Riving Knife Fitting on AGS/P

[simonalex]

Hi all, following success with blade height adjustment topic, I have a new issue!

The saw came/was aquired with a riving knife but without the linkages (arm and clamping blocks).

In my innocence I thought - no probs get the parts off the shelf from Wadkin - maybe £50 - all sorted - the quote has come through at £250 + - "what?" I hear you say - not quite my words, but near enough.

So option a) source bits from scrapped machines - not that easy as the AGS/P parts even rarer than those for an AGS. option b) is to build my own assembly.

So option b) it is if anyone has any thoughts please let me know, I will document the success/failure of this with photos etc as we go on.

Here are the 1st shots of the machine, bed off showing the fixing points that I can work with http://www.longcottage.co.uk/AGSP.html

 

[katellwood]

do you want some shots of the one on mine, will be through the blade aperture though

 

[9fingers]

Something wrong with your image tags - I had a fiddle but I can't make them work.

However making a riving knife from some correct thickness (less than the blade tip width but thicker than the body of the blade) should be an easy metal working job. you might need some packing to centralise it with the blade.
Quite a few posts in the archive here from folk who have made their own guards if you search. I think Lord Nibbo did a nice one a while back.

Sorry I don't have a wadkin to offer you a pattern for the knife.

I'm one of those heathens who have neither a riving knife or a guard BUT I always use an anti kick back blade on a big rigid saw - just like your Waddy.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[katellwood]

You can access the photo's by copy and pasting the web address into the IE address bar

Locking at the images he also needs the bracket to mount the riving knife to

when I get a moment I will post some pics of my riving knife and bracket however delivering my daughter to Uni for the first time tomorrow so will not be until Mon at the earliest

 

[katellwood]

Found five mins to pop in the workshop and take so pics

The first is a view with the riving knife removed a blade in the machine

The second with the blade removed

The third taken from under the table (forgive the image I just held the camera under the table

Fourth and fifth with the riving knife and and blade guard in position but no blade

Hope this helps you fit a riving knife to your machine and hopefully a crown guard

Regards

 

[nicewood]

Hello just joined up here and looking through the posts sorry for jumping in

katellwood, I have a similar saw to the one in your photo, do you find the blade raising and lowering arm constantly gets stiff to operate and needs to be cleaned and lubricated

 

[Jake]

I'm one of those heathens who have neither a riving knife or a guard BUT I always use an anti kick back blade on a big rigid saw - just like your Waddy.

You're counting down, I take it.

 

[9fingers]

I'm one of those heathens who have neither a riving knife or a guard BUT I always use an anti kick back blade on a big rigid saw - just like your Waddy.

You're counting down, I take it.

:lol: :lol:

 

[misterfish]

£250ish seems expensive. If you have the skills/facilities I'm sure you could make the components yourself.

Looking at your pictures you have the mounting bracket present - part 144 on pages 36/37 of the manual. If you want I could measure/photo parts 146, 148, 150 - 156, also the riving knife and guard assembly I have. PM me if that is of any help.

Misterfish

 

[katellwood]

nicewood

Sorry for the late reply, have been working constantly.

I do not really have a problem with rise and fall however the tilt mechanism sometimes gets stiff as I approach 45 degree tilt. Apart from this an excellent bit of kit

 

[simonalex]

HI All

thanks for all your info - have been away on a jolly, St Ives - if anyone is interested the Tate Modern is very over-rated, however if anyone is ever in Falmouth the Maritime Museum is great!

Thanks Katellwood and misterfish this is exactly the mechanism that Wadkin quoted me £250 for - current plan is to buy a Powermatic or Jet easy clamp system from the good ole US of A and bodge it together, all good. However, have suddenly started questioning myself due to the pivot assembly, the angles and lengths of the slide plate and link plate (part nos 150 and 148) seem critical. I cant get my head around how the link plate moves the RK in relation to the blade as blade rises and falls.

Option B is to fix the mounting bracket in place (with a tack weld?!) and forget the link plate.

The jetPM system will allow 2 plane adjustments of RK without bending and quick change from low profile to normal for thru cuts

Failing that - anyone got a linkage system for ags 10 or ags/p10 sitting in a corner?

 

[misterfish]

I cant get my head around how the link plate moves the RK in relation to the blade as blade rises and falls.

