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I got this old saw last week at a garage sale. I am still trying to find out what I have and what I should do with it.

 

Check out my pictures, I think it is a Delta 1160. Any way of knowing the age of these? It has no serial no.

 

Questions Are these old saws valuable or should I just give it a coat of paint and use it?

 

It is very well made and in pretty good condition. I am not too crazy about the tilt table but I am not a heavy duty wood worker and it will only see light duty ocasional work.

 

But would I be better off selling this to a collector, and buying a newer saw that would be more practical. I love well made equipment ( I hate plastic crud) so if I replaced it it would be with another old saw.

 

Randy

Edited November 7, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Awesome looking saw Randy. I don't have a lot of knowledge on the Old Equipment but I am sure some of these guys are going to jump in here and give you some ideas.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Hi Randy,

 

Your saw is indeed an 1160. No S/N predates 1939/40.

 

As to value, I've seen them go for as little as $20.00

 

They are very well made, and the tilt table takes a little getting used to but how many bevel cuts does one actually do?

 

Do not move the saw by picking up on the table, as you risk breaking the trunnions. They are made out of Zamac ( A cast pot-metal )

 

There were quite a few accessorys available for these saws.

 

I myself like the " Old Tiltys " and the one I have is my only table saw.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

I am just happy I finally got this posted to the right area! I have already taken it apart to clean and paint it.

I think I am going to keep it is just a very nice looking saw with all the exposed gears and knobs sticking out.

What about greasing this when I reassemble? Does that just attract sawdust and would it be better off dry?

 

Randy

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry-

 

I have never heard of Zamac and I have been in the metal trades for along time, I will have to research it.

 

Thanks for the serial no. information, I was guessing it was from the thirties or forties based on what  few I found pictures of but that confirms my thoughts.  COOL!

 

Randy 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy, clean it up, paint it, get it working very nice like, then if you don't like it after you get a chance to use it in all its glory, sell it for another type of old American Made saw. Perhaps one with a tilting arbor, but I would go ahead and put the hours in on this one, see how you like it after it's working as it should, and then make that decision. Worse case scenario, you got into it, gained some OWWM experience, and you ended up with a nice lil saw you'll sell for a profit to go towards that saw you know you'll like.

 

Best case scenario you'll love it, and you'll be proud to be cutting wood on a saw you rebuilt and you preserved some American History.

 

Congratulations on the find my man.

 

And congratulations on getting this posted! Are you getting the hang of it now?

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

Rubbing parafin wax on the sliders etc. will lubricate the parts without attracting sawdust. If your wifes into canning you probably have some around the house. Zamak is a combination of zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and copper. I mispelt it in my earlier post. The k at the end is from the German spelling of copper. (Kupfer) All of which have a melting point below 735 degrees.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry-

 

Thanks for the suggestion of using Wax, Can you also put that on the gears?

 

My saw cranked pretty hard using the elevation adjustment and when I took it apart it was just covered with Sawdust. It looked like someone had put alot of oil on things that the sawdust was sticking to the gears and shaft.

 

Could not having the tin blade guard on make allot more dust get in there? As mine is missing.

 

Randy

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

It was probably full of sawdust from years of use without ever being cleaned out. I will be using the parafin wax on all of the exposed moving parts. It helps to blow these old saws out once in awhile with compressed air. It used to be common practice to put oil on the sliders etc., but as you found out it makes a mess of the insides. I don't think the missing side cover contributed to the sawdust build up. I will be hooking up a small homemade dust collection system (modified Shop Vac ) in my shop, that will hopefully help with the sawdust build up. The build up usually occurs in the area between the two castings that is not tied to the dust port at the back of the saw. So that is why I suggest using compressed air to blow the sawdust out of the area between the castings.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry,

 

That sounds like a good idea and I will pick up some paraffin when I am ready to reassemble the saw.

 

Hopefully it will crank up and down alot easier when I am finished!

 

Randy

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy, are you going to do any progress pics as you go?

 

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

 

John,

Yes I will take pictures as I go. I am going through a steep learning curve right now. First I had to figure out the workings of this site and how to use it, and at the same time my PC computer died and I went out and bought a new Apple to replace it with.

 

So what was easy for me to do in the past is now a new learning experience.

Everything about a Mac is different than a PC. It's all good but it isn't natural yet. Just getting to my Photos and moving them around is a comedy of errors.

 

I have some new pics. I will try to get them up soon.

 

Randy

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

Your "Old 1160" looks pretty clean, and you have a nice original motor to go with it!

What HP rating does the motor have?

 

Sorry to hear about your computer, I never took the Mac plunge myself. I'm one of those nutcases that prefers to build their own. I've ran both Windows, and Linux OS's, and to me a Mac appears to be somewhere in the middle as far as an OS.

 

You're making fast progress tearing into your rebuild, I'm going to have to get busy or you'll beat me to the finish line!

 

If you haven't done so already the manual is available for download at the Vintage Machinery website listed in the links on the right side of this website.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry,

 

The motor is a 3/4 hp and weights about 110 lbs. It's a big motor. It is nice to have the original motor, it looks nice with the matching label.

 

My last PC was built by my son and ran Linux Ubuntu. It ran great for quite some time but I didn't keep up with the upgrades for the system. So when we did an update it had a hiccup because I was so many versions behind.

 

It wouldn't start Linux after the update. We will repair it but we wanted to get a new drive before reloading it again. I wanted a laptop so I opted for a new Mac. 

 

I looked for the manual but I wasn't able to find it.

I looked under Manufactures/Delta, was that the wrong place?

 

I picked up a can of paint for the saw tonight. I am going to try and mask the Labels and spray it. I thought about brushing but couldn't find the color I wanted.

 

Thanks for your help, hope I can return the favor someday.

 

Randy

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

I sent you a friend request, accept it and I can email you the manual. It is in pdf format so you will need a pdf reader Adobe Accrobat or an equivalent.

 

That is a real nice motor, the one I have is a bit newer and only 1/2 HP. I have a 1/3 HP with the same label as your 3/4 HP that I will be using with my scroll saw, and band saw.

 

You can probably just reformat the PC's drive and do a clean install, more than likely the kernel got corrupted trying to update to many to fast.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

I have allot of pictures on the drive I don't want to take a chance and loose them, so we we going to do a clean install on a new drive then bring the photos in just to be safe.

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

I wish you luck retrieving your photos, I've done the same for friends in the past. Sometimes it's successfull other times not. The times it was not was due to a hard drive failure.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Here are a couple more pictures of my progress. Everything is in various stages of clean up. I am polishing all the knobs and handles, they clean up pretty nice. Painting will start this weekend I hope.

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Randy,

 

Looking Good! It looks like you got bit hard by the OWWM bug.

 

I'll be polishing up the shafts, knobs, handles, etc. on mine also. My paint scheme will be the same hammered black / metallic brass / safety red that I used on my Delta 700 scroll saw.

I'll be painting all of my " Old Delta's " the same way.

 

Now that the weather is improving, I'll be getting back to getting things accomplished. I hope!

Edited November 5, 20187 yr by Larry Buskirk

Larry-

I would like to see your paint scheme, is there a picture of your Scroll saw posted somewhere?

Randy