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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
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    Melbourne, Australia
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    843

    Default Hercus hacksaw refurb - pic thread

    Hi all,

    First, although this thread is about a Hercus machine, it is more about general restoration and machining and not specifically Hercus, so posting here and not in the Hercus area.

    Now, for a bit of a change I thought I'd give an old war-bird some love. The machine tool in question is a Hercus Hacksaw (aka 'the hackasaurus'). Not quite a basket case - but, boy, certainly not far from it. I suspect if plugged into 415v it would have operated, albeit very badly with quite some rattling and wobbling. It is certainly a very (very) tired and worn machine - like many from the war era. I got it for a not-to-be-missed price from a fellow forum member (he'd not seen it running so it came 'as-is') - (but thank you!). I promised myself I'd fix it up. That was two years ago ....

    So .. it began two years .. and happily, at 'only' 200-300 kilos it was okay on the fold-up trailer:

    IMAG1220.jpgIMAG1221.jpgIMAG1222.jpg

    Then it sat in the garage for two years ....

    IMAG1232.jpg

    I could not find a serial number on it, but from pics and also the little Hercus history that is about, I suspect it is maybe late 30's or 40's. The large open 'steam engine' pulley and the beautiful 'flash gordon' motor casting are hints.

    Initially, I thought I'd do a 'teardown' thread for other future hackasaurus owners - but, actually, they're just such simple machines - there really are no mysteries to how they come apart. Not like, say, a bridgeport head. Just nuts and bolts and castings and a split pin or two. No taper pins. Bless! So, I'll share some pics of the resto here.

    The chinesium bandsaw has given great utility, but I'll be happy to replace it with some cast iron. Besides, the hacksaw is way more interesting to look at and (importantly) passes the 'wife test' of looking something like a 'wallace and gromit' machine. ) The 'saw-o-matic' perhaps? )

    It is *seriously* worn and covered in layers of grime and sh*te that cover up other layers of grime and sh*te, that cover up other layers ...

    As a small example, this is stuff coming out of the motor:

    IMG_20190425_123039.jpg

    But , let's not get ahead of ourselves.

    These are quite basic machines. In 15 years or so Hercus only made about 1700 of them so likely each was made by 'hand' with not too many 'production line' tooling doing the job. Thus, I guess, they are relatively simple to make and assemble/disassemble.

    From scratch, it only took about two hours to reduce it to parts and nut and bolts. That was with some blow torch heating on some stuck parts.

    Progress:

    IMG_20190419_130837.jpgIMG_20190419_130854.jpg

    I gave parts a wire brush scrub down with a tub of degreaser. It was a messy job.

    IMG_20190421_111243.jpg

    I think it would have been quite hard to clean up all the crud without removing most of the already-pretty-bad paint in the process - so I went for total paint removal. To do this, I used Bunnings 'tricleanium' ('TSP') in a near-boiling solution in the same tub on the BBQ. TSP is pretty nasty - be careful - it is hungry for human flesh but man oh man - it is by a country mile the best thing to remove old paint and grime. A hot/boiling solution is amazingly effective. Do it outdoors.

    IMG_20190421_124536.jpg

    This is a motor cover after about 10 mins of partial submersion:

    IMG_20190421_154931.jpg

    and parts come out leaving their clothes behind and a rinse and quick oiling will see them good for a while:

    IMG_20190421_164520.jpg

    Pretty much as quick as I could I got them primed (notice the flash rusting on some parts). I use Wattyl Industrial 'agricultural' paint on the machines so I use the matching 'etch' primer from the same range.

    IMG_20190422_165626.jpgIMG_20190422_165643.jpg

    I did get a colour match done on a part but, the match was pretty awful and kind of looked like bubble-gum blue/green. I had an extra litre of paint on hand from when I did the Bridgeport last year - so ... the Hercus will be Bridgeport grey/green. The hacksaw was obviously a blue/green colour to begin with but somehow a nice greeny/gold/grey suits machines better I think. Apologies to the Hercus purists.

