Need Help Please On Wadkin BGS

[joel.riley1]

Hi folks,

I have acquired a wadkin BGS, a lovely saw.

I am trying to set it up, but I can't get the sliding table the same height as the fixed table.

I've removed the slider, and flipped it over. The adjustable bearings are fine, but the fixed ones (that slide closest to the blade), had a heap of washers under, made out of various materials.
Adjustable right, fixed left.

Fixed:

Removing the cover:

Bearing

Now the bearing, surely, must have something under it, or the moving outer part of the bearing would run on the cast iron of the slidng table, and the actual bearing rollers would be useless. The inner cylinder of the bearing isn't fixed, it can slide in and out, so I can't figure out how a washer would between it and the cast iron.

I have tried to make washers to go between, in different sizes and configurations, and all raise the sliding table too high when flipped back over.
Without a washer it sits too low, as show above. It also doesn't slide well as the outer bearing is riding on the cast iron.

The wadkin diagram doesn't help at all in this.

Can somebody please put me out of my frustration and tell me what's missing?

 

[memzey]

Hi Joel,

Welcome to the BGS club! It’s an exclusive group - we are few and far between. I did a complete restoration on mine which I recorded on the Canadian site a few years ago. I’ll try to find the link for you as it might have some helpful stuff in it (lots of my own waffle as well though).

In terms of levelling the sliding table with the fixed; I’d probably start by looking at the fixed table. It can be adjusted for height and has some x-y adjustability as well. Dig around under the cabinet and you’ll find the four lugs securing the table. Undo those, take the fixed table off and see what going on.

I can’t remember if the sliding table on mine had any washers under the bearings but I don’t think so. The sliding table doesn’t have very much adjustability to it - the eccentric bearings are there to keep the fit with the roller bars snug, they do not allow adjustments to the x-y axis or height. You have to adjust everything else to the slider, not the other way around. Have a dig around and post some photos here. We love a Wadkin thread .

 

[memzey]

Here’s the link I mentioned; https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/f ... estoration

You said you had a diagram for the saw - can you post it here please? I never found one for the BGS10 - if you have one it would be great to see.

 

[Vann]

Here you go. I hope this is the one (how many BGS threads could memzey have? )

https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/f ... estoration

Cheers, Vann.

 

[memzey]

Here you go. I hope this is the one (how many BGS threads could memzey have? )

https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/f ... estoration

Cheers, Vann.

:lol:

 

[Vann]

Memzey, you beat me by a full 5 minutes.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[joel.riley1]

Hi Memsey,

Thankyou, I had already found your thread and read through the whole thing!

I will probably do a full restoration, but far too many projects at the moment going on. Also I need to use the saw....

I will take the table off and have a look, I hadn't thought of that. Using a level box, I could see that whatever washer I tried was taking the slider out of level, so maybe you are right about no washers, it just seems really odd.

Will investigate the fixed table.

 

[Myfordman]

Responding to your suggestion earlier in the thread, standard bearings have an inner very slightly wider than the outer so a set up with no washer on a flat surface should not bind.

 

[joel.riley1]

You would think that the inner bearing was wider than the outer, but is not the case on this bearing, which is what I find odd. tightened down without washers causes the bearings to bind up.

Thanks to Memzey and a lot of messing about, I have fixed the issue. I removed the fixed table, which is horribly heavy, and tried to find a reference point. I used the machined sections under the sliding table, and found that they were exactly 90 degrees to the blade. The sliding table however was not parallel to this, which adjusting the fixed table would not fix.
I tried again with a washer between the bearing and the cast iron slider, and have found that a 1mm washer, fitting inside the bearing (it sits on the bearing retaining clip), made the slider perfectly 90 degrees to the blade.
Then the laborious task of adjusting the fixed table (you have to remove it each time) to get it perfectly level, and inline with the slider, and the blade.

Took bloody ages and was a workout, but is now fixed.

I can now test out the saw!

Manual attached, although it is for the BGS12, which is probably why it wasn't very useful as the mechanism seems different.

 

[wallace]

Im a bit late but would a really thin washer help. The PK uses them on the slider bearings which are only a few thou