Atlas power hacksaw?

JPMacG

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This is badged Craftsman. Was it made by Atlas? And is his price reasonable? I live nearby and am considering it. On one hand, for about the same cost I could have the HF horizontal bandsaw, which is more versitile. But I like old iron.

 
The price sounds a bit high for a lower end saw with no motor. I paid about the same amount for a Racine W66. The Racine is a wet saw with 2 speeds. It has hydraulic down feed and lifts on the return stroke.

Here's a couple pictures of the W66:
 

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I found an owner's manual for an Atlas power hacksaw on Vintage Machinery. The craigslist item appears to be identical.
 
Cool saw if you could get it cheap.
 
i don't think 180 is too far out of line for something cool ,not manufactured anymore :grin:
 
I agree with Ulma Doc, it isn’t unreasonable for what it is from the point of view of a vintage machinery enthusiast working in a small shop. $200 is pretty much a steal for a working Racine. I’d offer him $120 since it doesn’t have a motor and assuming it cuts straight.

Keep in mind that is a fairly light duty power hacksaw. If you have a 1/3 or 1/2 hp motor laying around this project could be fun and it will give you an easy and hypnotic method for cutting up your stock.


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If it were near me, I'd snag it.
 
These were made by Covel, and sold under the Excel brand. They were also made for Sears and sold under the Dunlop and Craftsman brands. Atlas bought Covel in the late 60s and continued making the saws for Sears. I don't know if any where badged as Atlas. They were made from the 1940s through at least the 70s.

I have a Covel Excel in decent shape, that I paid $50 for last year. It is a nice saw, and take up less space than a HF 4x6, but it is a light duty machine and the HF is more capable.
$180 without a motor seems high to me, but all depends on how common such things are in your area.
 
i don't think 180 is too far out of line for something cool ,not manufactured anymore :grin:
If you like machines that are no longer manufactured you'd be right at home in my shop. The machines date from the early 1900's to the mid 1980's I don't think anything I have other than the Bridgeport milling machine and the Delta/Rockwell belt/disk sander is made anymore. Even then the mill and sander are so much different today than the models I have they're hardly recognizable. How many people today have even heard of Startrite horizontal bandsaws, US Machine Tools milling machines, Seneca Falls Lathes, Racine power hacksaws, Sanford surface grinders, or AMMCO shapers, let alone ran them during their working career, and have them in their own shops. I'm very comfortable working with these types of machines. Most are of the vintage that were in the company machine shops. In fact several of them even came from the company when the shops were closed down.

I too like the older machines, but am not willing to pay what I consider collectors prices. I just passed on a Delta/Rockwell Unidrill like this one with an asking price of less than $200.00.


It needed a good cleanup, but everything was there. I still have it in the back of my mind, but I already have 3 drill presses, and the limited room I have left I'd like to fill with a Moore, SIP, or Pratt & Whitney jig bore. I've found several in the area for less than $1,000.00, but most have little or no tooling. Tooling for these machines could be a major expense. In most cases the cost of tooling would be easily double the cost of the machine itself.

As for the asking price for the saw I doubt anyone in this area would be able to sell it for that price. There's currently a Racine similar to mine on the local craigslist with an asking price of $350.00. It looks nice and has a 115 volt motor which I would think should appeal to many hobbyists. This machine has been listed for over a month with no takers.


There's also an antique power hacksaw ($90.00) that has been listed for about a week, and a larger industrial saw ($650.00) that's been listed for over a month.
 
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To answer Aaron's question, as with the Atlas built lathes, mills and shapers that Atlas made for Sears, none are badged Atlas. They either say Sears or Craftsman (or Dunlap or whatever) if Sears sold them. The only time that they would say Atlas would be if Atlas actually sold them.
 
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