From W. Germany by way of Colorado.

[Brian Holcombe]

A new old saw, born in 1985 and practically untouched. Unearthed from a basement in Colorado, shipped to NJ and put back into a basement. :D

Here is the timid beast, we must approach carefully.

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2787.jpg




A closer look:

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2788.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2789.jpg

Now to find a spanner wrench and run duct! Ugh...

Long day, I tore it down to nuts and bolts, with the help of my dad, and lugged it down the stairs to reassemble. Was a piece of cake mainly. The table had some weight to it and the moving parts as well but overall not bad.

Cool thing about this saw is that a double miter can be attached to the table top, bolted tight and the entire table top will move if so desired. It moves on a large linear rail.

I spent a few minutes tuning up the slider, was pretty straightforward.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Sweet! Did JC the gentle giant help find that gem? I will admit to some envy . . . .

[Ray Newman]

Lucky you! Those are very good saws.

[Edwin Santos]

That saw looks vaguely familiar. Does it have a slot mortiser function built into it?

Nice score!

[Patrick Walsh]

Wow Brian your really on a machine purchasing tear.

How come we have yet to see the Maka make some cuts. Has the project stalled for some reason.

You gotta get some rubber flooring I’d go mad vacuuming up the dust 300 times a day.

I got mine cheap froma place that sells high end gym equipment. They sold me there offcuts from projects for a huge discount and it’s way nicer than any of the options from just about anywhere.

Like the color on that machine ;)

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks gents! Very much looking forward to making some sawdust. Thanks Patrick, actually Chris Hall found it for me.

Edwin, this one doesn’t have the mortiser, instead it has a double miter/rolling table setup. Looking through the manual it appears there were a lot of options for these machines.

Some interesting things; They were outfitted with Baldor motors and 5/8” arbors. I found it interesting to not find a metric motor but that makes repair work easier.

Thanks Patrick, I had a feeling you would like the color and gloss! I like it, your thread has won me over on the green paint. Totally agree on the rubber mats, I need them now mainly so I can move the machines around.

This will probably end my machine buying binge (for now) since I’m near completely out of space.

The maka is almost complete, I was absolutely swamped with work last month. Every waking moment was work, so I will get back to the maka soon and wrap it up.

[Jim Becker]

Very kewel...I can't wait to "fondle" that on my next visit!!

[Brian Holcombe]

Haha! Thanks, Jim! Should be up and running soon so you’ll be able to test it out. :D

[Bryan Lisowski]

Brian, that's a sweet looking machine. The main cabinet, how does it compare to a typical cabinet saw.

[Mark Hennebury]

Nice saw Brian. Always liked Ulmia, they made some nice stuff.

[David Kumm]

Good get Brian- although I was hoping you would restore Mark's Robinson. Dave

[Robert Hazelwood]

Wow, that thing looks brand new. Pretty nice not to have to mess with restoration work. Excellent find! What's the sliding stroke on that machine?

[John TenEyck]

Brian, so that's why the blade insert has such a long slot? Required so the top can slide? I'd really like to see how that works. The range of motion looks limited if that's how it works, but it ought to be great for high precision work on relatively narrow stock.

Sure is a nice looking saw. Typical German precision.

Now about that carpet.

John

[michael langman]

With all of the adjustments on that tablesaw it looks like the Ulmia leaves no room for error!

[Brian Holcombe]

Brian, that's a sweet looking machine. The main cabinet, how does it compare to a typical cabinet saw.

Thank you! I’m not sure, I have very little time on cabinet saws so I don’t have much basis for comparison.


Nice saw Brian. Always liked Ulmia, they made some nice stuff.

Thanks, Mark!


Good get Brian- although I was hoping you would restore Mark's Robinson. Dave

Thanks, Dave! I’ve been sort of itching for another resto but it’s going to probably be an early German sliding table shaper at this point (after I manage to get space for it).


