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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
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    Sydney, NSW
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    Default Lotze Power Hacksaw - Clean up

    Hi,

    I bought a Lotze power hacksaw late last year for $75 (or near abouts). It works but it was covered in years of grime etc so I took it to work to give it a bit of a clean up.

    So I've totally stripped it, cleaned most of the parts in a parts washer and started to sand blast the castings. Mainly doing bits and pieces in my lunch hour so will take some time to finish.

    It's a single phase with a old Betts Cadet motor. I'll have one of the electricians at work to have a look at it and clean it up internally, also the lead will need to be replaced and maybe the switch.

    I'm going to repaint it in it's original colour or as close as I can get. I've checked most of the bearings and i don't think they need replacing.

    So far I've taken 40 odd photo's on my phone, so they aren't the best quality but they will help me put it back together again.

    Ben
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Perth WA
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    71
    Posts
    6,458

    Default

    Hi Ben,

    What condition are the saw guide bushes in? Mine were rooted. I replaced them. It was my intention to replace the guide bar but Phillip "Metalman" convinced me not to. The casting on his saw frame was cracked at the location of the guide bar socket. As much as I love my little Lotze , I haven't switched it on since I bought my 300 dollar horizontal bandsaw.

    Bob.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
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    Sydney, NSW
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    1,249

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Anorak Bob View Post
    Hi Ben,

    What condition are the saw guide bushes in? Mine were rooted. I replaced them. It was my intention to replace the guide bar but Phillip "Metalman" convinced me not to. The casting on his saw frame was cracked at the location of the guide bar socket. As much as I love my little Lotze , I haven't switched it on since I bought my 300 dollar horizontal bandsaw.

    Bob.
    Hi,

    I've been busy with work the last two days and probably the rest of the week. There's a couple of bushes/sleeves that i will need to measure. I'm sandblasting some of the parts when i can but I think it will be a slow process.

    Ben.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    288

    Default

    Congrats on having such good taste.

    I got a Lotze too, ebay in Sydney about 4 years ago - $50 I think. Did the same thing, totally stripped it, degreased and repainted the parts.

    It was so covered in grease and oil that you'd just walk near it and get dirty. I had to fill a rubbish bin with degreaser to start with.

    I repainted in Wattyl Killrust "Wedgewood", I thought that was a pretty close match to the original.

    I had to make a new dashpot piston from an offcut of nylon rod. I'm a bit foggy now, I think that I just added that to whatever metal piston that was already there. Anyhow, it was straightforward and the blade descends slowly as it should.

    One time the crank bolt worked loose, and so the crank just fell off while the machine was going. I check occasionally now.

    Mine also had the original motor, a lot of iron there for not much power - but it suits the machine. I just greased its bearings, and added an inline switch to the power cord. Goes fine.

    I also made a base from 25mm MDF with castor wheels on it so I can park it out of the way when not in use. The castors need brakes, because the machine walks about when cutting.

    I also considered a bandsaw, but the Lotze is a good size and so far I haven't needed more. I use it a fair bit. Makes a funky clunkata clunkata sound when it's going. If I had anything bigger to cut I'd use my 9" angle grinder.

    I've added a coupe of pics of mine, and the page of the 1960 MacPherson's catalogue that advertises it.

    Ian
    Attached Images Attached Images

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Sydney, NSW
    Posts
    1,249

    Default

    Hi Ian,

    Your saw came up nicely. The paint is really close to the original, will keep that colour in mind. Did you spray or brush it on? Also did you prime it or put it straight on?

    When you use your saw, do you use a coolant? I'm thinking of rigging up a small gravity feed coolant system.

    Thanks Ben.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Canberra
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    288

    Default

    Ben, I just use a brush. That's usually sufficient with Killrust, because it's pretty good at self-levelling (the brush strokes just level out). Those soft acrylic brushes now sold pretty widely at the hardware stores help. Small parts get painted with a small brush.

    I do sometimes see photos on forums where people use proper spray equipment and 2-part epoxy to bring machines up like new. Fantastic, but it's a bit involved for me. A good brush technique over a smooth surface (wire-brushed or sanded back) looks pretty good, and usually is hard to fault.

    I can't recall if I used primer on that one - I usually don't because Killrust works well on clean degreased metal, and Wattyl themselves say to just apply it directly. Once it's hardened up over a week or two, its pretty durable.

    I have a plastic bottle of coolant that I squirt on the blade, if I think it's working hard (like getting through flat bar). The cutting speed is fairly relaxed so the blade seems to handle a relaxed approach to coolant. I was applying a lot more when I first started using the saw, now I'm fairly slack about it. Same coolant I squirt on steel I'm turning on the lathe -- some green stuff from Hare and Forbes in a 4L bottle of concentrate that's supposed to be ok on your hands and doesn't smell weird.

    I like the Lotze. I never did track down where they were made, but I suspect it must have been a small inner city foundry in Sydney, Melbourne or maybe one of the other capitals. Must have been just some bloke figuring it out, making patterns, then getting the casting and machining done. And really, getting it right. It does all fit together well, and the alignment, which could be all stuffed up, isn't. It cuts square and smoothly. It looks very 1950s. Real character.

    I did track down an old newspaper advert for it on Trove. The earliest one was in 1953, when McPhersons advertised the machine in Sydney Morning Herald (19 Dec 1953):
    “Lotze Motorised 5in capacity Power Hacksaw Machine, with built-in electric motor to operate from 240-volt single-phase alternating current, and fitted with Swivel Vyce and Hydraulic Lift to the bow on the forward stroke. £51/5/ net, plus tax (if applicable).”
    At the time, the average weekly Basic Wage in Australia was about £11. Imagine that. 5 weeks wages.