Basically the horizontal bar that the knife and guard assembly needs to remain horizontal as the blade is raised and lowered. The linkage ensures this 'horizontality' by rotating the bar slightly clockwise as the blade is lowered and (obviously) anticlockwise as it is raised.

On my saw the set up is slightly different.

I do now have piccies of the component parts from my saw (with measurements) - PM me if you are interested.

Misterfish

 

[FatFreddysCat]

I'm one of those heathens who have neither a riving knife or a guard BUT I always use an anti kick back blade on a big rigid saw - just like your Waddy.

No wonder your monniker is 9fingers. Obviously you've never sawn badly kilned walnut!

 

[9fingers]

I'm one of those heathens who have neither a riving knife or a guard BUT I always use an anti kick back blade on a big rigid saw - just like your Waddy.

No wonder your monniker is 9fingers. Obviously you've never sawn badly kilned walnut!

Despite my monniker, I do possess a full complement of working digits.

I have sawn an awful lot of wood and not had a single piece kick-back. I tend to find guards impede the view of the job leading to me needing to peer at it from awkward angles.

Most of my work is in ash, beech and oak plus man-made boards of all types.
I have yet to work in walnut however - so I will bear this in mind.
I am not advocating that anyone else should follow my practice but it is just my preference for the way I work.

Bob

 

[FatFreddysCat]

I have sawn an awful lot of wood and not had a single piece kick-back. I tend to find guards impede the view of the job leading to me needing to peer at it from awkward angles.

In that case you have been freakishly lucky. With reaction timber and with badly dried/kilned timber there is always the possibility that the kerf will close up as the timber leaves the blade which is why we have riving knives. The reason for quoting walnut is that it's one timber which seems to be more prone to reaction than others (probably because the merchants push through stuff which would be reject in less expensive species), although I have experienced the same phenomenon with a variety of species over the years.

As for no guard, that's your decision, albeit in my opinion not really a sensible one in most instances. I'd say that if you have to view the cut so intently all the time that the guard is an inconvenience then either you've been using the wrong guard, your technique is questionable or you're doing some very, very odd cuts. About the only times I need to go guardless is when deeping or when sawing the tops off boxes.

 

[signmaker]

£250ish seems expensive. If you have the skills/facilities I'm sure you could make the components yourself.

Looking at your pictures you have the mounting bracket present - part 144 on pages 36/37 of the manual. If you want I could measure/photo parts 146, 148, 150 - 156, also the riving knife and guard assembly I have. PM me if that is of any help.

Misterfish

I realise this is a very old post, but can you please tell me which manual you are referring to and hopefully how I can obtain a copy. The only download I can find comprises only 17 pages and the riving knife assembly is very different to the one that was discussed here. Thanks

 

[misterfish]

Daltons (I think) used to have a lot of manuals for old machines but after a quick look I couldn't see them any more. I have copies of some manuals on my computer (somewhere) and I'll have a search through and see what I can find and let you know later.

Misterfish

 

[misterfish]

As far as I can see it is this manual that I've uploaded to my web space. http://drosera.f2s.com/agsp1.pdf

Apart from that I do have a couple of 'plain' AGS manuals that I can also post if you want - these are for the old AGS and the newer AGS250/300

Misterfish

 

[signmaker]

As far as I can see it is this manual that I've uploaded to my web space. http://drosera.f2s.com/agsp1.pdf

Apart from that I do have a couple of 'plain' AGS manuals that I can also post if you want - these are for the old AGS and the newer AGS250/300

Misterfish

Thanks for the prompt reply and the hyperlink. It is actually a 'plain' 12 AGS manual I'm looking for, and it's the model with the short 'single point' fence.

It's the old riving knife problem, but your template when printed off is spot-on the correct size, so thanks a lot for providing that.

No urgency for the manual but if you can supply one it would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[misterfish]

I've uploaded all the AGS manuals I've got, here are the links.

http://drosera.f2s.com/ags10old.pdf
http://drosera.f2s.com/ags10.pdf
http://drosera.f2s.com/ags12.pdf
http://drosera.f2s.com/ags14.pdf
http://drosera.f2s.com/ags250-300.pdf

You might need to look through all of these to get information that helps as Wadkin seemed to have an ongoing policy of updating some parts. My own saw is a BTR10 which is an old style ags10 with a sliding table that has the newer short fence with the front only mounting.

Hope this helps, but just ask if you want any more info and I and others will helpif we can.

Misterfish