Turn Wadkin 1¼" saw shaft to 30mm?

[GK1]

I'm hoping to tap into the Wadkin sawbench wisdom here.

I've got an old Wadkin PP table saw that I'm partially rebuilding. It will take dado sets. I've got the arbor off for new bearings.

I'm tempted to turn the 1¼" (31.75mm) shaft down to 30mm … I've got some 30mm tooling that will fit, but it also seems like a good idea for long term sawblade availability. The retaining nut and thread won't be affected because the threaded end of the shaft is already 1 1/8" (a bit less than 30mm) in diameter.

But … if I do it, the saw flanges will have to be bushed as well as the existing blade, from 1¼" to 30mm. That's a small bush.

Does it make sense? What are the downsides to machining it to 30mm? Would it be better to leave it in its original size?

 

[Roughcut]

Could be a bugger if the shaft has been case hardened.

 

[wallace]

I suppose it also depends on how many differant heads/tooling you plan on useing. Getting blades to fit 11/4 isn't hard. Some pictures would be nice, I haven't seen a PP properly before.
Mark

 

[Steve Maskery]

Can you not just replace the flanges as well?
S

 

[GK1]

Well, I hadn't thought of the case hardening issue. Is there a way to test?

The outer flange could be replaced with a 30mm one from a Wadkin RA saw, though I should think it would be pricey. The inner flanges are an interlocking pair special to the PP, with an overall thickness of almost 2". I see that Whitehill do some 1" long bushes which will be quite a bit more sturdy than the washer-type sawblade bushes.

I have a dado cutter which I use on my crosscut saw with a 30mm shaft, it would be useful to have that on the PP. It's just cutting housings that I'm thinking of. It's likely that I'll replace my shimmed dado set with a better one with scribes, primarily for my spindle, but again it would be good to use it on the PP for housing panels.


Still undecided, but I can't think of a real killer downside.

 

[flh801978]

Just try to run a file over the shaft to test it's hardness if it bites its soft
Ian

 

[Doug B]

Just try to run a file over the shaft to test it's hardness if it bites its soft
Ian

That`s the best thing to do first.


I got a damaged Wadkin spindle shaft turned down, at first it was though it might be too hard, but it wasn`t.
Unfortunately the damage wasn`t removed by going from 1 1/4" to 30mm so ended up getting a new shaft made, but the old shaft did machine up very easily.

Another option, which I`m getting done at the moment is to re-bore your dado set, mines 5/8" & it`s being bored out to 30mm.


Cheers.

 

[Andy RV]

Are you planning to do the turning yourself? Do the flanges interlock with a small pin that passes through the blade? Turning some flanges is an easy job, however the flat faces should really be surface ground to make a proper job of it. I'd be inclined to turn matching flanges to avoid messing around and bushing. A tct cutter shouldn't have too much of a problem turning a case hardened shaft, you just need to get under that tough surface on the first cut.

 

[GK1]

As far as I can tell the shaft isn't hard. I plan to turn it myself. Once I get my pictures organised and somewhere to put them I'll post some here.