Are power hacksaws obsolete ?

[Stustoys]

I'd say they are obsolete in the production sense.
I would think they cost more to buy.(unless of course you can pick one up for $70)
They require more maintenance.
More than half the time they are doing nothing
They generally have a wider cut.
Most of the time they only use a small part of the blade.

The only down side of a bandsaw I can think of is blade changes would take longer.

Having said all that I'd be happy to have yours in my shed Kev. Looks to be very heavy. Nice color as well, I have to come up with a color for my machines or at least my T&C grinder).

One tip for the hacksaw guys. Make a false jaw about 4" wide to put against the fixed jaw. On smaller work this will move the section of blade being used. Dont get to greedy though or you might hit the work with the frame. Not sure its even worth the trouble if the blades are $12 each given the small amount of work most of us are likely to put through one in a year.

Stuart

[Dave J]

I restored a big old Parkinson I paid 70.00 for it from the local scrap yard .It has hydraulic lift , down feed and auto shut off, and two speeds .It takes a 12 ,14 and 16 inch blades ,although the 12 is plenty for what I use it for and I reckon it would be hard to get the larger blades these days. It cuts very accurately and makes cutting large stock a breeze. I have done some cutting of stock for a local bloke here .
Kev.

That saw has a modern look to it Kev. More like something you would buy today if they where still selling them.

Dave

[new_guy90]

I love power hack saws the place I used to work had one and it was brilliant for cutting the tough tool steel we machined there, they are great when the cam works if not you are just chucking money and time away. My old boss came to me once "can you take a look at the hack saw please?" she put a plate of aluminum flat and tried to cut but since it was longer than the stroke the chips didn't clear and it snapped the blade and a dowel lol my new boss came to me with a bit of stainless half cut through "take a 16mm turbo and cut right on the line to cut this bit off" me "didn't the band saw cut it?" "na the blade is screwed and we dont have any more blades" lol

[aussiejoeblow]

I have both. And I much prefer the power hacksaw.

[Woodlee]

Dave ,
I reckon it was manufactured just after the second world war , the ball bearings that were in the drive were Australian made Echuca brand .I spoke to an old guy that worked for CBC and he said that that brand of bearing hasn't been made since the end of the war .Of course the bearings could have been in stock for many years. I reckon this saw was of late 40's or early 50's manufacture .The base , beam , bow and drive housing are cast iron .The later models were fabricated , but still used the same pump for the hydraulics .It weighs at least 500kg ,the oil tank for the hydraulic pump take about 16 litres of oil .
I have been in contact with a couple of fellows who have later fabricated models and we have compared components and compared the differences of the models.

In the side of the base mine has the name Theo Park and Sons Melbourne cast into it. Possibly before the name change to Parkanson for the business . I've tried to get more info on the company , but have had no luck so far.
Some machinery company in Melbourne still markets Parkanson machinery but are not exactly forth coming with any historic information.

Ive attached some pics of later model with a fabricated base , it is a chain drive from the main motor which is housed under the machine ,mine is a gear driven affair with a large fly wheel and the motor is mounted on the rear of the machine .This later model still has the cast iron drive housing , beam and bow .The hydraulic pump , auto cut off for the return of the beam to the up position and the drive housing are identical to my machine.The vice screw is totally different , mine has a quick adjusting moveable jaw , although the vice jaws are very similar.

Kev.

[morrisman]

During WW2 a bearing manufacturing facility was built at Echuca ... I don't know more than that .

Was the Parkinson factory in Highett ? SE suburb of Melbourne .

PS found this Echuca Ordnance Factory, Ball Bearing Factory, Echuca, Victoria, during WW2 Mike

[Woodlee]

Mike thanks for that .maybe I should have kept the old bearings , perhaps they would be collectors items.
I would hazard a guess that they were the original bearings ,they were still in pretty good condition ,but a restoration is a restoration so I replaced the lot .
I'm not sure where the factory was ,the casting on the machine only says
"Theo Park and Sons ,Engineers ,Melbourne"

Kev.