Thread: Check out this wadkin PK

What a beast.

I knew they made them with left hand (sliding) table extensions...

LHextn.jpg

And I knew they made them with right hand (fixed) table extensions...

RHextn.jpg

I knew they made them with both left and right hand table extensions...

L&RHextns.jpg

And I knew they made them with long sliding tables...

longslider.png

This's only the second one I've seen with the longer slider (wallace owned the other one).

I wonder if they ever made one with all three variations (left extension, right extension and long slider ).

Cheers, Vann.

That would be the holy grail wouldnt it. I wonder if they were offered to compete with the panel saw market. I'm sure they were offered before the wadkin bursgreen creation of panel saws. They were obviously designed around sheet stock being able to cross cut 48" and rip 48" with the right hand table. one thing I didn't like about mine was the user position. you could be either in the line of fire or at the side of the machine. I like to stand just left at the front.

Heres somthing that confirms wadkins testing foibles. Two machines from the same batch but tested at different times

Originally Posted by wallace1973

one thing I didn't like about mine was the user position. you could be either in the line of fire or at the side of the machine. I like to stand just left at the front.

Ive Never thought about that with these extended slide tables. Just to the left is the only place to be !

Check out this one too .

Throw on any PK pics you think are interesting for what ever reason if you like . It could make an interesting thread.

I saw this on UK Ebay . I may have shown this before here somewhere ?

Interesting for the Fabricated Twin miters . Made from angle iron and look like they would work well .

s-l1600.jpg s-l1600d.jpg

And this one was impressive . I think its the cleanest original looking PK Ive seen . Seen on NZ Trade Me I think .

And this .

This was the Kodak Melbourne PK at an Auction in Melbourne . Really nice condition . The catalogue pictures only showed this . A friend who went said the auctioneer pointed out other parts to it stacked somewhere else . Everyone went and checked the stack sitting under some stuff and it was the left sliding table extension and sitting in amongst that was the twin miters .
A complete PK .

If only I could go back in time ...

Still waiting patiently!

That bottom one went for around $7 G including the auction commission .

If you end up inventing a time machine your going to have to take back more than that to win it

Go back earlier and win Tatts first ?

This one just showed up on the FB Wadkin appreciation page a few days ago.

Comments about it by others were that it is the 5th PK made !

And that it was originally built as a 460 volt DC machine . Its possibly or probably not that now .

My questions to the more knowledgeable . Why would it have been made 460V DC?

Is this now the earliest PK known ?

Rob

Here's another early style , tilt wheel on the side of the machine.

I like this one for its colour and original looking condition .

I'm pretty sure this was for sale in UK but not ebay . 900 pounds was the asking price I think .

Originally Posted by auscab

...Comments about it by others were that it is the 5th PK made !...

Hah, 'others' can't count. With Wadkin starting most model at #105, that makes it the sixth PK.

105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110 = 6 .

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by auscab

Here's another early style , tilt wheel on the side machine...

Knurled steel knob on the rip fence adjuster means Gen 1 or Gen 2. Wide blade flask, means Gen 2. And I think it has wooden lip on the sliding table - another feature introduced with Gen 2 PKs.

So 1938 or earlier.

Cheers, Vann.

PK 105.

The very first PK made - PK 105, test 5695, which completed 2 days of testing on 8th February, 1928 - fully 20 weeks before PK 106. Gleaning what I can from the handwritten test sheets, and there's a lot to glean here...

wPK 105 5695.jpg

I'm struggling to work out the original electrical spec. of this saw, but it seems it was re-fitted with a 200v, 4hp BTH motor during May, 1928.

And it was fitted with a new left-hand threaded spindle in August, 1928.


PK 106.

PK 106 was tested (test 6095) on 28th June, 1928. The motor was 230v DC - 5hp BTH. It was not run during the test.

wPK 106 6095.jpg

PK 107.

PK 107 was tested (test 6101) on 3rd July, 1928 - fitted with a 460v, BTH DC motor. Also not run during the test.

wPK 107 6101.jpg

PK 108.

PK 108 was tested (test 6115) on 6th July, 1928. Like PK 106, it was fitted with a BTH 5hp, 230v, DC motor.

wPK 108 6115.jpg

PK 109.

PK 109 was tested (test 6147) on 23rd July, 1928. This time the motor was 220v DC - 5hp BTH. Again not run during the test.

wPK 109 6147.jpg

PK 110.

PK 110 was tested (test 6150) - just the day after PK 109 (with 2 other Wadkin machines tested in between). Like PK 107 it was also fitted with a 5hp, 460v, BTH DC motor. Also not run during the test.

wPK 110 6150.jpg

So there's not even one standard 400v 3-phase motor in any of the first six Wadkin PK saws. Excluding the first PK, there are two 460v DC saws, two 230v DC saws and one at 220v DC saw - and only one is not noted as being 5 hp (the standard 400v 3-phase PK being only 4 hp).

I can only assume that 400v 3-phase was not yet standard in industry in the UK in the late 1920s - and that DC supplies were more common.

Cheers, Vann.