Hacksaw Frames.

[Jo]

The couple of you who have been following along on my High Pressure Table Engine thread will know I have been having problems with my beloved 300mm Facom 603E Hacksaw frame I have only had it for 25 years and it has started cracking on the handle 

Having explored my backup second hand hacksaws I had an old Eclipse 60 wooden handle one:



Lovely old frame, forged end so no twisting as you tighten it  takes 12" and 10" blades. but you are holding it horizontally rather than vertically which takes some getting used to. It will also only hold the blade vertical or horizontal.

Out of the storage came an old Eclipse 20T. The handle while made of aluminium had gone white with oxidisation and felt "slimey". So I brought a new one  but I am not impressed as the blade twists as you tighten the wing nut to tension the blade so it won't cut straight  I have to get  a pair of pliers on it to straighten up the blade to get it to cut straight. I can't see me remembering to do that every time 



The arm is only made out of a steel tube so I tried squeezing it in a vice but it is still  as it twists.

JB Welder suggested I tried a Sandvik 225 frame which was knocking on £35  or a copy which was about half that price. You never know what you might get with a copy 

Having hummed and hared for a couple of weeks  I decided that the answer was easy I needed another Facom and as luck would have it there was a guy on Fleabay who has some scratched ones knocked down from £60 to £30 so I brought a 603F 



Like my earlier 603E it holds the blade at 45 degrees as well as the standard angle.  Like my earlier 603E it only holds 300mm blades not the 250mm ones  So the other frames will have to be kept hold of to use up the old 10" blades (unless I can swop them with someone  )

Any one else wish to discuss hacksaw frames

Jo

[Jasonb]

As I said in the other thread  my Sandvik 225 is still going strong and the rebadged Bahco and Monument ones should be fine

I also picked up the red handled one below from Lidl about 18months ago and tend to keep a finer 32tpi blade in that so it gets used on sheet and small sections upto about 8mm. There is probably a couple of degrees play in the front fixing but that does not seem to prevent me from cutting straight with it. Can't complain for £5 or so.

Having said all that since getting the Femi 782L bandsaw the hand saws don't see as much use cutting anything much over 12mm as that gets buzzed through with the Femi

[Neebs]

Hi Jo,
My main "go to" Hand Hacksaw Frame is a "Ding Dong" No.6 Aluminium Frame made by Charles Baynes Ltd Blackburn. A superb bit of kit. Rigid and "cuts" dead straight. Takes 9", 10" and 12" Blades.

My back up Hand Hacksaw Frame is an ENOX MW60 with a Flat Steel Slip Frame (chromed) and a riveted Wooden Handle. It is also a lovely tool to use, rigid and "cuts" dead straight. It takes 8", 9" 10" and 12" Blades.

Both these frames date from the late 1950's early 1960's

Regards,
Adrian

[simplyloco]

Has anyone found that certain hacksaw blades from a certain Country tend to wander off line? Usually to the right? It appears to me that the tooth 'set' is rather one sided!

[Jasonb]

Which country is that?

[Jo]

I normally use older eclipse blades. No problem with going in a straight line (on the correct frame  ). Draper ones seem to go blunt on anything harder than plastic    I have had suspect chinese copies of the eclipse junior hacksaw blades 

Jo

[crueby]

Sounds like you need to mill out a new frame to match the old one!

[Roger B]

This is my Swiss hacksaw of choice 

[Dave Otto]

The Sandvik saw frame looks a lot like a Lenox that we have here in the states. They are great frames, I have one in my box at work and one in the home shop as well.
I didn't know if they were available in the UK or not.

Dave

[Jasonb]

I've only seen the Lenox band saw blades over here but not actively looked for their hacksaw frames.

I also tend to use Eclipse hacksaw blades as you may have sussed by the colour. Eclipse make them in china but to a decent spec.

[Admiral_dk]

Looking at the picture of your Eclipse 60 Jo - I will almost garanti that you can turn the blade 90degrees if you take it fully apart - remove handle etc. when the blade is off.

Per

[scc]

I still use my old wooden handle one just like the one at the bottom of Jo's photo.   Still seems to cut straight enough.     Terry

[RReid]

This Nicholson has served me well for many years. No provision for rotating the blade though. I rarely need that, but keep an old cheapy Craftsman around for when I do.

[Jo]

Yes Per, I thought I mentioned the Eclipse 60 can hold the blade in two planes. It also is adjustable to 4 blade lengths 

More whinging about the new Eclipse 20T frame.     I made the decision to put my remaining 10" blades in the two Eclipse 20T frames to encourage me to use them up. The older frame went down ok (the arm slides inside the handle) the new one does not  Adjustment in a vice or tapping with a lump hammer would not get it to slide in 


On to the junior frames. I am not a fan of those sprung steel frames    I prefer these:



The top frame has an arrow pointing at it because the arm is too short  But can still be used by putting the blade pin the outerside of the arm

Jo

[Charles Lamont]

If a hacksaw has aluminium parts, don't store it with the blade tensioned. The aluminium will creep over time so the handle distorts, as with the now to short junior job. Plastic too, probably.