Drill press and table saw advice

[jsjwilson]

Dear all. I am finding it hard to navigate the world of old tools. And also the issue that many of the tools the come up are in England, for collection, but I'm in Scotland, and there is understandable resistance to putting things on pallets. I'm finding that drills up here are often 1/3hp motors. One of the things that attracted me to this site is googling specific tools often brought me to this site. I'm sure I read on here that this sort of size motor would be too small for driving larger forstner bits, but can't find it again. Can anyone advise on this, and any recommendations? I've been looking at an elliot progress and a walker turner, for example.

Similar issues with bench saws in terms of location. I guess England is just bigger. I have discussed getting two saws where there is willingness to pallet deliver. One is an older Sedgwick TA450, another an Wadkin AGS12 and another a startrite tilt arbor 175. I've also noticed there are startrites with the same model numbers as Sedgwick, e.g. TA450. All other things being equal are these all good models to be looking at?

Thanks for any thoughts, experience, advice.

 

[Distinterior]

The TA series of Startrite table saws from the early 60's onwards had the model numbers( in increasing size) of TA125, TA145, TA165, TA255, TA175, TA175DS, TA275 , TA275DS, TA300 and a TA1250.

Mechanically, they were very similar with lots of interchangeable parts. As the saws got bigger, the blade size increased and the motor size increased accordingly.

You wouldn't go far wrong with any of those models as they were well built in their day, but bear in mind, some of the spare parts are no longer available and if they are still available, they can cost a surprising amount of money.....!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a Meddings with a 1/3 hp motor - it'll drill 16mm in steel without a problem

 

[Sideways]

Drills generally have smaller motors than you (or at least I) expect.
It's simply that small bits at high speeds don't need much power to turn and large diameters should be spun slowly so the torque of the motor is greatly increased through the belt drive ratio.
Use the drill properly by changing the belt position to match the size of the bit and all will be well.
Elliot is a good vintage make. They made some nice milling machines and there is a lot of commonality in the design between one of the Elliots and the big Fobco.

On tablesaws, @deema and myself have renovated a few and posted plenty of photographs on here. Search through our posts and you'll be able to see the innards of AGS10/12 saws and the Sedgewick TA315. The 415 is essentially the same. Look at old Startrite as well if you need a good but less massive saw.

There's some discussion of pros and cons of different models.

 

[bilspe]

Dear all. I am finding it hard to navigate the world of old tools. And also the issue that many of the tools the come up are in England, for collection, but I'm in Scotland, and there is understandable resistance to putting things on pallets.

Similar issues with bench saws in terms of location. I guess England is just bigger. I have discussed getting two saws where there is willingness to pallet deliver.

I empathise with you on living in a more remote area of the country. I've had similar problems down in Cornwall, struggling to find old school machinery because I detest the shop-bought imported stuff.
Was lucky to get a small Startrite 175 table saw which does very well for small medium projects but is limited if you want to cut large sheet materials.

FB marketplace (local to you) can sometimes bring results.
Local bricks and mortar auction houses aswell
Try 'Shiply' for getting things delivered but I guess heavy machinery might be a problem or very expensive