Wow, that thing looks brand new. Pretty nice not to have to mess with restoration work. Excellent find! What's the sliding stroke on that machine?

Totally! As much as I enjoy resto/mod it is nice to plug it in and cut things.


Brian, so that's why the blade insert has such a long slot? Required so the top can slide? I'd really like to see how that works. The range of motion looks limited if that's how it works, but it ought to be great for high precision work on relatively narrow stock.

Sure is a nice looking saw. Typical German precision.

Now about that carpet.

John

Hah! The carpet does need to go. I’m curious as well, once I have some experience with it I’ll post up a video. The machine claims 10” of travel. On the table. The slider attachment offers about 24” of crosscut. I was originally wondering why they’d bother but I see the utility of it, you can set up two legs of a frame with stops and have everything cut in one batch. Nice especially for stuff outside of 45 degrees and any error is countered by the double setup. Not sure I’ll do much with that feature, but one day it may come in handy.


With all of the adjustments on that tablesaw it looks like the Ulmia leaves no room for error!

Absolutely, the entire thing is adjustable in fine increments.

[Brian Holcombe]

John, here’s the slider for the table;

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2799.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2798.jpg

And the sliding arm;

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/img_2800.jpg

[brent stanley]

Wow, congrats Brian. Looks very refined and adjustable!

I'm headed down to West Orange in a little while....hope it's warming up down there.

B

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the added photos Brian. I never knew there was such a saw like that. That thing is built like a battleship, yet looks very high precision. I wonder who the mad hatter was who did the original design, which likely preceded CAD?

It looks like the saw was never used. Absolutely pristine.

John

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wowser! That is one impressive machine! I have never seen one or photographs of one before but even the photos scream "QUALITY"! Congratulations! May it serve you well!

[Kevin Jenness]

Nice saw. An acquaintance of mine has one, the only other I have seen.

I note the "Masterpiece Machines" sticker on yours. They were importing for a while back in the 80's. I seem to remember the business disappeared in a cloud of lost deposits.

How easy is it to remove the crosscut fence for ripping?

[Patrick McCarthy]

couldn't help noticing the washers on the bolts underneath the ULMIA label . . . . I am sure Patrick Walsh will notice those too - seems like someone was discussing those just a few days ago.

Excellent find Brian.

[Mark Hennebury]

I had one a few years back. I bought it to sell not to keep. It was set up for miter work only, no ripfence of additional crosscut table. It seems that they were quite popular for picture framers. The sliding top is great for mitres and joinery. Ulmia made a lot of different models beside this one. Up to a panel saw size. I really don't have any experience with it, i only cleaned it, checked it over and played with it for a bit. then sold it. But it was a very nice saw.

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[Mike King]

FWW profiled Kevin Rodel's Ulmia:

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2017/02/08/dream-machines-kevin-rodels-ulmia-1710-sliding-tablesaw

[Jim Becker]

Wow, the fact that the actual table top can slide is a pretty kewel feature.

[michael langman]

It is a shame that American saws do not come with some of the features, and the quality, of the Ulmia.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks for the added photos Brian. I never knew there was such a saw like that. That thing is built like a battleship, yet looks very high precision. I wonder who the mad hatter was who did the original design, which likely preceded CAD?

It looks like the saw was never used. Absolutely pristine.

John

Thank you! German engineering during the pre-CNC period really amazes me, as I explore it I see things that I would have never conjured up to complete a task and yet it makes good sense when I see it.


Wowser! That is one impressive machine! I have never seen one or photographs of one before but even the photos scream "QUALITY"! Congratulations! May it serve you well!

Thank you!


Nice saw. An acquaintance of mine has one, the only other I have seen.

I note the "Masterpiece Machines" sticker on yours. They were importing for a while back in the 80's. I seem to remember the business disappeared in a cloud of lost deposits.

How easy is it to remove the crosscut fence for ripping?

