# Restoration of an Excel 12” Power Hacksaw



## Brent H (Mar 10, 2021)

So about a month ago @ryanthemillwright0919 posted that he had this little baby up for sale:





Well, Ryan is a good 3-1/2 hour drive each way so it took me a bit to get to Kingston to see him, but  with the excuse of breaking in the new truck, my better half and I paid him a visit last Sunday.  Great conversation and we loaded the patient into the back of the truck.
Vintage Machinery had the original manual from Covel and lots of pictures.  Ryan explained that the stepper mechanism was missing and that he had been working on a replacement.  Things are busy here but once I got things home I tore it all apart :









The original stepper basically works by ratcheting the cutting action so the saw cuts only on the draw stroke. It accomplishes this by a cam actuating a pivot arm that lifts and falls during a revolution on the drive shaft.  A serrated “feed ratchet block” is engaged by sharpened teeth of the raising levers. (The raising levers are missing on mine).  The originals look like this :





If you look at the above picture, the top of the raising levers are fitted with what should be hardened steel plates.  These plates (2) should be sharpened to properly engage those fine teeth of the ratcheting block.  The saw above would not have worked well - anyway - the picture was great for reference!
So using the picture and reference to Ryan’s work and the parts manual I took the torches out and burnt out some blanks of 1/2” steel.  I did some fast work on the mill to get things roughed in:





The pin for the pivot is 0.375” and I had a hardened steel one just laying about from another machine so that is perfect.  
I will try and update as things get built but running out of hone time!

thanks for the saw and the visit Ryan!


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## Brent H (Mar 15, 2021)

So after some free hand milling and some creative work with the grinder I have the new feet awaiting some teeth:











The screw holes in the top take 2 pieces of 1/2” x 1/8 tool steel or something I can harden and sharpen so that they work the teeth on the cam segment.  I haven’t found anything suitable in the bins yet but a parting tool blade may work if I can anneal it and drill it for the securing arrangement.  
The saw also needed the blade tensioning fixed up. The saw takes just the common 1/2” hacksaw blades so I made a tensioner and some pins to hold the blade.  The pins are 1/4-20 socket head cap screws that I turned on the lathe to add some pin ends (0.140”)


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## architect (Mar 15, 2021)

You gonna paint it the same colour to match the lathe?


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## David_R8 (Mar 15, 2021)

Great work Brent!


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## Dabbler (Mar 15, 2021)

Nice work!


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## Brent H (Mar 15, 2021)

@architect


> You gonna paint it the same colour to match the lathe?


Paint shop said that was too much work  for today as I am off to work Wednesday so we cut a deal and found a few rattle cans of a close to match grey and some black to add some mystery 





I hope to have it back together tomorrow and then I have to find some steel to heat treat and throw a motor on it.  Originally says it should be powered by a 1/4 HP and also had a 6-1/2” drive pulley.  Run speed was supposed to be 435 RPM off a 1725 RPM motor - basically a 1:4 ratio or the motor pulley would be 1-5/8”.  
The pulley on it now is smoking big - I have other pulleys in the shop so I will probably change out the current one and maybe go 8 and 2.    
The whole set up came on a decent stand so I may install a pan under the saw for chips and dip.


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## Brent H (Mar 16, 2021)

So the little saw cleaned up quite nice!  Once the stepper teeth are inserted and I make/get a clamp end it should work just dandy!

I am going to make a chip pan and get the motor stuff done up next month!


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## Hacker (Mar 17, 2021)

Looks good, I have a Taiwanese one that came out of a school. I enjoy watching it work, sort of relaxing.


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## Brent H (Apr 29, 2021)

Update:  I have the teeth made and the saw works hand powered very well.  I will be adding a save all and the motor shortly.





also added into the project is a stand for my press.  I located a piece of substantial I beam and will crop out the spot for pushing broaches and such through.


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## Brent H (May 10, 2021)

Update:

Teeth added to the stepper feet and the saw now cuts on the back draw and lifts  on the forward stroke.  -Perfect.  Changed the pulleys to a 2” drive pulley and a 6” pulley on the saw.  I painted the stand and then added a drip pan (stainless) and fabbed out a quick belt guard.  The belt guard will be attached tomorrow and a power cable bracket.

The saw will cut through a piece of 1” square tubing (1/4” thick) in about 1.5 to 2 minutes - the auto stop feature works well.  I will get the final pics up tomorrow and see about a little “in action” movie.


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## YotaBota (May 10, 2021)

Very cool,


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## YYCHM (May 10, 2021)

Nice, mine's not that sophisticated as to lift the blade on the return stroke.  @kevin.decelles has a BIG PHS that does that, very cool.


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## trlvn (May 11, 2021)

Looking good, @Brent H -- what is the stroke length and number of strokes per minute on this guy?  Any concern about overheating the blade?

Craig


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## YYCHM (May 11, 2021)

KBC carries 12" PHS blades...

https://www.kbctools.ca/itemdetail/1-445-005

https://www.kbctools.ca/itemdetail/1-856-40098


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## David_R8 (May 11, 2021)

Really nice work Brent, it has to be satisfying to watch it work.


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## Brent H (May 11, 2021)

Hey @trlvn the stroke length is a solid 6 inches and the strokes per minute are about 64.  I oil the blade a bit when cutting


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## Brent H (May 11, 2021)

@David_R8 - can I post a wee video here or have to YouTube then here?


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## YYCHM (May 11, 2021)

Brent H said:


> @David_R8 - can I post a wee video here or have to YouTube then here?



You could zip your video and post it here otherwise you'll have to YouTube it and link.

Or email it to me and I'll YT it.


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## David_R8 (May 11, 2021)

Brent H said:


> @David_R8 - can I post a wee video here or have to YouTube then here?


I've never had any luck posting direct which is why I have a YT channel.
I'm only 1000 subs and 100,000 viewing minutes away from being monetized


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## Hruul (May 11, 2021)

@David_R8, 999 subs to go.


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## David_R8 (May 11, 2021)

Hruul said:


> @David_R8, 999 subs to go.


I better up my game. ToT is my gold standard


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## Brent H (May 18, 2021)

Ok, well this is not the greatest but I pieced things together into a video.  I have not posted on you tube in 15 years or so and it took a while to crack into my old account.  See how this works - I didn't voice over or anything as it was hard enough to upload on the ship and I have no really great video editor - It took 3 tries to even export the file - LOL


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