Photo Index - American Wood Working Machinery Co. - No. 1 14" variety saw

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
American Wood Working Machinery Co.
Rochester, NY; Williamsport, PA; Montgomery, PA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Table Saw
Machine Size:	14" blade, 36x44" table 6 hp motor
Submitted By:	Daniel Warner

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	No. 1 14" variety saw
Date of Manufacturer:	1920?
Serial Number:	120764 (View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	1/9/2011 8:53:48 PM

Comments:

This saw was also acquired from Swiss Plywood. As far as I know they or one of the companies that they were formed from bought the saw new. I got it with two miter gauges one of which matches the saw and without a rip fence. It has a 6 hp direct drive motor with greasable bearings. The arbor size is 1". I managed to fit the smallest blade from my panel saw onto this saw. The shop no. plate reads 120764

The interesting feature to me and one I point out first to others is the adjustment on the saw. The motor is bolted directly to the cast base. The whole table moves up and down and tilts. Although somewhat unsafe (at least as far as the tilting goes) it does mean that the motor is not shaking on all those rails and screws. This saw, as old as it is, leaves cuts as smooth as glass.

There are some other interesting facts about this saw. For the raise and lower mechanism there is a pin which can be added to limit how shallow the blade extends through the table. Because this is added it leads me to believe that even though the 14" blade is at the max clearance for the saw, a 16" blade can be fitted and this pin set in place to prevent bottom of the underside blade gaurd from being raised into the 16" blade. I would have tried this but my next largest blade in my shop is 17" and exceeds the horizontal clearances of the saw.

Another interesting feature I noticed once I got all th rust off the table was a series of layout lines scribed on the table. these lines look factory set and provide layouts for 45 degrees in both directions on both miter slides, a perpendicular line just in front of the insert, and a blade indicator line in line with the motor side of the blade.

The saw had been set up at one point with a power feeder. The table had the mounting points machined into it and there was a plug coming out from the mag switch.

We did have some fun getting the thing wired up. The first time we turned it on the saw sounded like a phase was out. The second time we bypassed the mag switch and wired it directly to the disconnect box. This worked fine. Upon further inspection Danny (the buddy I speak of in the Thermwood Router description) found that the switch had been incorrectly wired. Once this was straightened out the saw worked fine, well except for the blade spinning the wrong way, but anyone who knows anything about 3 phase power knows that all you have to do is switch a pair of leads to change motor direction.

Update 7/21/10

I aquired a second Clement/American saw that had a fence. I also found the original fence rail and second miter gauge for this saw cleaning out William Tell Woodcrafters before the demolition/fire. I returned the miter gauge and fence rail to this saw and added the fence from the other Clement saw to make this a complete machine. It is now my primary table saw.

Here is a video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGNq728OEjE

Photo 1:

Comments: saw at zero with matching miter gauge in front, odd gauge in rear
Source: Daniel Warner, Photographer

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Photo 2:

Comments: saw fully tilted and raised
Source: Daniel Warner, Photographer

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Photo 3:

Comments: logo on blade gaurd underneath the table
Source: Daniel Warner, Photographer

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Photo 4:

Comments: Lines milled into table for ease of setting guages
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Photo 5:

Comments: Pin that should be installed when running a 16" blade.
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Photo 6:

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