Refurbishing an old Mitchell Lie/Loft Machine

I received a pretty neat Mitchell Lie/Loft machine today from a buddy. He literally just gave it to me so I’m pumped cause I’ve been wanting one for a while. I’ve got to buy a bending bar and the little things the sole of the club sets on when bending but other than that everything is there. It’s just extremely rusty. Any tips on how to clean it up? Will Mitchell take it back and restore it if I send it to them or will a third party do such a thing? Last resort is to go buy steel wool and buff the rust out and clean it up. I don’t want to spend that time on it but I certainly will to get it working. Pictures attached and any help is much appreciated.

Lots of rust. I think this thing can be awesome. It also has a lock down for hybrids and woods.

You are however missing a most critical part. The foot pads that the sole of the iron sits on are not there. There should be a serial number stamped into the edge of the base somewhere. Contact Mitchell and they will tell you what replacement parts can be ordered. They will recondition it for you. For a lot of money. The rust can be removed with a little sanding and steel wool. Scotchbrite pad and a little thinner will do the trick for the most part. Then a little oil on it and you are ready to go. Don't trust the numbers on the loft. They are a stick-on scale and can move over time. Find a club you know is exact in loft and lie and check it against your machine. If you can, buy a calibrating device from Mitchell to be sure.

The best bending bar is the Ultimate from Golfworks. 2nd best is the adjustable from Mitchell. Each is going to set you back about $150-175.

Thats not bad at all, but a few hours work and it would be like new, but if you feel you cant do it yourself, send a request to Mitchell. The company has changed owners, so i dont know if they still restore older machines, they did earlier.

https://www.mitchellgolf.com/contact/

What’s a lot of money I wonder? Thanks for the great advice Socrates! So at worst I need to buy a new loft plate?

Thanks for the help! I actually contacted them tonight. Pretty excited about it really. I’d pay a little money to get this thing up to working condition or rather cleaned up a bit. I can obviously do it myself. Just need to make sure I’m using the correct stuff so I don’t ruin it.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

> Thats not bad at all, but a few hours work and it would be like new, but if you feel you cant do it yourself, send a request to Mitchell. The company has changed owners, so i dont know if they still restore older machines, they did earlier.

>

> https://www.mitchellgolf.com/contact/

>

>

What would setting the rusty parts in white vinegar do to them? Usually removes rust on clubs I know that for sure...

What would setting the rusty parts in white vinegar do to them? Usually removes rust on clubs I know that for sure...

Any acids will do, but Coca cola is the most "harmless" as rust removing agent, but it also removes Black Oxide since Black oxide is RUST, but made under controlled conditions to get a porous surface where oil can stick to it as rust protection, so after rust is removed, it will need new Black oxide, that can be done at home, but not with the same outcome as used in the industry.

Its the same thing used for guns we use on both machines and raw club heads.

https://birchwoodcasey.com/products?category=109

A bit off topic vs your questions, but your machine has a Face angle gauge, but to take advantage of it you need this chart.

When we bend "loft" on a iron or wedge, its actually FACE ANGLE we are bending, but since we always address this clubs square, we convert face angle change to become a loft change. Its the same for hybrids and woods.

If you have a bendable Hybrid (long stainless steel hosel), we place the club in the machine with official loft on the gauge, and measure face angle (open or closed). For each degree of loft we want to change that head, we must now look at LIE ANGLE on that club, and use the chart above.

Example.

You have a head that 21* , Lie is 61* and face angle is 1* closed on the machine.

(official specs for loft, the other is return numbers from the machine, never mind what "true specs" for loft is, we navigate in "relative numbers" )

If you want that club to become 20*, still with 61* lie, you must open face angle by 1.5* to reduce loft by 0.97*

We bend "loft", just like it was a iron or wedge, but use the face angle gauge to measure how much we changed face angle to get to target.

For control, change loft on the gauge to 20*, clamp the head again.

Since we started from 1* closed, and bended 1.5* open, we shall now be able to see a face angle return of 0.5* open when the loft gauge say 20* and lie say 61*

Now we have altered loft by 1* to the stronger side, (no matter what true loft was or is, its the difference from/to we can change or alter)

Officially, we cant measure loft on hybrids and woods in that machine, but when we know how loft vs face angle are related, we can simply square the face angle gauge, and measure like it was a iron....the issue is that we cant use the same clamps as irons, we need the one who push the head from the back, so it would be kind of "hand held" and eye balling for roll on the face. If you have a helping buddy, we can make it rather good since we need more than 2 hands to do this.

