Hi, its taken along time but I have finally found someone who could upload the photographs of the finished machine for me and my comments. Although somewhat late, I hope these are of use to some of you. Stan.
WADKIN BURSGREEN BJS
FRET SAW
(CIRCA 1963)
I have totally refurbished this machine during 2019. All threaded parts, bolts, set and grub screws are British Standard Whitworth (BSW) apart from the following items:- the oilers are ⅛” British Standard Pipe (BSP) and when I re-fixed the machine name plates, a mixture of M3, M4 & M5 metric machine screws. Also the purpose-made hold down foot also has metric fasteners.
Blade Adjustments
To adjust the blades for different lengths set the bottom holder at the top of its stroke. Slacken off the housing on the top holder and adjust the length required plus ⅛”– ¼ and retighten. Then pull down the lever and insert the blade (the extra ⅛”– ¼” keeps the blade in tension). As the bottom holder goes down it pulls the top holder down against the springs, which in turn pulls the blade back up when the bottom holder is on the upward stroke. If replacing blades of the same length, all you have to do is pull down the lever, take out the blade and fit a new one. Maximum length of the blade is 10” (you could possible get 10¾“ in).
I have had to make the blade for the machine and made them 9” long with 1.5mm spring pins at 7⅛” centres but the pins would bend. I now use 2.5mm diameter spring pins which means the minimum blade width I can use if 6mm.
Warning
When setting the roller support for the blade, if you have it too high, the top blade holder will hit it. My solution was to fit a piece of tube 3” long tube over the ¾” diameter bar holding the roller support. This then prevents it from occurring. I also made a hold-down foot for when cutting thin materials and fastened the bracket to the above ¾” diameter bar and shortened the tube by the thickness of the bracket, which is ½” (see photos).
Comments
I kept the original electrics but I should have fitted a push-button stop and start. I only use the machine-combined stop and brake in an emergency because if you accidently catch the arm, it start the machine again, which could be dangerous if changing a blade etc. I am pleased with the performance of the machine and it is proving very useful.