    The motor is a beautiful thing - an old-school General Electric Australia item - but hellishly grubby:

    IMG_20190422_171001~2.jpgIMG_20190422_171010.jpgIMG_20190422_171021.jpgIMG_20190422_171039~2.jpg

    It was 'star' wired and no easy way to make it delta. I'll be running it on a VFD on 240. A fellow forum member offered to help modify it from star to delta so I jumped at the offer:

    IMG_20190427_145816.jpgIMG_20190427_155148.jpgIMG_20190427_160621.jpgIMG_20190427_160625.jpgIMG_20190428_090929.jpgIMG_20190428_110631.jpg


    A big THANK YOU for the assistance!! Sir, if you are reading this - you are a **STAR** my friend. Me doing electrics is like green algae doing calculus - only more dangerous. Thank you ever so much for the motor testing and conversion, and especially for taking the time to explain things as you went. Thank you.

    ... to be continued ....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    843

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    The machine is very worn. Like ... it has been flogged and after it went beyond normal repair - flogged more.

    As an example of wear - this is from the main shaft.

    IMG_20190430_184658~2.jpgIMG_20190430_190602.jpg

    The main pulley is a work of art and is about 18" across. But, it has had many years of wobbling about with pretty uneven wear. Here it the pulley part of the shaft where it held by a key - look at the 'undercut' worn by the woodruff key:

    IMG_20190504_180437.jpgIMG_20190504_180544.jpg

    The key has just wobbled left and right.

    There was about 0.010" or more play so people have just kept tightening the pulley securing nut ad-nauseum:

    IMG_20190504_180617.jpg

    So onto fixing things.

    The pulley bore needed some cleanup, the entry exit holes were not round, so I left it to the gods to assist. I made a broad 60 degree point and used that to locate what the universe thought was center and took it from there:

    IMG_20190504_131124.jpgIMG_20190504_142800.jpgIMG_20190504_131626.jpg

    I bored the ID out about 0.020" using the world's worst boring head. Got it for like $20. I reckon I'll throw it in the bin. Really - just awful.

    IMG_20190504_155327.jpg


    The end of the main shaft has a taper to hold a wheel that translates rotary motion into linear to make the ram go back and forwards. I cut a test piece to try to match the taper, put that wheel on it and it was **SO** wobbly. What!! It seems the wheel's 'matching' taper has worn irregularly. Check out the wear pattern:

    IMG_20190505_103616.jpg
    -
    I can only figure it must have been very loose for a while and just gone weird - so it has to be redone. Again, given the wear, I just let the universe find the center using the same 'broad point' - this time in the lathe tailstock and secured with the 4-jaw then bored it with near-as-I-could taper. I cut a new shaft with the same taper.

    IMG_20190505_111916.jpg

    The whole wheel is stupid - the bore is not centered, and (amazingly) the opposing faces are not parallel. Never seen that. Must have been a Friday job. I recut the wheel faces (no pics sorry).

    A new main shaft was needed - the old one was toast. The 'pulley end' is slightly larger to cater for the newly re-bored pulley. The other end has a taper to match the inner of the (erm) other wheel above. I made it from 12L14, but likely should have made it from pre-hard.

    IMG_20190505_165124.jpgIMG_20190511_095018~2.jpg

    New bushings required:

    IMG_20190511_114833.jpgIMG_20190511_114843.jpgIMG_20190511_115607.jpgIMG_20190511_174902.jpg

    The machine has a hydraulic pump run from an eccentric on the main shaft that lifts the ram on the not cutting stroke. The eccentric has been butchered by vice grips it seems, so I tidied it up:

    IMG_20190511_182341.jpgIMG_20190511_182823.jpg


    To be continued ....

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    There is not much point in a hacksaw that does not cut somewhere near perpendicular to the workpiece. Sure, if for lathe only you can face stuff off. If for welding/fabrication - nope.

    This old girl has had a very hard life. The wear on the table and vice jaws was quite significant. The wear on the table is about 0.100" and on the vice jaws even more. The pics maybe speak for themselves:

    IMG_20190512_095244.jpgIMG_20190512_171416.jpgIMG_20190512_100819.jpgIMG_20190512_100843.jpgIMG_20190512_100944~2.jpgIMG_20190512_101051~2.jpg


    So ... to have a good hacksaw both needed re-milling. The table went on the BP and, though large, with some positioning, the length of the table could just be catered for:

    IMG_20190519_121532.jpg

    It felt like LOT of material had to some off the table to get it flat. Boy oh boy. About 0.110" at the end. Event after a few cleanup cuts the reality was evident:

    IMG_20190513_173415.jpg

    But after an age, and trying to get a good finish (I gave up on the finish) ..

