Elektra Beckum flip saw

[MorrisWoodman12]

..............................
3) It{Arundal lathe} has a massive starter box for the motor, label says Square D MBG-3. Works fine, but it is enormous, when compared with the starter on my Elektra Beckum flip saw, for example. Can it be replaced with a smaller one?
That's about it for now, but I expect I'll have a lot more stupid questions.

Cor! Someone else with an Elektra Beckum flip saw. @John Brown John do you make use of the dovetail mitre slots? I'm wracking my brain (when I can get them going) to work out how to 'attach' a cross cut sledge that will remain nicely registered for more than the 5 minutes before the tops of the dovetail grooves cut into the guide runners on the sledge. Or is there another/better way?
TIA Martin

 

[John Brown]

Cor! Someone else with an Elektra Beckum flip saw. @John Brown John do you make use of the dovetail mitre slots? I'm wracking my brain (when I can get them going) to work out how to 'attach' a cross cut sledge that will remain nicely registered for more than the 5 minutes before the tops of the dovetail grooves cut into the guide runners on the sledge. Or is there another/better way?
TIA Martin

No, I just cut hardwood strips that only bear on the top of the slots. I've had my KGT500 for at least 15 years, and I find crosscut sleds accurate enough for my purposes.
The thing I struggle with is changing the angle of the blade. I've considered replacing it with a cheap dedicated table saw on many occasions, but I love the cast alu top and the induction motor, which I won't get on a cheap TS.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

John. Thanks for your reply. I'm probably overthinking the sledge runner thing, something of which I'm often guilty. I'll try some hardwood runners.
Re. changing the angle of the blade. Do you mean in chop saw mode (CSM) or table saw mode (TSM)? If the former I had the same issue but 'solved' it with liberal amounts of PTFE dry spray lubricant into the joint and waggling it back and forth until it freed up. Haven't really had a problem in TSM though I do find it easier to roughly set blade depth and angle (up to about 30deg) in CSM.
The only problem I remember is the blade depth adjustment became very stiff. I had to strip down and remove the threaded adjustment sleeve, clean and lubricate it. Works a treat now.
Have fun.
Martin

 

[John Brown]

John. Thanks for your reply. I'm probably overthinking the sledge runner thing, something of which I'm often guilty. I'll try some hardwood runners.
Re. changing the angle of the blade. Do you mean in chop saw mode (CSM) or table saw mode (TSM)? If the former I had the same issue but 'solved' it with liberal amounts of PTFE dry spray lubricant into the joint and waggling it back and forth until it freed up. Haven't really had a problem in TSM though I do find it easier to roughly set blade depth and angle (up to about 30deg) in CSM.
The only problem I remember is the blade depth adjustment became very stiff. I had to strip down and remove the threaded adjustment sleeve, clean and lubricate it. Works a treat now.
Have fun.
Martin

TSM. I hardly ever use it in CSM, although I did use it for all the 4 by 2s building my shed a few years ago.
I've had the same problem with the depth adjustment as well. The other bugbear is the lack of any worthwhile dust extraction..
Still, I paid £120 for it all those years ago, and it doesn't owe me anything!

 

[porker]

I also have one of these saws as my primary 'table saw' which I've had for about 18 years and it's served me well. I also managed to get the accessories for it which I haven't used for ages that extend the support for mitre cutting a bit like a mitre saw stand.
Mine is really stiff to adjust as you say but I think that is years of sawdust clogging up the joints. I really need to give it a good clean and lubrication. I find it easier to adjust the depth in CSM as the weight of the motor works to your advantage rather than against you.
I bought it second hand as the previous owner said it was too heavy to lug out of his van. Now I'm a bit older I agree with him!

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

TSM. I hardly ever use it in CSM, although I did use it for all the 4 by 2s building my shed a few years ago.
I've had the same problem with the depth adjustment as well. The other bugbear is the lack of any worthwhile dust extraction..
Still, I paid £120 for it all those years ago, and it doesn't owe me anything!