    Ian

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    near Warragul, Victoria
    Posts
    3,718

    Default SAWS

    Hi

    Seems to be a few local makers of these saws . I have a Wagner, made in Melbourne , and a Peerless from Ballarat ? The Wagner is on the large end of the scale , it has the hydraulic lowering . Will post some pics Mike

    found this old grays auction .. thats a steal http://www.graysonline.com/lot/2387-...-3-phase-motor

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Melbourne, Victoria
    Posts
    165

    Default

    That looks great Ben.

    In terms of other Australian makers there is also the "Advance" power hacksaw, an example of which I bought last week. The lathes were made in Melbourne so I'm going to assume the hacksaws were as well.

    Rather than start a new thread, where is the best place to buy power hacksaw blades? I'd like to get a few.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    288

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jmebgo View Post
    That looks great Ben.

    In terms of other Australian makers there is also the "Advance" power hacksaw, an example of which I bought last week. The lathes were made in Melbourne so I'm going to assume the hacksaws were as well.

    Rather than start a new thread, where is the best place to buy power hacksaw blades? I'd like to get a few.
    Can't say for Melbourne, but in Canberra, Starrett blades are available at the local industrial suppliers (the type that sells machine tools, fanbelts, welding supplies etc), and were available at one of the power-tool shops that closed down last year. So not too hard to find.

    Love to see your Advance hacksaw when you've got it dressed up.

    Ian

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Sydney, NSW
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    Default

    Hi,

    I think the Lotze hacksaws where made in Melbourne but not 100% sure. This recent ebay seller says something about being locally distributed in Melbourne:

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251552915...84.m1438.l2649

    Got a great price for it.

    I bought a couple of blades of ebay from a local Sydney seller C-tool or something? Cheap enough.

    Ben.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Canberra
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bwal74 View Post
    Hi,

    I think the Lotze hacksaws where made in Melbourne but not 100% sure. This recent ebay seller says something about being locally distributed in Melbourne:

    http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251552915...84.m1438.l2649

    Got a great price for it.

    I bought a couple of blades of ebay from a local Sydney seller C-tool or something? Cheap enough.

    Ben.
    Amazing price that guy got. Well, now I'll be thinking that these old Lotzes are "worth at least $300", instead of "worth only $50 or so" like I did before.
    I'm skeptical that it was really new-new when he got it in the early 1990s as he says. If so, that's remarkable too -- it would have been a manufacturing fossil by then.

    Those eBay photos are worth saving while they are still there, because they show what possibly are the original length stop bars, or at least plausible copies. Mine never came with those, and it clears up how to make them.

    Also, the home-built trolley is sensible because it has two large wheels outboard at the 'front', an idea I've also had. I fitted 3" castors at all 4 corners of an mdf base, but the unit is a bit unstable, it needs a wider wheelbase. I'd been thinking of replacing two of the castors with outrigger lawnmower wheels on an axle mounted to the bottom face of the base, kind of like my old Champion arc-welder has, and pretty much what this old bloke did. I would've thought the handle on the trolley would be better at the other end though. And because of the walking this machine does as it saws, the remaining two castors would need brakes.

    I notice that the motor pulley on his is only about 2/3 the diameter of mine (mine's a 3" diameter single belt pulley), so his would be going quite a bit faster than mine. Would cut quicker, but must make quite a racket. Having two belts like his has isn't necessary because the power is so low, but it looks good - actually maybe it's more important because his motor pulley is so small and stresses the belt more.

    Incidentally, on mine I had to wedge a block of wood between the top of the motor and the underside of the cast table, to stop the aluminium frame that holds the motor and the pulley-axle from bouncing up and down with each stroke.

    Ian

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
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    4,779

    Default

    Nice neat saw. Well done for $50. It don't owe you a cent, especially once you bring it up to look like Ians. The more I see old stuff like that, the more I dislike the new stuff!

    Cheers,

    Simon
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  13. #13
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    Aug 2010
    Location
    Near Bendigo, Victoria, AUS
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    Default

    Ian,
    you have it ass about with the pulleys: the smaller motor pulley makes it run SLOWER. His motor might be a lower power motor - and the smaller pulley is necessary to provide the torque needed for cutting stock at the saw's capacity. I think you are right about the two belts needed due to the 'sharp' radius the belts have to ben to, but with two of them you could leave them a tad looser since they each only transmit half the torque. The other possibility is that the motor on the eBay one was a faster motor - e.g. a 2-pole motor running at 2880rom - though I doubt that - unless it was a 3-phase machine originally and he had the faster single phase motor already and made it suit....
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

  14. #14
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    Jul 2006
    Location
    Canberra
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    288

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jhovel View Post
    Ian,
    you have it ass about with the pulleys: the smaller motor pulley makes it run SLOWER.
    Dammit, you're right. Hard to know what to make of it.

    Ian

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Perth WA
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    Default

    It's pleasing to see there are a few other admirers of these little Lotze saws. I reckon I have a few nice looking machines and the Lotze is as nice as any of them. And it's neat and compact. I wish we could find out more about their origins.

    Great work Ian, and Ben, I look forward to watching your progress.

    Bob

    50 Lookalike 19-3-11 004 (Large).jpg

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