PS! never tighten the club head to hard, or try to prevent it from twisting in the clamp, that will only make ugly clamping marks on the head. The head will always twist some when we bend lie angle, just let that happen, loosen the clamps and re-align before you measure the change, so you dont fool yourself and measure how much the head twisted instead of how much it was bended.

2 fingers is all you need for clamping, not 2 strong arms, so never overdo clamping pressure.

Best of luck with it all, and get Mitchell bending bars, they are the best on the marked. They have 3 models, short neck/hosel , long neck/ hosel and the brass bending bar for forged club heads.

OP, please keep this thread running with the resto

Howard, excellent info as always. Thanks.

If parts is missing or worn out (bolts, spacers and nuts often is worn out)

, you will find Mitchells spare part catalog for bending machines here:

https://www.mitchellgolf.com/product-category/parts/

User manuals (so you can see what parts that might be missing), is here:

https://www.mitchellgolf.com/product-instructions-manuals/

I think this is the Steelclub PLUS, (link to manual)

https://www.mitchellgolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SAMP-MANUAL.pdf

Rub some light oil on it and move on...great gift. I want friends like him.

Unbelievable information Mr Jones! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

> A bit off topic vs your questions, but your machine has a Face angle gauge, but to take advantage of it you need this chart.

>

>

>

> When we bend "loft" on a iron or wedge, its actually FACE ANGLE we are bending, but since we always address this clubs square, we convert face angle change to become a loft change. Its the same for hybrids and woods.

>

> If you have a bendable Hybrid (long stainless steel hosel), we place the club in the machine with official loft on the gauge, and measure face angle (open or closed). For each degree of loft we want to change that head, we must now look at LIE ANGLE on that club, and use the chart above.

>

> Example.

> You have a head that 21* , Lie is 61* and face angle is 1* closed on the machine.

> (official specs for loft, the other is return numbers from the machine, never mind what "true specs" for loft is, we navigate in "relative numbers" )

>

> If you want that club to become 20*, still with 61* lie, you must open face angle by 1.5* to reduce loft by 0.97*

> We bend "loft", just like it was a iron or wedge, but use the face angle gauge to measure how much we changed face angle to get to target.

>

> For control, change loft on the gauge to 20*, clamp the head again.

> Since we started from 1* closed, and bended 1.5* open, we shall now be able to see a face angle return of 0.5* open when the loft gauge say 20* and lie say 61*

>

> Now we have altered loft by 1* to the stronger side, (no matter what true loft was or is, its the difference from/to we can change or alter)

>

> Officially, we cant measure loft on hybrids and woods in that machine, but when we know how loft vs face angle are related, we can simply square the face angle gauge, and measure like it was a iron....the issue is that we cant use the same clamps as irons, we need the one who push the head from the back, so it would be kind of "hand held" and eye balling for roll on the face. If you have a helping buddy, we can make it rather good since we need more than 2 hands to do this.

>

> PS! never tighten the club head to hard, or try to prevent it from twisting in the clamp, that will only make ugly clamping marks on the head. The head will always twist some when we bend lie angle, just let that happen, loosen the clamps and re-align before you measure the change, so you dont fool yourself and measure how much the head twisted instead of how much it was bended.

>

> 2 fingers is all you need for clamping, not 2 strong arms, so never overdo clamping pressure.

>

> Best of luck with it all, and get Mitchell bending bars, they are the best on the marked. They have 3 models, short neck/hosel , long neck/ hosel and the brass bending bar for forged club heads.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

> A bit off topic vs your questions, but your machine has a Face angle gauge, but to take advantage of it you need this chart.

>

>

>

> When we bend "loft" on a iron or wedge, its actually FACE ANGLE we are bending, but since we always address this clubs square, we convert face angle change to become a loft change. Its the same for hybrids and woods.

>

> If you have a bendable Hybrid (long stainless steel hosel), we place the club in the machine with official loft on the gauge, and measure face angle (open or closed). For each degree of loft we want to change that head, we must now look at LIE ANGLE on that club, and use the chart above.

>

> Example.

> You have a head that 21* , Lie is 61* and face angle is 1* closed on the machine.

> (official specs for loft, the other is return numbers from the machine, never mind what "true specs" for loft is, we navigate in "relative numbers" )

>

> If you want that club to become 20*, still with 61* lie, you must open face angle by 1.5* to reduce loft by 0.97*

> We bend "loft", just like it was a iron or wedge, but use the face angle gauge to measure how much we changed face angle to get to target.

>

> For control, change loft on the gauge to 20*, clamp the head again.

