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

[deema]

Thanks Miles, that’s really interesting.
I’ve literally restored nearly 3 figures of AGS saws and without exception in the UK those with original paintwork have had fully painted name badges. I have three sat in the workshop at the mo. Waiting for TLC, they are original paintwork and again all are fully painted. I wonder if export machines were different? The name badge is aluminium so, your suggestion of cutting it back would bring out the lettering. When it’s sold I will ask the next owner what they prefer.

 

[MilesH]

My assumption was that any name plate without highlighting of the lettering had been overpainted but I could be wrong, maybe they weren't consistent. If you look at the brochure for the BGS though, you can see the lettering highlighted in silver in the illustrations in that.

 

[deema]

A little progress made today before a new addition to the family, my second grand daughter decided to make an entrance to the world. Sideways has bit family stuff for the next week so progress will be slow for a while.

Saw Spindle.
This is probably the trickiest bit to assemble. I’ve certainly got it wrong on more than one occasion. Schematics below show how they go together. The first is an exploded diagram. Item 8 sits inside item 7. It is a locking collar that is pulled against item 7 by a bolt and stops the entire assembly moving inside the casting. You need to move the entire saw spindle in and out of the casting a little bit to align the saw blade with the riving knife. Getting this back together is the tricky bit!

The original bearings which I can only find exact replacements for on the continent at exorbitant prices I replace with SKF or similar 6203 bearings and a couple of shim washers to make up for the protruding inner race. Shim washers are precision shims in the shape of a washer. The only reason for the spacing is to ensure the bearing remains inside the casting when the spindle is moved to its furthest forward position. The original bearings had this ‘packing’ built in. The bearings are identical in specification / performance otherwise.

 

[deema]

These are the bits. When taking it apart everything just unbolts. You need clam shell type bearing pullers to get the bearings off.

This has been apart before and put back together by someone who didn’t know how to do it. The inner collar had been ‘spiked’ in place by a centre punch. They didn’t understand how to assemble / set it up. Anyway, a quick skim of the inside removed the dimples.

The thread on the back of the spindle had been damaged when the spindle had previously been taken apart and the nut and locking collar are missing. The spacer is orientated correctly for how it goes back. If you put it the other way around you will have to take it all apart again!
I first slip the two shim washers on the spindle, warm up the bearing to 90 degrees and then slip it on the spindle. If you are really lucky it will go on by hand. If not you need a press preferably to push it all the way home. There is a temptation to ‘hammer’ them home but if you do you can indent the race which will cause the bearing to fail prematurely. Pressure must only be applied to the inner race, and not the outer.

The spacer and inner collar are next added. The inner collar has a small grub screw temporarily inserted. This needs to protrude sufficiently to catch on the spacer but not enough to catch on the casting when the spindle assembly is inserted back. The grub screw holds the inner collar in place and correctly orientated for assembly. The second bearing is then heated up and slipped on. Grease in these bearings has a working temperature of just over 100 degrees, so warning them up to 90 degrees does not harm them. Warming them up causes them to expand and enable them to be slipped on much easier. There are proper bearing heaters for this purpose.

The second bearing is pushed down such that the spacer is just touching both bearings. It must now be ‘clamped‘ by the bearings.

The damaged thread I chased back and restored / modified to a 5/8 BSW fine thread (14 TPI) it was originally a square thread 14 TPI. I made a new nut.

I was about to make the locking collar when the phone rang and my afternoon in the workshop ended on a happy note. Here is the spacer started.

 

[deema]

The spindle is now finished with the locking collar added. The set screw locates into a Dimple in the shaft ti secure it in place. the locking collar stops the spindle moving when it is being ‘tapped’ to align with the riving knife.

 

[deema]

The spindle assembly is pressed into the main casting. It’s important to align the hole / grub screw in the spacer with the hole in the casting through which a bolt will be inserted. This is the tricky bit. The spacer collar can rotate whilst being inserted. Once the spindle is in place, you will be able to see the grub screw through the hole for the bolt. Now the extremely tricky bit. The grub screw needs to be removed and a bolt inserted. The locking collar that the grub screw ican rotate / slide preventing the bolt from being inserted. If it does…..apart from a lot of frustration you have to take everything apart again and start from the very beginning. When this happens, I replace the bearings oth fresh new ones again as they can be damaged by taking it apart. If all goes well the screw and a washer are inserted. These are what lock the spindle in place in the casting.

