Any old iron

[Phil Pritchard]

Being a lover of cast iron machinery I've now got a couple "projects" to fettle over the coming winter:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/Real_Scrit/Machinery%20-%20Wadkin/687c35b8.jpg

Above: Bursgreen MZ chairmaker's bandsaw

Only a little 16 inch wheel machine, but weighs a massive 600kg (1300 lbs).OK, a solid cast-iron bandsaw that looks like a sheet metal one. Not impressed, huh? Then take a look at its' party trick:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/Real_Scrit/Machinery%20-%20Wadkin/WadkinMZF4.jpg

And for the ultimate in woodworkers drill presses I reckon this little baby beats them all:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c258/Real_Scrit/Machinery%20-%20Wadkin/IMG_0955.jpg

Below: Wadkin LQ recessor (ex-Rolls-Royce)

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Phil

[Alex Shanku]

Cool machines!!! Does the table also tilt on the BS, or just the frame/saw?

[Hank Knight]

Cool machines, Phil. They should keep you busy over the winter. I'm in the middle of restoring an old Walker Turner drill press. Not a Wadkin by a long shot, but a good one nonetheless. I received replacement parts from Walker Turner Serviced Machinery in NJ yesterday, and I can't wait to get it up and running. Post pictures of your machines when you're done. I'm really interested in your band saw.

Hank

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I believe your tilting band saw is called a ship saw. There were huge ones that did this and were used for cutting compound curves on long hull timbers.

I love old iron as well. Upcoming restorations include a Walker Turner 16" wood/metal band saw, a parks 36" band saw (wood wheels and iron spokes), and a 20" parks planer. I think I like restoring old machine slike this as much as making sawdust!

Great machines you have there- good to somebody that appreciates them. That DP looks almost like a milling machine.

[Jeff Horton]

Now that is a cool saw! Looks like a ships saw to me too. Is Bursgreen an import/foriegn made saw? I don't see a listing for them on OWWM web sit and never heard of it.
EDIT: Just noticed you UK location. Thats why I have never seen/heard of the brand.

There are two pieces of old iron on my list of 'wants'. A large bandsaw is one of them.

Your drill press looks more like a milling machine but kewl none the less!

[Lynn Kasdorf]

the proper spelling is "old arn"

;)

[lou sansone]

the wadkin looks like a high speed pattern mill ... are you sure it is technically a "drill press"?

best wishes with the new equipment
lou

[Phil Pritchard]

Now that is a cool saw! Looks like a ships saw to me too. Is Bursgreen an import/foriegn made saw?
The saw is a 16in wheel machine and was sold here as a "chairmaker's saw". The table isn't fixed to the lower frame, but tilts inwards at the same rate as the frame tilts forwards thus keeping it parallel to the floor. Bursgreen started in woodworking machinery just after WWII, I believe, the founders Mr. Burrows and Mr. Green had visited the USA in the late 1930s and decided to build lightweight machines along American lines. By 1947 they were owned by John Sagar Ltd of Halifax, Yorkshire, England and Sagar in turn sold-out to Wadkin of Leicester around 1955 - the Bursgreen factories continuing under the name "Wadkin Bursgreen" (at last, a familiar name!). Bursgreen made their own "knock-off" of the original deWalt radial saw, the type still sold by Original Saw Co. (the Bursgreen was called a model BRA), as well as their own interpretation of the American Saw Co. (I'm told) table saw, called the BGA. I've never found any references to this company which illustrate their products so I'm curious about that one.


Your drill press looks more like a milling machine but kewl none the less!
It's a neither fish nor fowl - it is a two-speed machine (3,000/6,000 rpm) fitted with both hand and foot-operated fall (rise is spring counterbalance) and a compound table. They were sold into firms like patternmakers to drill foles and cut recesses in wooden casting patterns using a 2-flute cutter held in the chuck, hence "recessor". I've seen another one of these (also ex-Rolls Royce) fitted with DROs on both axes and one still in use in a plastics firm, no less, fitted with an inverter to control spindle speeds. As mine has a large Jacobs chuck fitted I figured that it had to be the biggest drilling machine I'd ever get hold of and the side thrust bearings on the quill meant that it would be put to greater use that a Chaiwanese drill press ever could be.

Phil

[tod evans]

nice scores phil !

[Seth Poorman]

Phil
Good score - I likes old Iron too !! ;)