> Since we started from 1* closed, and bended 1.5* open, we shall now be able to see a face angle return of 0.5* open when the loft gauge say 20* and lie say 61*

>

> Now we have altered loft by 1* to the stronger side, (no matter what true loft was or is, its the difference from/to we can change or alter)

>

> Officially, we cant measure loft on hybrids and woods in that machine, but when we know how loft vs face angle are related, we can simply square the face angle gauge, and measure like it was a iron....the issue is that we cant use the same clamps as irons, we need the one who push the head from the back, so it would be kind of "hand held" and eye balling for roll on the face. If you have a helping buddy, we can make it rather good since we need more than 2 hands to do this.

>

> PS! never tighten the club head to hard, or try to prevent it from twisting in the clamp, that will only make ugly clamping marks on the head. The head will always twist some when we bend lie angle, just let that happen, loosen the clamps and re-align before you measure the change, so you dont fool yourself and measure how much the head twisted instead of how much it was bended.

>

> 2 fingers is all you need for clamping, not 2 strong arms, so never overdo clamping pressure.

>

> Best of luck with it all, and get Mitchell bending bars, they are the best on the marked. They have 3 models, short neck/hosel , long neck/ hosel and the brass bending bar for forged club heads.

> @"Howard Jones" said:

> A bit off topic vs your questions, but your machine has a Face angle gauge, but to take advantage of it you need this chart.

>

>

>

> When we bend "loft" on a iron or wedge, its actually FACE ANGLE we are bending, but since we always address this clubs square, we convert face angle change to become a loft change. Its the same for hybrids and woods.

>

> If you have a bendable Hybrid (long stainless steel hosel), we place the club in the machine with official loft on the gauge, and measure face angle (open or closed). For each degree of loft we want to change that head, we must now look at LIE ANGLE on that club, and use the chart above.

>

> Example.

> You have a head that 21* , Lie is 61* and face angle is 1* closed on the machine.

> (official specs for loft, the other is return numbers from the machine, never mind what "true specs" for loft is, we navigate in "relative numbers" )

>

> If you want that club to become 20*, still with 61* lie, you must open face angle by 1.5* to reduce loft by 0.97*

> We bend "loft", just like it was a iron or wedge, but use the face angle gauge to measure how much we changed face angle to get to target.

>

> For control, change loft on the gauge to 20*, clamp the head again.

> Since we started from 1* closed, and bended 1.5* open, we shall now be able to see a face angle return of 0.5* open when the loft gauge say 20* and lie say 61*

>

> Now we have altered loft by 1* to the stronger side, (no matter what true loft was or is, its the difference from/to we can change or alter)

>

> Officially, we cant measure loft on hybrids and woods in that machine, but when we know how loft vs face angle are related, we can simply square the face angle gauge, and measure like it was a iron....the issue is that we cant use the same clamps as irons, we need the one who push the head from the back, so it would be kind of "hand held" and eye balling for roll on the face. If you have a helping buddy, we can make it rather good since we need more than 2 hands to do this.

>

> PS! never tighten the club head to hard, or try to prevent it from twisting in the clamp, that will only make ugly clamping marks on the head. The head will always twist some when we bend lie angle, just let that happen, loosen the clamps and re-align before you measure the change, so you dont fool yourself and measure how much the head twisted instead of how much it was bended.

>

> 2 fingers is all you need for clamping, not 2 strong arms, so never overdo clamping pressure.

>

> Best of luck with it all, and get Mitchell bending bars, they are the best on the marked. They have 3 models, short neck/hosel , long neck/ hosel and the brass bending bar for forged club heads.

I will definitely do that.

> @"Hack Daddy" said:

> OP, please keep this thread running with the resto

>

> Howard, excellent info as always. Thanks.

So the plan is to maybe contact Mitchell and see what I can do or how much it costs to restore this to almost new condition. Not sure that’s necessary. You guys that are experts on this certainly know better than me here.

By the looks of it some steel wool on the lie/face plate assembly that moves back and forth and some lubing would go a long way. The lie angle gauge may need to be replaced as it’s a bit rough looking. That stripe that helps you line up the lie also is loose and has come off. Would it make sense to just buy a new lie/face plate assembly to reattach? I know their stuff is expensive and I already have to buy a bar which is expensive. If I could keep all this under $500 I’d figure I have quite a deal here for a long lasting piece of equipment.

Also the arm that you pull down to move the club and get the loft is pretty frozen up. It moves but I’m thinking WD40 would go a long way here.

So I know I need to also purchase the iron sole clamps. Which ones are recommended here? I see a few.

