“The Standard” high speed power hacksaw

[Flightmap]

I recently acquired a power hacksaw; one that I didn’t need, and too old. But, I was intrigued by its design so I thought I would look into it further. This saw was manufactured by T & S Engineering of Pasadena, CA. I tried all the search engines I know but no joy on any links or information - let alone the coveted operating manual.

I’ll start with some pics and the information I have: it may end up as two posts.

This is the name plate on the saw base.

This is part of the ratcheting system that is behind the walking beam attachment. The dovetails are on the right and left

The walking beam is on the right (these pics are before cleanup), the screw in the foreground holds the top rail that the rope bearings (2) ride on. The “mast” that the dovetails ride on is on the left . There are 4 Allen head screws (the bottom one is broken off) that adjust the gib against the dove tail above

This is the complete ratcheting system that allows the saw to “fall” as the saw cuts

Another view of the ratcheting system with the gib for the dovetail at upper right that is made of brass

The back of the saw after cleanup. The vise is part of the pan casting. The yellow clamp is canted to clear the circular handle from the saw frame (also yellow) AND creates a lever against the material being sawn. The orange topped handle is the cam and lever that raises and lowers the saw on the mast.

The mast is in blue

This is the front of the saw with the solid brass walking beam in the middle of the pic, and the eccentric lever (orange cam) which uses a bicycle chain to connect the ratchet housing (pictured above) to the cam. Lift the lever and swing it over the top of the cam, and the whole saw is lifted to allow the material to be placed in the vise.

This is the saw lifted to the top. the eccentric handle is now "over the top" and the saw is fully lifted . I am waiting on a saw blade from Daily Saw to mount on the frame (an odd size of 15.6" hole to hole) which is fixed in length.

This shows the saw frame with the rope pulley bearings riding on the the round shaft. There are two sets of bearings and two rails, one on top and one underneath the frame. This locks the frame to the mast and gives it the sliding motion in a straight line. With the amount of work this saw has seen, the bearings, rails ( or shaft), and dovetails all seem to be in great shape.

What is not obvious is the mast SWIVILS about 60 degrees in one direction. This is not an easy feature to apply so those of you with an ELLIS band saw can rest easy. What is also not shown is the cooling oil distribution system ( the motor and pump below the saw drive motor). The pan is cast iron with a sump underneath the mast (this allows the mast bolts room to swing). All the collent is collected in this sump and then pumped back out to the flex tube shown two pictures above.

If anyone has any information on this saw, please let me know. I probably wont keep it, but i still would like to know more about it. I have never seen a saw like this one, and on top of it, it is very well designed, unique to me.

 

[markba633csi]

That is one cool little saw. I'm usually not a big fan of those contraptions- a bit too prehistoric for my taste- but that one is pretty darn nifty
A solid brass driving arm- wow. And the ratcheting mechanism is clever too, much more elegant than a sliding weight
Mark

 

[francist]

Yup, that is one unique machine alright. Thanks for putting up the photos. Still trying to get my head around what trips and controls the fall rate, but I can see how the slide and most of the other bits function. I'm thinking quite a good sized capacity. Wonder why the odd blade length? Seems like if you're making a saw from scratch you'd pick a blade length that was a little easier to come by. Is that lever and thumbscrew on the frame part of the tensioner?

You've piqued my curiosity about trying to find out more about it, will have to do some poking around. Maybe get lucky. I'm also thinking this would be a perfect opportunity to post a short 2 or 3 minute video of it running here on our Member Video section. It's pretty easy to, not much harder than posting static photos. Might be the only time anyone ever sees one again.

Will let you know if I find anything in the way of company or machine information.

-frank

 

[Flightmap]

Yup, that is one unique machine alright. Thanks for putting up the photos. Still trying to get my head around what trips and controls the fall rate, but I can see how the slide and most of the other bits function. I'm thinking quite a good sized capacity. Wonder why the odd blade length? Seems like if you're making a saw from scratch you'd pick a blade length that was a little easier to come by. Is that lever and thumbscrew on the frame part of the tensioner?

You've piqued my curiosity about trying to find out more about it, will have to do some poking around. Maybe get lucky. I'm also thinking this would be a perfect opportunity to post a short 2 or 3 minute video of it running here on our Member Video section. It's pretty easy to, not much harder than posting static photos. Might be the only time anyone ever sees one again.

Will let you know if I find anything in the way of company or machine information.

-frank

 

[Flightmap]

I haven’t figured out why the tensioner is there. The frame appears to be fixed, perhaps there was an adapter that went with the machine to accommodate shorter blades?

 

[francist]

Perhaps. On my Keller, there are two secondary pieces that actually link to the blade. Then those two pieces tie to the frame. With the front one, it can slide forward and aft by way of the tensioner thereby either tightening the blade or, by putting the pin in one of the other holes, it can accommodate a slightly different blade length. I'm not explaining that nicely, here's a picture:

Wonder if yours had something similar?

-frank

 

[Silverbullet]

It does have the compound leverage for an adjustable blade tension . I bet there's a part missing or two on the blade mount. I do hope you show us it in operation. It's a very neat operation for sure. Good find and save.

 

[Flightmap]

Perhaps. On my Keller, there are two secondary pieces that actually link to the blade. Then those two pieces tie to the frame. With the front one, it can slide forward and aft by way of the tensioner thereby either tightening the blade or, by putting the pin in one of the other holes, it can accommodate a slightly different blade length. I'm not explaining that nicely, here's a picture:
View attachment 271621
View attachment 271622

Wonder if yours had something similar?

-frank

Yes, possibly. While yours is centered in the saw frame, mine would be off center and have to be clamped (which mine has)
BTW very nice saw!

 

[f350ca]

Nice saw !
Interesting that they would use brass for the connecting rod, my Peerless shaper uses a very similar brass rod to drive the ratchet on the table. Even back then brass had to be expensive. Wonder if it was used as a weak link to avoid breaking more intricate parts in a crash?
And yes please post a video of it running.

Greg

 

[Silverbullet]

Back then steel was higher price the brass I think . Casting it was about the same as cast iron if I've read my history right. Even copper was cheap it's the demand which pushed prices through the roof. Now most metals are commodities used like cash on the stock exchange. Not many years ago I was buying brass rods 10-12' long for $20.00 hex and rounds. Couple years ago I wanted to buy some 3" diameter brass my supplier said he would send a quote . I about crapped when I saw the cost it was over $400. For 3' not even a full length . Needless to say I didn't get any.