Wadkin BGS10…The rarest table saw Wadkin made. Full Restoration

[deema]

I’m sure very few people will know of or have seen a Wadkin BGS 10 table saw. What’s so special? Well, the BGS10 is basically the much loved Wadkin AGS10 with a sliding table, a genuine cast iron slider that sits right up against the blade. This makes it far more versatile than the AGS10 which it is based on. Wadkin also made a Wadkin BGS12, which is its big brother, and also has a sliding table, however, the mechanism for the 12 is far different to the 10. The BGS12 is more common to find, but is still rare compared the the AGS10. They usual command a significant price premium compared to the AGS10 or AGS12.
There is not a manual in existence for this saw as far as I know, and there are less than 10 of these saws known to exist. There used to be a member in this forum, I’m not sure if he still visits who had created a register of all know saws. I have had the pleasure of owning one of these saws before, which I reluctantly sold for a larger saw a number of years back. I have been lucky enough to find another of these jewels, however it is at the moment in need of a lot of TLC to bring it back to its former glory.
The link below to the Wadkin library provides the sales literature for this saw, which is the only printed material I know of that does exist.

https://www.wadkin.com/archive pdfs/Wadkin BGS Panel Saw.pdf
Will I be keeping this saw? Unfortunately not, it will be sold when it’s completed, as a hobby, another member of this site and I keep our grey matter chugging by restoring old machines as we are both retired engineers.

So, if there is any interest in seeing how this saw was put together, I will document the full restoration process.

 

[Spectric]

It is always interesting to see how machinery was made in the past, stuff that was built to last and using substantial castings rather than folded sheet metal. It is all part of our industrial heritage and is a good measure of just how cheap and nasty some stuff is today.

 

[Ttrees]

We always enjoy your thorough write ups Deema.
I've been thinking of making a slider from an old tablesaw with a warped top.

Tom

 

[Fitzroy]

Can’t wait!

 

[TRITON]

It is always interesting to see how machinery was made in the past

Like precision ground tables that are actually precision ground flat, not precision ground to a concave

 

[Jameshow]

Wow

Straight swap for a titan 10" table saw!!!

Better crack open the piggy bank!!

Cheers James

 

[MilesH]

Great! Look forward to this Deema. Here's my register of extant BGS10's

 

[MilesH]

Copy of the brochure without watermarks can be downloaded here:
http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=23423

 

[RobinBHM]

it looks like a small PK

 

[deema]

OkiDoki, a refurbishment thread it is! The saw is due to arrive in my workshop soon from its present home. I've arranged for it to be palletised and collected as it is a fair stretch away from me. Once it’s arrived I will kick off the thread…….at the moment it’s a bit of a frankinsaw, I almost didn’t recognise it for what it is.…….it looks like it’s been the victim of a chain saw massacre……but like a Phoenix it will be resurrected back to its former glory.…..hopefully!!

Thanks MilesH for the info and updated list.

There may be a slight delay to the start of the refurb. As I’ve just bagged a cylindrical grinder which is due to arrive in my workshop in the next few days. The grinder will also be refurbishing when it’s turn comes!

 

[Vann]

...So, if there is any interest in seeing how this saw was put together, I will document the full restoration process.

I'm always in for a Wadkin restoration thread (and I think Wadkin-Bursgreen machines count).

I'm off to buy snacks and beer for the show...

Cheers, Vann.

 

[deema]

It’s been a while, well a lot longer than I had anticipated, however, the work has at least started. It has taken a while to find a suitable donor saw for the bits that are hacked about. First the ugly duckling picture,

She’s not very pretty at the moment, but underneath that globbed on amateur repaint and hacked up base is a saw of beauty. The lucky bit is that the devil with a welder only hacked around the fabricated base. The rest of the saw is actually unadulterated. So, the first step to be accomplished is to take the whole thing apart. Every nut and bolt will be removed and it will be totally stripped down. This IMO is the only way both to repaint and restore a machine.

 

[deema]

The strip down has been completed, all the parts are now ready for stripping down to bare metal. I haven’t documented stripping it down, I will show how it’s out back together, the karts will be nice and shiny and it will make it easier to photograph and show.
Anyway, it’s always interesting to see the original colour of the saw under the bits that weren’t removed last time it’s was painted.

just a couple of snaps…..the sliding table after initial removal. It has 4 runners acting agaisn’t hardened bars. Two of the pulleys have eccentric cams to allow them to be tightened to the bars.

Almost there with the slider, just the last couple of studs to remove!

 

[TRITON]

In my humble opinion it would look a lot nicer in grey or grey blue like a PK.
With red lettering.

 

[deema]

So, everything is now apart, tomorrow I will post a photo of what it all looks like prior to being prepped for paint.
The donated base has been checked to make sure it’s a perfect which it is. I wasn’t absolutely sure that they used the same base, but they do, the dimensions and secure holes are exactly the same / align perfectly.

I am now left with a complete top half of a saw that I will be selling either as a complete unit or as parts if anyone is interested. I will start a new thread in the for sale section.

This is what came off, which is destined for the scrap bin.

A little bit of cleaning has started. The 4 rollers that the sliding table moved on are ‘special’. They are designed to come apart and care must be taken when removing them that you don’t lose the ball bearings, as literally they can come apart when you take them off. Below is the disassembled roller bearing. There is the main roller which incorporates a race, the two hubs, ball bears and metal shields.

 

[Inspector]

What was the reason for the base being hacked up so much?

Pete

 

[MARK.B.]

Always like to see old machines lovingly brought back to their former glorywill be watching as you do so The new owner will get something that with care will outlast his or hers grandchildren . Do you have buyer lined up yet or will you put it up on here ?.

 

[screwpainting]

Bliss! Please post loads of pics as you progress I think everyone loves these threads, I know I do.

 

[deema]

The reason the base was cut up and welded with support brackets etc was that at some point in the saws life, the owner decided to ‘up grade’ the motor and fitted a 100L frame 2.2KW 4 pole motor. This type of saw cannot accommodate a 100L frame, it will only take a 90L frame. Again for an unknown reason they fitted a 4 pole rather than a 2 pole motor. To achieve the required blade speed they had to accommodate a 1 to 2 pulley system requiring a large pulley on the motor. This required the motor to be moved away from it’s usual position. The net result was an awful lot of welding and effort to achieve a complete shambles. The bkade would only pivot around 20 degrees even with all the metal hacked out to allow the motor room to move. It could have all been avoided by fitting the right sized motor.

 

[deema]

There isn’t a designated owner for this saw yet. I will offer it in here if it hasn’t sold before it’s complete, when I do refurbish a machine they often sell when someone calls by and sees what I’m working on.