軸傾斜横切り盤 Sliding Table Saws

[Chris Hall]

This one is by Tōkai:

[Chris Hall]

Another by Eiwa:

[Chris Hall]

And another by Eiwa - this one has an intriguing cross-cut fence configured to clear the entire blade:

[Chris Hall]

This first one is by Tōkai - note that it has two sawblades, presumably one for cross-cutting and one for ripping. A very nice looking machine - I'd be interested to see how the sawblades are driven - can't be off the same spindle, unless the motor is reversed for operating each one.

The next one is a very similar machine, by Kuwahara.

[yanai]

if the tokai sf 1300 is like a lot of saws i've seen, the spindles are run by the single motor and both spin at the same time. so only one blade would be mounted then. one opening (usually the right side blade) has a smaller opening for zero clearance cross cuts and the other is usually a larger opening to accommodate angle cuts when the table is tilted. these machines also use what is essentially just a giant shaper blade for cutting dadoes. my saws came with a bunch of them in varying widths. one blade for one size and profile. they look scary too.

sfj1300.jpg (234.89 KiB) Viewed 3710 times

every saw is a little different, so i'm not exactly sure how the tokai is. the sfj 1300 (my picture and i believe the very first post) has two motors and one of them has a tilting blade.

here is a link to a pretty reputable used machine site here in japan. i believe they have both models as well as many others. they are a little more expensive than other sites, but they recondition and repaint nearly all the machines. here i believe they go from about $3,000 - $4,000 u.s. but that's the higher end of used pricing.

http://www.dougukan.net/categories/6_85/

you will also notice that table saws are divided into 3 or 4 categories; cross cut, ripping, panel, and i believe just table saw. for those who don't read kanji, the categories are all listed to the left and the number in parenthesis refers to the number of machines availble in each of those categories. this is just a small sampling of what this dealer has to offer as they only post limited machines online.

[Chris Hall]

Here's a light-duty short stroke sliding saw:

pic2.jpg (13.87 KiB) Viewed 3701 times

[Dennis]

Always interesting to see woodworking machinery, Chris.

I happen to own a Tokai saw that is very similar to the one in your last photo, except that the one in my shop has a somewhat longer sliding table. It has a single two speed arbor. I visited Tokai years ago, I believe they were in Nagoya, and they had the saw there and were offering it for sale. It had some some use on it, I think it may have been one that they had working in their own shop, I can't exactly recall. It was missing the larger length adjustment stop, and the guy was cool and said that he'd make one up for me, and gave a very good deal on the overall price. Unfortunately, Tokai had fallen on hard times then, shortly after they ceased operation and closed up, not an uncommon occurrence with woodworking machinery manufacturers in Japan over the last couple of decades.

I've seen the Petty Work saws around here and there, one just last week while visiting a large guitar manufacturing company that is not far away from my location. They seemed to be using it as a supplementary tool for odds and ends, to augment their heavier duty equipment used in the general production that they have going, both CNC and the more basic gear. They have been in business for a long time, and a number of the machines they had designed themselves. I didn't think to ask them how they like the Petty Work saw. You'd be interested to visit that factory, by the way, it is extremely well organized and efficient, I would guess about a hundred workers involved in a high output production, and nary a speck of dust on the floor. Seeing a Japanese woodworking company like that in action can raise the question of the distinction between woodworkers as specific task skilled technicians, and when they are the perhaps more encompassing and deeper knowledge based individuals that might best be referred to as "craftsmen". I was there for a couple of hours checking out the place, and I swear that except when i took the liberty of asking one young fellow how he liked his job, never saw anyone raise their eyes up from their work that they were doing. No idle gazing out the window with those blokes. Japanese concentration and efficiency can indeed be something to behold, how people can so sincerely manifest their motivation.

[Chris Hall]

Thanks for sharing your observations Dennis. I didn't know Tōkai had gone out of business - too bad.

I also see those Petty work saws as auxiliary detail cross-cut saws. not heavy duty enough to handle heavy material of course, but for 80% of the work those smaller saws would serve admirably I would think.

" No idle gazing out the window with those blokes. Japanese concentration and efficiency can indeed be something to behold, how people can so sincerely manifest their motivation."

Yes, that does sound very much like the Japan I once lived in. Even the 7-11 clerks took their work seriously. By contrast, today I was at a Woodcraft store and only 1 of the staff members there seemed to know anything about the products they sold.