 

[deema]

Now to see how we have done. I expect to see a total run out of less than 10 microns, I.e. zero on my gauge. This spindle is great, with no discernible run out.

 

[deema]

The final part for this casting ps assembly is to add the quadrant gear that the worm gear reacts with ti raise and lower the blade. This has two pins and two bolts holding it on.

 

[deema]

The spindle casting (I should call it the slide bracket) attaches to the Trunion bracket by the Side Bracket Pivot Pin. This is a tap in fit which is then secured by two grub screws that locate into two machine recesses on the pin. I though initially that the pin for this machine had been modified, it’s not like the standard AGS pins. This one has a hex head which is really useful for orientateing the flats for the grub screws. The AGS pin has a machined dome. However, looking at the other machines highlighted in the thread, it’s the same hex nut on the other machines. I’ve just popped the grub screws in and nit tightened them down in the photo.

 

[deema]

I should have mentioned, that before attaching the Slide Bracket, it’s best to pop in the two stop screws

. These are usually square headed bolts that stop the saw blade being raised too high or dropping too far into the table. The stop for lowering the blade is difficult to fit if nit put in beforehand. Each has a lock nut to lock them off when they have been set.

 

[deema]

Finally the Racked Quadrant for Canting is fitted. Again this is two pins and two bolts. The pins usually need gently tapping into place. All
mating surfaces are given a spray of standard white grease……not high performance white grease, this stuff use gums up a machine.

 

[deema]

The assembly can now be gently put into the machine and the end caps screwed on, again white grease to all surfaces. Be very careful lowering in the assembly, the cant quadrant rack can get damaged otherwise.

 

[deema]

The rise and fall assembly can now be put together.

First of all, the two bronze bushings need checking. There is one either end of the casting.

We check them with internal micrometers and replace if they are worn. Internal pullers are needed to remove the bushes, and the newly pressed in bushes need to be reamed to size.

 

[deema]

The worm is first pinned to the shaft, then the thrust bearing, we clean and relubricate the bearing. The assembly just slides into the casting and a new split pin which the handle locates on is added. This also stops it coming back out.

 

[deema]

There is a custom grub screw that holds the rise and fall assembly into the trunnion casting, it’s located on the side of the casting. It’s usually ‘interesting‘ to get out when disassembling a saw. It has to be removed befire anything can be removed from the saw.

The rise and fall assembly slides in and them needs winding to allow the worm to pull the assembly fully home. The grub screw is inserted and locks everything together.

 

[deema]

There are 4 studs in the main table, which I put in / take out using double nuts. A nut is put on the stud, then a second. The two are tightened up against each other. The top nut can then be used to tighten down the stud, or the bottom one to remove it..

 

[deema]

To finish the day, I out the table loosely onto the saw. This is what it now looks like. Sideways should be back soon so progress will hopefully get faster.

 

[Sideways]

As you can all see, he's perfectly capable even with a gammy hand. Doesn't need me at all, however chores are done and I'm looking forward to a natter, so I'll be back on the team tomorrow

 

[deema]

Today we milled the sliding table edge and verified that the slot in the table is true. The edge that runs againt the blade was milled true to the slot. It was slightly out. The realignment didn’t take out every single blemish in the table edge, there was just a slight witness mark left in one spot. I’ve posted a few videos of progress in the thread, I’m not sure if they play OK?

To check the slot we clamp the table down on the milling machine bed, and with a clock fixed, run the table past it. This will show any wear in the slot and also allows us to align the sliding table for milling the edge. The total deviation was 10 microns, this is created by there slight wear at the start of the slot closest to the user which you would expect. However, it’s so small to make it negligible.

Unfortunately the video of the check is too large to upload to the site. However a short video of the milling isn’t.

 

[Inspector]

May I ask if there is a particular reason you are using a small diameter cutter over a larger one? Table travel?

Pete