Wellsaw 4″ Hacksaw Info

[John McCullaParticipant @johnmcculla]

Hi all,

I’ve just purchased a lovely 4″ Wellsaw power hacksaw. Tried it out tonight and it cut through a piece of round bar beautifully, but once through the bar it drops with a bang the last distance and then cuts out. I haven’t ever used a power hacksaw before, so I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the little oil filled well is a damper, causing the arm to drop slowly. Mine drops at what seems to be an un-damped speed. Is that correct? If it’s not, does anyone have any info on how to set these things up properly?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Some useful photos here:

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/wellsaw-4-mechanical-hacksaw.111168/

MichaelG.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Worth investigating the damper. maybe the plunger is missing or needs to be replaced by one with a closer fit?

Is there an external valve which can be used to control the rate of descent?

Howard

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

The machine should switch the motor off all by itself at the end of the process, so it did the right thing there.

However, the bow should indeed descend in a controlled way, and on a fully-fitted hacksawing machine the crank and damper conspire to slightly relieve the pressure on the blade on the return stroke..

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Have you tried adjusting the arm weight? Or isn’t there one?

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said:

Some useful photos here:

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/wellsaw-4-mechanical-hacksaw.111168/

MichaelG.

The very first of which shows both a sliding weight and a damper.

MichaelG.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Michael,

I know they are supposed to have, but that doesn’t mean it still has. :O)

My Kennedy 90 was supposed to have auto off and a spring in lieu of the weight, both were missing when I got my hands on it.

[Dave Halford]

On Dave Halford Said:Michael, I know they are supposed to have, but that doesn’t mean it still has. :O)

[…]

Yes, I do realise that, Dave

Nothing personal … I was just trying to avoid there being too much needless speculation.

MichaelG.

[John McCulla]

On 14 November 2024 at 22:43 John McCulla Said:

Hi all,

I’ve just purchased a lovely 4″ Wellsaw power hacksaw. Tried it out tonight and it cut through a piece of round bar beautifully, but once through the bar it drops with a bang the last distance and then cuts out. I haven’t ever used a power hacksaw before, so I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that the little oil filled well is a damper, causing the arm to drop slowly. Mine drops at what seems to be an un-damped speed. Is that correct? If it’s not, does anyone have any info on how to set these things up properly?

The oil pot has a plunger with a sprung metal plate on the bittom which covwrs a hole in the plunger. Theres a long screw that pushes down ever so slightly on the metal plate to allow the oil to pass through slowly, dampening the flow and therefore the rate of descent. Its a crude system but surprisingly effective the only thig I would say to note is that if you lift the bow then drop it too quickly it shoots a spurt of oil out of the pot, hence why the one in my link has a metal cap fitted.

Clean out the oil pot and check everything is clean and working. Wind off the long adjuster screw, fill up with oil and see if it will adjust repeatably. If you think there is something missing report back and Ill take mine apart and add some photos.

[John McCullaParticipant @johnmcculla]

Thanks everyone,

It does have a sliding weight on top of the bow, how is that supposed to be used? Is it just so that you put less pressure on more fragile items being cut, like thin wall pipe?

Thanks Pete, that’s good information. I’m not able to do that at the moment, but I’ll certainly adjust that screw, see what happens, and report back.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

surely the damper is the same as the Kennedy saw with one solid washer and one with holes and depending on how far you screw the screw down it separates the washers allowing different rates of oil leakage???

[John McCullaParticipant @johnmcculla]

I have no idea, it could be. I’ll get a look at it this week and see.

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

surely the damper is the same as the Kennedy saw with one solid washer and one with holes and depending on how far you screw the screw down it separates the washers allowing different rates of oil leakage???

That’s exactly how it works.

[Mick BaileyParticipant @mickbailey28509]

I’ve always called the damper a dashpot. I don’t know where this came from, but the term was used at school, technical college and at work. Maybe it’s a West Midlands thing.

[Mick Bailey]

On Mick Bailey Said:

I’ve always called the damper a dashpot. I don’t know where this came from, but the term was used at school, technical college and at work. Maybe it’s a West Midlands thing.

The West Midlands of the infinite Universe, perhaps:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashpot

MichaelG.

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