In the machine that Howard sent me it appears they also have a piece that can fit behind the club if need be and it’s sliding around on the sole clamps. Mine appears to have a medallion for lack of a better word that accomplishes this. Is that what that’s for or is that for woods and hybrids?

Thanks for all your help. Just trying to decide what I need and obviously trying to save as much as I can.

If there was no loose parts thats not on your photos, there is a few pieces missing

Go to page 8 in the manual - illustration 14, those part is what the back worm screw pushes forward, against the butt of the wood or hybrid head. (zoom with your browser to see it better). In operation it looks like illustration 17, the worm screw is outside the photo. You also need the plate with the 2 half spheres you see under the sole of the club head on illustration 17. if all those parts is missing, and you dont play bendable hybrids or woods, simply forget that your machine could be used for that, its not many club heads on the marked who has a bendable hosel, today they are "adjusable" as we have gotten used to, so this machines is from the days with standard glued hosels, not bolted as they are now.

Get this....

https://www.mitchellgolf.com/shop/parts/samssamp/sams-samp-iron-sole-rest-set/

We only "tighten" them by hand, so we can adjust for sole WIDE...moving the piece that fix the club backwards for wider soles, and fast back again for other irons or wedges. Many club head DONT have a "even sole", so its those 2 fellows we adjust to get the clamps to fit the club head. (when you have done it once, you understand how it works, its not easy to explain without photos of examples

You will notice if the clamps dont fit directly and when you need to adjust this

Funny you ask that! I actually ordered some Mizuno JPX 919 Fli Hi hybrids that are supposedly bendable in a Mitchell machine. I’m not sure you need these parts though as they’re supposedly true iron replacements.

Also this just fell off. I’m sure I can glue it back on though...

> @"Howard Jones" said:

> If there was no loose parts thats not on your photos, there is a few pieces missing

> Go to page 8 in the manual - illustration 14, those part is what the back worm screw pushes forward, against the butt of the wood or hybrid head. (zoom with your browser to see it better). In operation it looks like illustration 17, the worm screw is outside the photo. You also need the plate with the 2 half spheres you see under the sole of the club head on illustration 17. if all those parts is missing, and you dont play bendable hybrids or woods, simply forget that your machine could be used for that, its not many club heads on the marked who has a bendable hosel, today they are "adjusable" as we have gotten used to, so this machines is from the days with standard glued hosels, not bolted as they are now.

>

>

>

Also what’s this piece do? Is that not for hybrids and woods to lock in or is that to further lock in irons that’ll slip?

That is the back clamp for metal heads (drivers, fwy). Works the same was as in Illus. 17.

With the modern clubs, there is no way you are going to use it. I took mine off to de-clutter it. This is vintage equipment and a wood head was sub 300cc's when this was designed. It will still work beautifully with irons once you clean it up.

My Mitchell is an "outdoor" machine, meaning it lives in the garage. It will only rust so much, so if you clean off the rust and don't protect it somehow, the rust comes back. I just leave mine rusty and spray it down with WD-40 every once in a while, and everything works just fine. The thing is built like a tank. Congrats on your new machine!

So it will not work with this glued in hybrid?

https://golf.mizunoeurope.com/golf-clubs/jpx-fli-hi/

I wonder if not if that piece is replaceable with illus 17?

> @Socrates said:

> That is the back clamp for metal heads (drivers, fwy). Works the same was as in Illus. 17.

> With the modern clubs, there is no way you are going to use it. I took mine off to de-clutter it. This is vintage equipment and a wood head was sub 300cc's when this was designed. It will still work beautifully with irons once you clean it up.

Sandblast it and re paint / powder coat

So I got it cleaned off well. Then the darn arm that you raise and lower that moves the club back and forth decided to break off. No question it has to go to Mitchell now. Of course it’s locked in place now. It was very tough to move and I guess I torqued it too much...

Now you get to work on your skills at removing a broken off screw. Drill and then extract it and then get a new bolt to act as a lever. Sounds simple. Doubt if it is. Good luck.

Yeah not a great moment here. I’m contacting Mitchell on Monday. I’d pay a bit to get it in good working order.

> @Socrates said:

> Now you get to work on your skills at removing a broken off screw. Drill and then extract it and then get a new bolt to act as a lever. Sounds simple. Doubt if it is. Good luck.

Interesting device really. Not sure how I get this screw out that slides down the loft rails.

This bar that raises and lowers appears to be welded into a hole... a

Get an extractor drill bit. It will come with a drill bit to drill the pilot hole. It's very simple... just drill the hole using drill bit first, then use the ez out to turn the stub out.