Photo Index - J. A. Richards Co. - Die Maker's Saw

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
J. A. Richards Co.
Kalamazoo, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Jig or Scroll Saw
Machine Size:	36"
Submitted By:	Dave Potts

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Die Maker's Saw
Date of Manufacturer:	1980's
Serial Number:
Last Updated	5/29/2003 4:53:54 PM

Comments:

If you've ever unfolded a pasteboard box or looked at the intricate cuts needed to produce a postal envelope, then you can appreciate the workmanship that a "Die Maker" used to produce the die that stamped out those pieces. The foundation of the die is a precision-sheet of many-layered thin-veneered birch/maple plywood, known as dieboard. Cut-outs are made in the dieboard, steel cutting-rule is bent and shaped to fit in the cut-out, and the remnants are trimmed and returned back into the cut-outs to support the steel rule.

The die maker would use a jigsaw and drill press many times on each job, so the J. A. Richards Co. combined the two operations into a single machine. Some even add a small diameter circular saw for tablesaw-type operations. The J. A. Richards Company began in the early 1900s and still builds modern versions of those same machine-tools:

http://www.jarichards.com

Photo 1:

Comments: JA Richards Saw
Source: As seen on a vendor's site

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Photo 2:

Comments: A close-up view of an older model saw's head-end
Source: As seen from a vendor's inventory

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Photo 3:

Comments: The 21st century adds many options to the saw
Source: From the JA Richards site

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