Hammond Glider not clamping up square
I recently took the time to move my my Hammond Glider Trim Saw I picked up 3 years ago, from the garage to my basement wood type cutting shop. I had to remove the sliding table and existing motor to get it winched down the stairs on an oak plank. I cleaned and degreased everything, added a 4” dust pickup, and replaced the old motor with a 110 volt single phase motor from Tractor Supply. I reinstalled the sliding table, and assembled the miter gauge.
I noticed the vertical guide was not set square to the cross bar, and used tools to set it to perfect 90 degrees. However,
when I locked a block of end grain hard maple and tried to cut a test block at 6 x 20 line, I noticed the top edge pulled the block away from the guide. It happened every time I engaged the locking lever. Any ideas? Could the rod be bent, or the sharp teeth on the locking jaw, which are all cut the same direction, be off-setting the block? It is not as bad on small 4, 5. and 6 line squares, but anything long moves.
I have a Super Speed 7 Saw Trimmer, built for Turner Printing Machinery, Inc. It has the same issue: the clamp does not securely hold the work. In addition to clamping, I have to hold the work down firmly as I feed it toward the blade.
I have worked with these saws and also have Hammond Glider Trim Saw. I think they are not designed to do work working cutting. The average printer only cuts about 5 to 6 slugs at a time, so I think that is the only area that 90 degree square.
have the same issue with my saw, when I cut larger blocks I hold them and don’t use the clamp.
Its been awhile since I used a Hammond but I remember not liking it very much. We have a C&G which has a clamp that locks the cut tightly in postion. It doesn’t ever move when locked in. The one drawback is that the clamp only opens out to about 8 inches so if you want to cut something larger then that you must rig your own clamp.
On the end of the clamp that slides into the locking mechanism is a small piece of jagged metal that engages with the lock. This peice has two screws holding it on so that it can be replaced when it gets worn.
If that misses the target of your question then please ignore.
Bruce
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The Hammonds place the work in front of the holder, pushing it into the cut, not pulling from behind, as on the C&G/Morrison saws. I’ve seen a lot of skewed cutting on my Morrison when the depth of cut is long. But I did use a Hammond Glider at a previous job, did production cutting on it, and never had any slippage.
Hammond saws also clamp the work to the moving table (no deflection there), so I’m surprised to hear of this on a Hammond, and it makes me wonder if blade sharpness is a factor (as well as a loose clamp), in the same way that a dull blade will draw on a paper cutter. Before carbide blades, the lower position was for a coarse cut by just the blade, and precise trimming was done with arbor raised to trimmer height. The lower position is going to exert more lateral force. You might consider doing a low cut a couple points over, then trimming to finished size with blade raised and see if that is more accurate.
I’ve always cut with the blade as high as it can be without the arbor getting in the way. There are a couple reasons for this (in my mind anyway):
First, there is no “set” in the blade teeth, so each tooth can carry only so much metal. If making a long pass through the material (with the blade low) the teeth will foul and cut poorly.
Second, the force vector of a high cutting blade will push the stock down. A shallow blade cut forces the material back toward the operator. I know traditional wood shop practice is to have the blade the minimal height to clear the work and am not sure that dates to when wood working machinery lacked guards or what.
If a blade has trimmers, I suspect it’s more important to have a high blade position, otherwise the low mounted trimmers may catch the stock and kickback, with more force than the blade itself.
A good Hammond should be able to cut a 12” long stereotype block without issue. If the stock is pulling or otherwise acting up, it could be a dull blade, or a metal blade doing wood cutting (which will tend to burn the wood). Hammond did make a combination blade for mixed use.
moorewoodtype
Which motor did you get at Tractor Supply. I’ve been running a 3 phase for years and would like to go to a 110.
Casey
Inky Lips Press
Clamping action on Saw Trimmers, [possibly applicable to more than one type] certainly applies to English Funditor,s.
Generally the power of the clamp is dependant on the Spring, normally enclosed in a barrel within the mechanism, is the spring good.?
Again generally the Alignment & Accuracy are dependant on the actual configuration of the foot of the clamp, that contacts the workpiece, normally a serrated 90 degree angle piece that invariably wears on the inner edge first, which by default pushes the work 1&1/2 -2 point sideways, INTO the blade.!
In times past, under these circumstances, The clamp assembly would have been sent back to our Funditor Co. for a Service Exchange unit.
Nowadays the unit/assembly would be taken to precision grinding company for the Teeth/Serrations to be re-cut back to dead square on the 90 degrees.
We have tried to re-cut with a 3 cornered file, normally used for conventional saw sharpening, but can not achieve the perfect angle freehand.
If this be rubbish or in-applicable Apologies, in advance.!!
OK, if the clamp is part of the problem, Glider manuals say:
“The spring that determines the tension with which the clamp locks is located in the projection at the rear of the clamp frame. The tension can be varied with the set screw in this projection. Do not change the original tension setting unless necessary and then be sure the clamp operates with strong tension.”
There is also an adjustment for wear in the micrometer gauge finger:
“Looseness in its fit may be eliminated by adjusting the socket head screws on the front of the finger.
[Later versions say threaded plugs rather than socket head screw.]
Looseness in the half-nut may be removed by tightening the screw on the right face of the arch. A set screw at the top must be loosened first.”
I think mine is currently set to clamp too tight. It seems to cause the chrome rod to deflect a bit to the side when it is tightened. This causes a cut which is out of square as Scott has reported.
I am going to investigate the adjustment and will report my findings.
DGM
parallel_imp,
Thanks for that bit of info. I made an adjustment to the set screw in the back. For mine, backing it off counter-clockwise less than half a turn was all it needed. It now clamps tight enough to hold the piece being cut, but doesn’t deflect or compress the piece.
Scott- I wouldn’t be surprised if yours too was set to clamp too tightly.
DGM
Just to add to the conversation - I, too have had issues with the squareness of some cuts on my Hammond Glider Trimsaw. When making long (30 picas plus) cuts I don’t use the clamp. As others have commented above, the clamp does not always apply perfect pressure for long cuts. It’s great for cutting a bunch of reglet or leads and slugs, but for long cuts, the clamp is not helpful.
Instead, I apply pressure to the side gauge and keep my cuts square by *not* using the clamp.
Otherwise, the precision of my glider is without comparison on any sort of table saw I have ever used. It’s a great machine and has served me very well for many years.
However, I found that when I tried to “mix and match” parts from two different saws, the results were not impressive. Best to stick with the parts from one saw and make any adjustments using the system Hammond intended..
- AR