Restoring an old powered hacksaw

[MrCrankyface]

The saga continues, prepare for an onslaught of pictures as usual.

Starting with the oil reservoir(assumption on my side), only problem here is that the threads are so full of crap that the cap won't go on.
Easy fix with a tap.


Quite a lot of gasket making... Outside diameters are easy by putting things upside down, insides I use a dirty glove to scrape against the edge through the gasket material, quick and easy way to get an outline.


This is is the bottom of the hydraulic-ram-thingy(I'm sure that's the technical term for it).
Removeable bottom(previous pic) with what I'm assuming is oil drain for changing oil.


Lid loosely placed ontop to show how it sits together.
Oil reservoir from first picture sits at the red circle.
Yellow and green are oil connections,I think green is inlet and yellow is outlet/return.
Orange is supposed to have some kind of springloaded valve inside of it, by rotating a big disc on the outside of the machine, this sets the amount of oil that's allowed to return through the yellow port and thus controlling the lowering rate of the saw arm.
The hydraulic ram is supposed to come through the hole in the top casting.


Lid got it's main seal replaced, I think this was the original problem since the old seal came out in several pieces whilst this is very soft and malleable..


Lid removed to show how the big pistons sits, the smaller rod in my hand runs inside the bigger rod.

The small rod then actuates this smaller piston, that runs inside the bigger piston.

These springs that load against the bottom of the casting push small piston back up.
The tiny spring with ball there is some kind of one-way valve.



And the piston all assembled.


Sounds really straightforward right?
Well, I had to spend almost an hour looking at photos and drawings with my favorite paperweight, Stella, to figure out how it was all supposed to go back together.
You can NEVER take too many photos when disassembling machines, video would be even better..


After this the whole assembly just needed to be pushed down into the casting, quite tricky with those ring-seals but I managed eventually with some hoseclamps carefully holding the rings together.
At first I wasn't going to repaint it but I might as well, why cheap out at this stage?
So I masked all sensitive parts up and will take it outside for sanding, degreasing and painting.

 

[hman]

Nice looking boss!

 

[Papa Charlie]

Project is coming along. Always a challenge when reassembling a complicated piece of machinery that we have not experience with. The devil is most certainly in the details.

 

[MrCrankyface]

Unfortunately had to remove some pictures for privacy reasons due to real life harassment, sorry about that. But the project continues!

Since I had messed up the positioning on the main shaft when pressing it apart and back together, I made a jig to take it back out again.
Same jig also let me push it back in. A lot better than attacking it with a mallet for 30 minutes straight..


The whole hydraulic unit got a paintjob and was carefully put into place, it's quite a heavy unit so really difficult not chipping the paint when going through the small holes in the side of the base.


Unfortunately I forgot to attach the spring and cover so had to take it back out again ... Good practice I guess.


There's also this second thing, just a spring basically, that helps the saw move back up.
There's supposed to be 2 springs, but over 40 years it has snapped in quite a few pieces...
I don't have the funds to replace it so I just cleaned it up and hope it'll do it's job.
The shaft was bent and pitted but I managed to bend it back and clean it up in the lathe.


With those prepped and also remounted the saw arm it looks like this!


Not as visible is the pressure adjuster on the right side(from previous photo)
It also received some paint on the visible parts, didn't bother with the backside.

 

[MrCrankyface]

As I was working on the parts for the vice, the housing for the old crank drive was annoying me, so it had to go.
It was too big to fit in my lathe to took a part off with the tigersaw first.


Managed to get some fun slowmo of the carnage.

Left is the profile it used to be, right is after I had some fun in the lathe and also primed it.


Next on the agenda was the flimsy old handle. Replaced it with a thick and heavy piece of steel. You can now spin this and it'll keep spinning, generally just feels a lot more heavy duty.


The belt pulley got some paint, and so did the cover. Also started remounting the vice parts.


So with all that done it's really starting to look like an entirely different machine...
Left to do is the control box and cutting fluid system.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Looking good. A lot of work.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

very nice. That will be a super useful tool when it's up and running.

 

[MrCrankyface]

Thanks! A lot of work indeed... My patience with the machine is starting to run low but I'm so close to getting it finished!

Here's the pretty massive old control box, almost a meter tall.
I spent some time contemplating wether I should just plug it back in "as is" but didn't feel right.


This is what I ended up doing instead, gave me a chance to practice on sheet metal work
This new size will be plenty for the functions the saw has remaining, and should make it look nicer.


Checking through my scrap pile, I started on a control panel in a decent height. I will use any excuse to play with the mill for a bit!


A good visual comparison of new/old.


Some weld and paint later.
I added quite a lot of wires after these photos were taken...
Fuses on the main 3 phase inlet, motor protectors for the 3 motors(2 sawing motors and the coolant pump), 12V powersupply and some relays for latch functions.
When you hit start, the saw and coolant pump starts, then hit feed to make it start feeding down. Stop will stop everything at anytime.
The lever at the front will set the speed between 1 and 4 since the two motors are dual speed.

 

[MrCrankyface]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's finally alive!
If you just wanna see it cut, jump to 10:15!

 

[Papa Charlie]

Really nice work. She looks like she just came off the showroom floor. How long does it take to cut through that square stock?