    IMG_20190519_134733.jpgIMG_20190519_171950.jpg

    The vice jaws got a similar treatment. The 'X' slots I figure are not that functional so, granted the wear had actually worn beyond them, I aligned on the 'most unworn' bit and machined down to under the wear ... and the 'X' slots went ....

    IMG_20190602_114657.jpgIMG_20190602_122052.jpgIMG_20190602_123023.jpgIMG_20190602_125803.jpgIMG_20190602_131307~2.jpgIMG_20190602_131324~2.jpg


    Note that the moving jaw has some pretty excessive wear on the front under side .. but, as making this true again changes the height relationship with the vice screw I'll leave it as is and see how it goes.

    I did have to modify the bolt that holds the moving jaw to cater for the 0.110" less table width. I am tempted to make it anew, but, let's see how we go.

    IMG_20190602_085438.jpg

    ... to be continued ....
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    Thanks all for the 'likes'. More pics:

    ... I wanted the hacksaw to be mobile-ish so it got some small roller feet - they were very cheap at $3-4 each.

    IMG_20190525_121236.jpgIMG_20190525_122646.jpgIMG_20190525_162111.jpgIMG_20190525_162207.jpg

    With the table now machined flat I could start getting stuff off the floor and back onto the hacksaw:

    IMG_20190526_102949.jpg

    Some stuff was pretty out of shape, like the bolt that holds the vice on, but the shop press helped here:

    IMG_20190515_205804.jpgIMG_20190515_212538.jpg

    The main shaft had woodruff keys to hold the main pulley and the wheel at the opposite end. I went the keystock approach and not woodruffs. Besides, the bore of the main pulley is all chewed up where the play allowed the woodruff to move back and forward so unless i cut another keyway a woodruff was out of the question. No pics of machining keyways sorry.

    IMG_20190526_112349.jpg

    With the shaft done, the main pulley could be cleaned up and pressed onto it and all fitted:

    IMG_20190526_163713.jpg

    Next was trying to figure the hydraulic system to get the ram to lift on the back stroke plus permit raising the ram manually and having it 'soft' lower.

    That saga is covered here: //metalworkforums.com/f65/t2034...-oil-questions

    We did get there in the end!

    The pin that the large end of the ram (erm) 'actuating arm' rides on was worn and the arm bushing was toast, so I made a new pin and bushing. It is slightly thicker than the original but I used what bronze I had on hand to make the bushing and then made this pin to fit. No pic of bushing sorry.

    IMG_20190616_164607~2.jpg

    With that, the machine is now operational. Clunky, so some play here and there to be sorted or shimmed or something. Motor bearings aren't as happy as I thought they would be after a clean and re-grease so they'll get replaced. Motor sounds a bit strained as well, but it is only running at 25hz in the vid:



    It has no cutting blade on it coz I don't have one that fits. I do have 30 NOS ones that are too long though! I'll cut a few down when I get a carbide bit to drill new holes. It is very tenacious stuff. When I redo bearings etc I'll post another vid - hopefully it'll all be quieter as well.

    Next will be the coolant pump - poor sorry little thing, I mean look at the wear on the shaft ..... oh dear ...

    IMG_20190609_184538.jpgIMG_20190609_190234.jpgIMG_20190609_194405.jpg


    .. and we're up to date on pics now!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Drouin Vic
    Posts
    633

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    What a great old piece of iron to bring back to life, great job on the restoration. I have an old bandsaw that is missing any maker's badges but seems to be an Aus copy of the Wells #8, it has the identical old art-deco motor to your hacksaw. Would be nice to restore it but it's ugly and functional so very low on the list.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    56
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    I just rebuilt a 7x12 bandsaw from the 80's and had to face mill the bed just over 1mm because of the groove steel had worn over the years when it was in use. Also face milled took the groove out and trued up the jaws. After fitting new bearings throughout it runs like new
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Adelaide
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    68
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    1,373

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    Quote Originally Posted by StrayAlien View Post
    Next will be the coolant pump - poor sorry little thing, I mean look at the wear on the shaft ..... oh dear ...
    The pump on mine, whilst looking reasonably un-worn, was pretty ineffective - just a pathetic dribble from the outlet.
    I replaced the whole tank and pump with a small parts washer which gives a copious flow to wash swarf out of the kerf and cool everything down.

    While it works well, it's not true to the era. If I'm not very careful you may just inspire me to drag the old pump out and refurbish it...

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