Hobbies treadle fretsaw

[bugbear]

I don't think there's ever been a book, but I know there are specialist Hobbies
collectors out there (more specifically, round here, I live in Norfolk).

One (or more) of them would certainly know a great deal about the various
models and their dates.

BugBear

 

[scrimper]

Nothing wrong with any of that, on the contrary, but I shall certainly follow up on those links and look for one or two of those old Handbooks. The 1940's one looks interesting but I thought it a bit pricey - I dunno, perhaps it's more of a collector's item, which I'm not, but at nearly 30 quid + postage I thought it a bit steep - but anyway thanks for posting, I'm sure I'll find something suitable via those links and other searches.

Don't pay £30 for an old Hobbies annual, that is way to much, they are not actually worth much to most people, only a few people are interested in old hobbies handbooks and even then they have to be pre 1940's to be of any real value to a buyer.

I speak as someone who has collected old Hobbies handbooks for over 50 years, the most I would pay for one would be a Maximum of £10 and even then it would have to be in really good condition and pre 1935, some ebay sellers do ask silly prices for old Hobbies handbooks but they never actually sell them at those prices.

If you keep a lookout on ebay the old handbooks are sometimes offered at low prices and often there are very few buyers interested in them.

The last official Hobbies annual was printed in 1968 just before Hobbies was wound up. Any handbooks since then are from a new Hobbies company which are not of any value at all (apart from paying £2.50 for the new Hobbies annual published these days, which do not become valuable) The thing to remember is that the original Hobbies company was a wonderful organisation employing huge numbers of workers who manufactured their own items in their factory at Dereham, they also had a design team who produced wonderful fretwork designs every week.

I am not running down the new Hobbies company, it's good that they exist and nice to keep the brand name going, I use them myself they were started By the late Ian Stroulger who originally worked for the old Hobbies company but the new Hobbies were never in the same league as the old company and basically just sold item that they bought in.

 

[AES]

Thanks for the tip scrimper. I did think that 30 quid for a 1940 Hobbies Annual was OTT - for me anyway, as I'm certainly not a collector, just interested a bit in (some) old stuff - and I s'pose, as a way of bringing back old memories - I used to use an old Hobbies treadle fret saw when I was about 10 years old.

I'll just keep a lazy eye open for old Hobbies Annuals but I'm not a regular visitor to the infamous bay, no rush.

BTW, if it's any help to the OP and to the recent poster, a Portuguese chap with excellent English, as I remember it, the treadle fret saw I used had metal not wooden arms - I think that right anyway, and that's a definite maybe!!!

AES

 

[scrimper]

Duarte, is this diagram any use to you?

 

[loftyhermes]

There's an Imperial up for auction now on you know where.

 

[Viking]

Duarte,
Here is some information to get you going:

The wooden arms seem to be a close grained pine or cedar. The measurements are: Length 21 5/8" 549mm, thickness 5/8" 16mm,
width tapers from 1 13/16" 46mm to 13/16" 20.5mm.

The blade fittings at the end of the arms appear to be indentical to the ones on the hand fretsaw shown previously on this site.

The connecting rod is a beautifully die cast brass piece fitted with a miniature ball bearing at the big end and it has a plain bore of 1/4" at the small end running on a plain steel shaft wher it connects to the wooden arm via a bracket.

The conrod has a centre to centre distance of 3 3/8" 85.8mm. The ball bearing is made by Pollard and has the following dimensions: Outside diameter 7/8", bore 3/8" and is 3/16" deep. It has been fitted by heating the brass casting slightly to allow for an interference fit or press fit. The conrod could be copied in brass, steel or aluminium.

I will send some photos later. let me know what else you need.

Best regards, Dagfinn

 

[Viking]

Hi Duarte,

Here is the photo of the brass con rod:

 

[Viking]

Here are further photos of the arms and fittings:

I hope this is helpful.

Best Regards, Dagfinn

 

[mpannell27]

Does any one know what size the pulley is o/d size for drive pulleyfor A1 thread machine cheers to you all m

 

[scrimper]

Does any one know what size the pulley is o/d size for drive pulleyfor A1 thread machine cheers to you all m

Do you mean the small vee pulley at the top or the large cast wheel? I am not in my workshop right now but from memory the small vee pulley is around 1 3/4"- 2" in diameter, I could measure it properly tomorrow if you wish.

 

[mpannell27]

No boss that drives the arms,thanks for the reply cheers shrimper nice one

 

[mpannell27]

Thanks scrimperno it’s the drive that,the arms up and down,I think it’s about an inch and three quartes too1& 7/8s

 

[mpannell27]

Thanks scrimperno it’s the drive that,the arms up and down,I think it’s about an inch and three quartes too1& 7/8s