Photo Index - Beach Manufacturing Co. - Beach Manufacturing Co. 16 inch Dual Arbor Table Saw

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Beach Manufacturing Co.
Montrose, PA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Table Saw
Machine Size:	16" Crosscut blade and 16" Ripping Blade
Submitted By:	Jon Zemo

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Beach Manufacturing Co. 16 inch Dual Arbor Table Saw
Date of Manufacturer:	1890's
Serial Number:	Shop No. 1038
Last Updated	10/6/2016 10:37:58 AM

Comments:

I acquired this machine from a young gentleman in the Mountains of Virginia down a 5 mile one lane dirt road. The machine looks very similar to the first posting by Jeff Joslin under Beach Manufacturing the number one saw. But the one I have is a variation of this No. 1 machine since it is a dual Arbor table saw.

Over the years I have learned much more about this machine. It was intended to be portable. Job site work, most likly house construction. It was pulled by a mule most likly. This machine is built heavy duty, the ease of use, and the dual arbor came in handy for job site work. the burning on the sled was probably from a hit or miss that powered the table saw and the 4 inch jointer. the burnt section is located where a hit or miss was located. there are bored holes throw the sled where it was attached at one time.
So when the table was unlocked and you rolled the table forward the miter would not come in contact with the blade. The table sets on two metal rods that roll between 4 brackets mounted on the wooden frame. The table is held down only by good old gravity.
The condition of the saw and completeness is great! There is however some slight burn damage this is the only defect that I have found. I will have to joint off about inch of the bottom of the sled, to remove the damage and some rot issues from the burn damage. This will also help get the saw level; it was slightly off from the damage. I do not think this will affect the saw in any way since the sleds wood is made out of 4x 4 wood.

One of the truly great aspects of this machine is the simplicity of the action and easy of use from switching from one sawing action to the next. To get the saw to move from the cross cutting to ripping takes a whole 20 seconds or less. All you do is pull back on the positive stop handle, turn the hand crank wheel either counter or clock wise the saw will move in either direction. The whole arbor than starts to swing like a pendulum in a 180 degree circle until the next blade reachs the next positive stop notch. It does this whole motion when the saw is dropped down below the table. Also there are (2) inch diameter springs that help you move the whole arbor assemble up and down. With out these springs it would be a back breaker to move the blade since the whole arbor assembly alone weighs in over 350 pounds. Also only one saw blade is engaged at a time due to a center mounted flat pulley, one saw is engaged while the other saw is resting in the open space not in contact with the belt. There is one last nice aspect and 2 of the wooden slats on the tabletop adjacent to the blade opening can be removed. This is for either gang ripping or dado cutting, since one of the arbor rods is 3 inch longer than the other arbor rod. You can see that main arbor support is moved over to allow for these cutting actions. I hope this description and the pictures paint a good picture on how this wonderful saw operates.

Photo 1:

Comments: Pic of the Wooden Base
Source:

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IMG Code

Photo 2:

Comments: Pic of th main Pulley and Arbors
Source:

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Photo 3:

Comments: To the middle left is the arbor release to the right of the middle is the saw release in the middle is the handle to move the saw up and down, to the far right is the hand crack to rotate the arbor
Source:

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