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[Grayco]

Greetings Everyone,
My name is Glen. I live in Washougal Washington and I am returning to the lapidary hobby after 50 years.I recently bought a BUNCH of old lapidary equipment from an estate.  All of it needs work.  I am an industrial mechanic by trade, so I'm not worried about fixing old equipment.

Does anyone here recognize this 12" saw? It's kind of cool.  The vice rotates into the blade.  The problem here is that the shaft the vice is on, has fine threads (allows for adjustment of the slab thickness).  The shaft and the vice seem to have become one piece and the shaft no longer turns inside the vice "nut" .  So far, brute force and ignorance have not prevailed. I am going to remove the whole assembly and with a workbench vice and a torch, I believe I can get the vice to adjust again.

Let me know if you have any experience with this type saw.

Thanks
Glen

[lithicbeads]

Sorry can't help you but wanted to say hi to another Washingtonian. I'm on Whidbey island.

[kenny]

That has to be the strangest saw I have ever seen.Hope you can post some more pics so we can see the movement mechanisms.

[GoodEarth]

Hi from Eastern Washington! I love to restore old equipment. I'm working on a saw, Cassette Tape Deck, and a milkshake machine right now.

That saw looks home made to me. If I figure right, the vise clamps the rock and rolls across the blade as it cuts with gravity. Interesting design. I'd be very interested to see it work. My biggest fear would be binding and destroying the blade, but YMMV.

Plenty of penetrating oil and elbow grease should beat it apart. You'll probably have to replace every thing on it with threads and the bearings. Does it have a lid?

Joshua

[Jhon P]

That saw looks home built to me.

[Grayco]

Hello again Everyone,
I'll post more pictures later today but I thought I would give you a little more information about this saw.
I finally got the vice and screw separated. It did take a shop vice and a torch.

The large fine thread screw that the vice is on, and the blade shaft are both run through bearings in a single casting.  This casting does not look homemade.  The vice however does have some homemade features.  (I broke it trying to get the vice and screw apart) 

The vice plate on the right, slides toward the fixed position vice plate (anvil) on two 1/2-20 screws.  It appears if your rock is smaller than the vice pad (about 4") you would have to use pieces of wood between the vice plates to secure the rock.

While wrestling with the vice assembly I put too much pressure on the sliding vice plate.  one of the ears, that the 1/2-20 bolts go through, broke in half. Turns it was silver soldered to the plate. The 1/2-20 nut on the other side of the plate broke off the underside of the vice pad (again silver soldered).

The rock feed is actually power fed from a small gearmotor on the side of the saw not visible in the picture.
You may notice a homemade looking thumb screw at about 3:30 on the blade.  That locks the vice in position on the large screw.

With that screw loosened, you can crank a handle attached to the outside end of the large screw and move the vice on the screw.
With that thumb screw tightened, turning the handle rotates the vice into the blade.  With your rock close to the blade you can pull the handle laterally (its spring loaded and has pins engaging it into the large screw) in order to align the handle with a nut on a drive screw which is powered by the small gearmotor.

I currently have the saw in pieces.  I'll take a few pictures and a few more after I get it back together. 
For $30 I couldn't resist it. 

Just wait until I show you the 20" saw I got for $50!  I've worked on it enough to get the slide freed up and both motors running. (I'll start a separate post with pictures after I get this little 12" back together)

[Grayco]

Pictures as promised.

[Grayco]

Forgot one more   

[Grayco]

Good Earth,
 After really looking at the feed system on this saw, I believe you are correct.   I think the original design was for the feed to be hand/gravity feed.
I think the incomplete drive system was a modification someone started many years ago. Here's some of my thoughts about that:

When the cut is first started, there will be very little gravity influence on the feed and a little manual pressure is probably required.  As the center of gravity passes the top center, gravity's influence increases.  Towards the end of the cut, the drag from the blade, below blade center, probably adds to the feed pressure.  The smaller the rock is, the sooner blade drag will influence feed pressure.

I think for now, I just need to run it and see how the feed works.  If I find the feed really needs assistance for the feed, I'm thinking something like a bungee cord to pull the vice past the center of gravity may be all that it needs.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how the changing feed pressure may effect cut quality?

[Ranger_Dave]

Could that long bolt sticking out near the top of the clamp be something a weight hung from?

[Grayco]

Could that long bolt sticking out near the top of the clamp be something a weight hung from?

No.  That is just a bolt to limit the rotation of the vise.  Hmmmm... maybe it could be useful for that

[Ranger_Dave]

I just got a 12 inch gravity feed saw going. It takes 22 pounds of sand to cut without too much load on the motor or blade. It looks like it would be very easy to make that one a gravity feed. That might work better than that BBQ motor set up.

[Grayco]

I just got a 12 inch gravity feed saw going. It takes 22 pounds of sand to cut without too much load on the motor or blade. It looks like it would be very easy to make that one a gravity feed. That might work better than that BBQ motor set up.

Wow, 22 pounds.... I would have thought half that would have been too much.  OK I think you are right.  A gravity setup will be an easy fix.  You are also right that that motor is a BBQ motor.  I didn't realize it until you mentioned it.

Here's a quick update on progress.  Upon inspection I found the spindle bearings are bad.  I have ordered two new bearings (S7PP) from "Bearings Direct".  They were a third the cost, of any other bearing supplier, and they use USPS fixed shipping. $6.95 for "If it fits, it ships" shipping.  I have also been working on fixing my broken vise.  This next I'll weld a plate onto the back plate and re-weld the nuts on the bottom of the vice.

In the mean time, I've started revamping my HP F1 trim saw.  I had an old Korean made 1" belt sander ($5 garage sale treasure) that was missing pieces.  I salvaged the metal base and the 1/3 hp 1720 rpm motor.  The motor is going to go on a 12" polisher I bought for $50.  I am using the base for the HP F1.

I have mounted a 1/4hp 1740 rpm motor on the base.  I have disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the saw and today I will mount the saw on the base.  I still need to get a nice electrical box and switch, make a belt guard, replace a broken splash guard and re-mount the blade ?fender?. It appears a 6" blade will fit this saw but the saw table seems to fit a 4" blade better.  I'm still working on that.

Anyone know about a Model T Rock Rascal combination unit?  I have one that is missing the table and stone shroud.  Any thoughts on a good stone choice for this unit?

Thanks for all your inputs
Glen

[GoodEarth]

I admire your energy! Your rock shop will be humming in no time at this rate!

[Ranger_Dave]

You sound busy.  That 22 pound weight has to pull a vice along two rails. There's a lot of resistance there to overcome. You might need less.