the new OEM N50 dough hook I just ordered doesn't quite fit and lock on the shaft (the whip and new beater do perfectly, so I'm assuming it's a just a poorly machined hook).
Other than that - and in the most important aspect - she runs smoothly at all speeds and the gears change easily, with no nasty noises.
I'm looking forward to tearing it down for a refurb over the next few weeks, and I will order new parts tomorrow. Am planning to strip and powder coat the main metal parts.
Wish me luck without the service manual - although the free parts diagrams are helpful. Having pulled apart and rebuilt my old British car's engine, suspension and electrics (but not the gearbox yet), I'm assuming I can handle it.
I'm planning on repacking the gears and transmission with either wheel bearing grease (bentone/clay based, same as Shell Darina) or white lithium grease. Food grade is not a major concern, since this won't be in a commercial environment.
EDIT: my restoration experience is documented on this updated thread: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24332/hobart-n50-restoration-experience [1]