I agree about the lack dust extraction. I've put a panel underneath and a second into the front with hole for the 4" DX hose and a shute attached to the blade guard to channel dust toward the DX hose. It works surprisingly well together with a shop vac on the crown guard. Heath Robinson has nothing on me.
I bought it about 6 years ago secondhand for about £30 I think. It does me OK though it never moves out of the workshop. I'm thinking about building a cupboard on castors to replace the unwieldy EB stand and make it easier to move around in the w/s.
@porker I would be interested in what accessories there are.
Martin

 

[John Brown]

I also have one of these saws as my primary 'table saw' which I've had for about 18 years and it's served me well. I also managed to get the accessories for it which I haven't used for ages that extend the support for mitre cutting a bit like a mitre saw stand.
Mine is really stiff to adjust as you say but I think that is years of sawdust clogging up the joints. I really need to give it a good clean and lubrication. I find it easier to adjust the depth in CSM as the weight of the motor works to your advantage rather than against you.
I bought it second hand as the previous owner said it was too heavy to lug out of his van. Now I'm a bit older I agree with him!

I agree about the lack dust extraction. I've put a panel underneath and a second into the front with hole for the 4" DX hose and a shute attached to the blade guard to channel dust toward the DX hose. It works surprisingly well together with a shop vac on the crown guard. Heath Robinson has nothing on me.
I bought it about 6 years ago secondhand for about £30 I think. It does me OK though it never moves out of the workshop. I'm thinking about building a cupboard on castors to replace the unwieldy EB stand and make it easier to move around in the w/s.
@porker I would be interested in what accessories there are.
Martin

I'd be interested in your DX solution.
I, likewise, have been contemplating building a cupboard on castors, although I fitted castors to the EB stand, they're tricky to raise/lower and waste a lot of space. Just waiting for a cheap kitchen unit to crop up.

 

[porker]

@porker I would be interested in what accessories there are.

I'll dig them out and take a couple of pictures

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

More details of the DX solution. - will follow

 

[John Brown]

I'm waiting with bated breath.,

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Note this is all a bit Heath-Robinson as many prototypes are.
First job is to close the bottom of the saw body. Just a ply or mdf board with short sides to close the sides. It can be glimpsed in photo #2.
Then close the front as below. The hole is to attach my DX. Through it you can just make out the end of the shute: more on this later. It just goes behind the angled body webs at the top and then drops behind a strip glued to the front of the base board. The second blocked hole is an earlier attempt.


This is the back of the panel showing the bits with which the end of the shute aligns.



End on view of the shute.


Shute side view


Shute attached to the blade guard using two M4 thumb screws.



I hope this helps and gives some indication of what I have cobbled together. I originally had a panel to close the back but it's been mislaid during a house move. I find it isn't really necessary especially if I use crown guard extraction as well as my normal HVLP DX.

 

[John Brown]

Many thanks. Does it allow for any tilting of the blade?

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Yes it allows the blade to tilt to about 30°. Does depend upon how the shute is built around the blade cover.
I will also post my attempt at DX when using it as a cuppa saw in a couple of days.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

^^^^^^ should be chop saw. A cuppa saw sounds an interesting device.

My attempt at DX for the chop saw is below. The first picture shows the drop-on back wall in place. The 4" DX hose is placed into the back. A rubber sheet is attched to the top and is, in this picture, folded back so you can see. The whole thing is simply placed over the rubber bump stops and the bottom lip slots under the table.

The second picture shows the rubber sheet in it's working position. Note the side panel which is Velcro'd onto the side of the 'back' panel so it is easily removed and replaced.

Hope all of this helps.
Have fun.
Martin

 

[John Brown]

I guessed that cuppa saw was a typo...
To be honest, I very rarely use mine in cuppa saw mode, I'm more likely to try and find a way to achieve the same result with the cross cut sled, but many thanks anyway.