Craftsman power hacksaw rebuild.

[Aaron_W]

The vise seems to be a weak spot on these. I've seen many missing part or all of the vise.

Mine came with a good size "tool makers" angle vise which works, but doesn't allow for any cuts except at 90 degrees. I've considered remaking a vise similar to the original, but like you way too many projects for that to move it from the To Do list to the Actually Do list.

I was kind of amused when I realized that the vise had been replaced, because it is a good size Taiwan made vise that is probably worth more than the $50 I paid for the whole saw.

Mine is an Excel branded saw, but it was made by Covel who also made them for Sears. With the motor mounted underneath, it really makes for a compact unit, quite a bit smaller than my HF 4x6" bandsaw.

 

[jcp]

These are kool saws...very compact. Here's mine.

View attachment 7C5A9CAB-B50F-451D-87B0-C6CD17F3AF54.mov

 

[RaisedByWolves]

The vise seems to be a weak spot on these. I've seen many missing part or all of the vise.

Mine came with a good size "tool makers" angle vise which works, but doesn't allow for any cuts except at 90 degrees. I've considered remaking a vise similar to the original, but like you way too many projects for that to move it from the To Do list to the Actually Do list.

I was kind of amused when I realized that the vise had been replaced, because it is a good size Taiwan made vise that is probably worth more than the $50 I paid for the whole saw.

Mine is an Excel branded saw, but it was made by Covel who also made them for Sears. With the motor mounted underneath, it really makes for a compact unit, quite a bit smaller than my HF 4x6" bandsaw.

View attachment 481580

With a vise that high are the lift dogs even able to engage and lift the blade on the return stroke?

That is the first thing I had to tune in this saw as someone somewhere at some time reversed them and did away with that function.

Don’t know why you would do that, but the ones I have are like new so I’m not complaining.

Also, I don’t see the vises as a weak spot, but rather very misunderstood in their proper operation, which leads to them being broken easily.

I’ve seen people who could break hammers.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Well, Ive made enough progress repairing parts of this and replacing bushings that I can begin paintwork in preparation of final assembly.

I struggled over what paint to use for this as they were made in several different "Liveries" by the different manufacturers. This one was originally the dull grey used for a while by Dunlap and craftsman but I wasnt sure if I wanted that.

When I got the new base it had remnant's of the old school blue that was used at one point in time and it looked like this would be a winner. I happened upon a rustoleium color called "Ink Blue" and it just clicked.


Here its already in primer, but you can see the blue peeking through.

Pretty close.












I think the color looks just right for this era. Its a matte which helps tone it down and prevents it from being too bright IMO.

Plus this will look good dirty too.





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