Really quick, turn the knob for the miter block and and the adjustable rod and remove the whole fence. I imagine that makes some of the masterpiece items pretty hard to find as most of those manufacturers seemed to write off the US shortly thereafter. I didn't quite understand why originally (aside from damage to their reputation) but now I see that so many of them used standard sized arbors and installed standard motors, so the manufacturers must have had significant investments in the deal. I think it's a little easier now with so many of the metric motors being available for 60hz and so many US consumers buying metric saw blades and other equipment.

Interestingly, the saw came with another arbor (20mm) so I can use 5/8" saw plates or 20mm. I'm planning to buy groovers for it so that I can cut out kumiko in a much more painless fashion than I had been previously. I had a shoji job earlier in the quarter and decided to cut out another couple shoji for another project and was pulling my hair out trying to manufacture the kumiko....ultimately that lead to this and the Omga.


couldn't help noticing the washers on the bolts underneath the ULMIA label . . . . I am sure Patrick Walsh will notice those too - seems like someone was discussing those just a few days ago.

Excellent find Brian.

Thank you! I think those were added after the fact, and I'm debating wether to do that with all of the panels on the machine and also replace these with smaller diameter, thicker and black oxide coated washers.


I had one a few years back. I bought it to sell not to keep. It was set up for miter work only, no ripfence of additional crosscut table. It seems that they were quite popular for picture framers. The sliding top is great for mitres and joinery. Ulmia made a lot of different models beside this one. Up to a panel saw size. I really don't have any experience with it, i only cleaned it, checked it over and played with it for a bit. then sold it. But it was a very nice saw.

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Nice machine! I could see where these would be a really nice saw for picture framers. The utility seems to be that you can set the stops for the legs of the frame and trim to size, rather than to measure twice.


FWW profiled Kevin Rodel's Ulmia:

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2017/02/08/dream-machines-kevin-rodels-ulmia-1710-sliding-tablesaw

I saw that video, thanks for posting it up here too. He has an extension that I like for longer work and his has a mortiser.

[John TenEyck]

There are all kinds of used Ulmia table saw variants available in Germany: https://www.machineseeker.com/mss/ulmia+1710

John

[Brian Holcombe]

When this saw arrived, along with cane two blades from Leitz which are an 80T crosscut, a 25T combination blade, a Stehle 100T crosscut and a Freud with the wrong arbor size.

Ends up, all of them are bested by a Tenryuu miter pro plus 60T in crosscutting.

Wgich brings up a thought of what do you guys prefer for combination blades in a 10” size?

[Darcy Warner]

Everlast.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you!

[Jim Becker]

Wgich brings up a thought of what do you guys prefer for combination blades in a 10” size?

Forrest WW-II. I actually have two of the 10" sitting around if you want to get one or both sharpened and test them out. You know where I live... ;) I'm using 12" versions now.

[Brian Holcombe]

Jim, Thank you! I may well take you up on that.

[Jim Becker]

They still have a lot of life in them, Brian...they just need sharpened/cleaned. Exact .125" kerf, too. (One of the reasons I stick with one blade type the majority of the time)

[Phillip Mitchell]

That saw is Mint, Brian! I somehow missed it when you acquired this and seeing this thread for the first time. It looks pretty compact for a sliding saw.

How are you finding it has changed or improved your workflow overall?

I’ve noticed that Chris Hall has some mighty fine machines in his own shop as well and has listed a handful for sale recently. Wish I could afford at least one of them.

Did you ever sell your Felder horizontal mortiser?

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks, Phil! Huge improvement in the workflow.

Chris’ machines are pretty sweet, he’s selling off the majority of them and changing to more compact equipment which can be kept in his basement workshop.

Havent sold the Felder yet, but I want to make some room for a Japanese chisel mortiser.

[Phil Mueller]

Congrats on the saw Brian. But I’m even happier to hear you are swamped with work. Well deserved.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thank you! Very much appreciated.