PettyWork Saw

More than a month has passed since my last post, and a lot has been happening around here in Tomobe. It’s been difficult to find time to sit down and update the blog, but I’m going to try and get better about that from here on out. So much I want to share.

One update is that I was able to swap the PettyWork saw I introduced in the last post for one in much better condition. Just a quick recap, I bought a used Pettywork sliding table saw from a tool dealer and quickly discovered a bunch of issues with the machine. After exploring options for fixing those issues, ultimately the simplest option was to return the machine and swap it for a better one. And thankfully the tool dealer was willing to oblige.

Below is the first Pettywork I purchased on the left and it’s replacement on the right.

Kyowa, the company making Pettywork saws, has made some changes to these saws over the years, but the basic structure has remained the same. Ultimately there’s not a huge difference between the two saws above. The biggest differences are the addition of legs on saw #2 as well as longer rails giving a wider crosscut capacity. The machine on the left is definitely considerably older, though I’m not sure exactly how old.

The rails on saw #1 were about 150mm shorter than the new saw. I’m really happy to have the longer rails. Overall it’s going to make the machine much more capable, with a crosscut capacity up to 550mm wide with the blade at full height. (old machine on the left, newer on the right).

In both pictures above you can see a stop collar on the right hand rail. That collar can be clamped anywhere along the rail to either lock the table or to set a stop if you want to limit the table’s travel. There’s a second stop collar on the opposite (back end) of the saw as well, giving you the ability to limit the tables movement on both the front and back sides.

If you remove the stop collar and the single bolt and flange from the other rail, the whole table easily slides off. Here it is flipped upside down to show the three bearing cartridges.

When this saw showed up the table felt a bit stiff, so I spent some time cleaning and re-lubing the bearings. The bearings themselves are now sliding freely and the inner surfaces look pretty clean. The seals on the end of the bearing cartridges are getting pretty worn though, and they are crucial for keeping dust from getting inside the bearings, so I may end up replacing these someday. Thankfully the bearing cartridges can easily be bought online.

Overall these machines are pretty basic, which I like a lot. All the adustments, bolts, oil cups, etc. are easily accessible. One really oldschool feature is the motor brake, which is a manual brake controlled by the lever with the red knob.

Pulling the lever, pulls a cable and lever arm for the motor brake. Pretty basic but effective.

Here’s a look at blade end of the machine. Despite the small size of these machines, they can take up to a 305mm (12″) diameter blade, and with the blade at max height you can cut material up to 55mm (~2 1/8″) thick.

The fence on the sliding table is made up of a 30×30 mm piece of aluminum, and it’s easily adjustable with a few bolts which you can access through the holes visible in the top of the fence. The fence stop is a machined piece of aluminum which simply clamps on to the fence as you can see below. There’s nothing fancy about the stop and no real adjustments, but there are mounting holes giving you the ability to attach other material to the stop, which is something I see a lot of people do. So far this setup has worked out well and I’ve found it to be really accurate, however I really want a flip stop, so I may end up modifying/changing things someday.

The bolt for the stop presses against a piece of steel which prevents marring on the fence itself.

When I was shopping for one of these saws I saw a lot of them where that little strip of steel must have fallen off, and the people using them must not have cared too much and kept using the stop. The problem is the bolt then marrs up the soft aluminum fence and the result looks something like this:

That image is from Pettywork #1… not a pretty sight.

The following image is also from Pettywork #1, hence the much more used and abused table with miscellaneous holes drilled. I took this image to show the open taper design of the miter slot that I’ve seen on several of these saws. I’ve never seen this style of miter slot on any other saw.

Here’s a shot of the saw with the fixed table removed. The table is attached with 4 bolts making it pretty easy to remove and adust if necessary. With the table removed you can clearly see the carriage for raising and lowering the saw, as well as the front trunnion. Both trunnions (front and back) have nice little oil cups that are easily accessible. The lead screws that operate the saws height and tilt also have easily accessible lube points, which is nice. The lead screws are also a much finer pitch than what I’ve found on other tablesaws which makes adjustments feel very precise.

Here’s the rear trunnion and oil cup. I still have yet to do a thorough cleaning on the inner workings of the machine, but overall everything is operating and moving smoothly.

Below you can see the dust collection port which bolts on to the motor carriage.

The motor on this saw is 200v 3 phase 0.75 kilowatts. I’m not sure what that corresponds to in horsepower, but so far I’ve found it to be pretty solid for my needs. My experience with 3 phase is just beginning, and when I worked in the US the only three phase machines I came across were large heavyduty machines. Here in Japan 3 phase machines seem to be common on a much wider range of machines. I’ve even come across small benchtop belt sanders and drill presses that were 3 phase.

Aside from curiosity, one of the reasons I removed the fixed table was to get it out of the way for some tricky cutting I had to do on some plates I recently made. Anyone who has made repeat cuts on a tablesaw where small offcuts start to pile up knows the dangers of those little pieces kicking back. One of the cool things about these saws is the ability to easily remove the fixed table effectively allowing cutoffs to fall away from the blade. In this case I fit a small piece of scrap osb to cover the motor, allowing the offcuts to slide down and away from the blade.

Well that’s it for this week. I’m sure this saw will be popping up in future posts.

Thanks for reading.