Restoring an old powered hacksaw

[brino]

Fantastic!!!!

I watched the entire thing, and even though many of the photos looked familiar I am glad I did.
It was a great summary of the entire project.

You have an amazing saw.
Thanks for sharing the journey.

-brino

 

[francist]

That’s a great job on the rebuild, really nice looking machine now Interesting to see that it cuts on the “push” side of the stroke though, I’ve only ever seen power hacksaws cutting on the “pull”. Once again, beautiful job.

-frank

 

[Nogoingback]

Powered hacksaws are very cool to begin with you've done a great job on yours. Congratulations!

 

[MrCrankyface]

Thanks everyone!
I never meant to make a video on it so it's a lot of reused photos.

Papa Charlie:
At the lowest speed it took 4 minutes, at second lowest it took 2 minutes. What really slowed the cut down was going through the top and bottom where I imagine it would've gone much faster with a higher cutting pressure. Both tests had 2 out of 9 on the cutting pressure dial since I'm a coward.
As I get more comfortable with the machine I'll try to ramp things up and see how it cuts.

 

[NC Rick]

I so much enjoy reading about and looking at the wonderful craftsmanship you invested into your interesting saw! you have done a great service to the machine and I am sure you will really enjoy using it. I have seen smaller power hacksaws but have never seen one work in person, let alone use one. I would enjoy hearing and learning about the comparative advantages and disadvantages of such a saw over a band saw. I have always assumed (obviously incorrectly) that those were made before band saws were available or due to some cost benefit. Your beautiful machine shows many signs of my ignorance. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Papa Charlie]

I thought the control panel was exceptionally well thought out. I particularly like the STOPP button.

 

[Boswell]

Thanks for bringing us along on this great restoration!

 

[Tim9]

That’s a very nice power hacksaw. I have a Keller power hacksaw but unfortunately it’s in storage right now. I just don’t have the space for it. But I wish I did because I find the power hacksaw cuts nice straight 90 degree cuts whereas my 4 x 6 bandsaw has a habit of always cutting angled cuts. I have to make sure I leave a little extra on my stock and then true it on my mil. Plus, my hacksaw has a coolant pump which is nice.
Anyway, my Keller is nothing compared to your hacksaw. You have an Industrial power hacksaw in my opinion. Very nice.
PS-So…I’ve now confirmed to myself that my memory ain’t what it used to be because I just reread 6 pages of posts to find that not only did I already read this thread, but I also was the last to comment.
Anyway I did read it more thoroughly this go-round. Great restoration on a really fabulous hacksaw. (I miss my hacksaw )

 

[jitlikhari741]

Continuing on.
Using a mix of sanders and wire brushes, I got most of the old crud off.


Both sprayed and brushed on a layer of epoxy primer.


And ontop of that a layer of grey polyurethane.
It looks quite light in the pictures, as it hardened it became a bit darker.
I did so many mistakes here that really ****** me off. Stupid mistakes like how I somehow forgot to mask the top and floor, sprayed way too much paint on and so on.
I will have to get back to this and sand down the runs and do a final top coat again.



I did a quick brushjob on the legs, I think the black should constrast nicely.


To get away off from the frustration of the bad paintjob(I don't like painting but I like a good end result..), I started working on the pump which was the initial problem.
To the left you have the "lid" of the main piston and to the right is the main unit I guess.
The big rod on the lid has a smaller rod inside it, and the big piston has a smaller piston inside it that gets act upon from this smaller rod.
Basically as the saw runs, it acts upon the smaller rod, transfering the motion to the smaller piston down inside the bigger piston.


A closer look on the main piston and the smaller rod.


With the bottom taken off the main piston, you can see this smaller piston. I have taken the seals off it for the photo.


Eventually all that was left to take apart was this part on the lid.
Aaand here we find a completely busted seal.
Hopefully this is all that was keeping it from working as intended.
View attachment 331861

Hi is it easy to find such parts for these old machines or are these standard accesories?

 

[MrCrankyface]

It's a bit of both.
Some of the parts I've replaced have been standard parts but others(Like some bearings in the saw arm) are impossible to find and I had to rebuild things so I could use other bearings there.