Thread: Wadkins by Sentinel.

Every Sentinel machine I have found to date was an EPA. I had concluded that Sentinel had only won contracts for these spindle moulders.

Recently I spotted this Wadkin DR, bearing a Sentinel tag.

DR 978s.jpg DR 978sa.jpg

DR 978s sc2969 UK.jpg An odd Sentinel tag, but a Sentinel tag nonetheless.

A second type of Wadkin machine manufactured by Sentinel? Or not?

One unique feature of the EPAs manufactured by Sentinel is the style of the letters and numbers punched into the tag.

EPA 833s 26 10 48 UK.jpg EPA1286s sc3626 NZ.jpg

Note the large letters (EPA & S) with smaller numbers in between.

This DR doesn't share that feature.

DR 978sa sc2969 UK.jpg
It definitely has the 'S' and the 'SC' that indicate a sub-contracted machine.

That the stamping is different, and the Sentinel tag is different (combined with "Plant No. 2591"), lead me to believe that this machine was not manufactured by Sentinel for Wadkin, but was manufactured by another sub-contractor and acquired by Sentinel. It is a production machine from their factory in Shrewsbury.

A little bit of history.
Sorry to bore you all .

Cheers, Vann.

So were the Sentinel machines identical to Wadkin manufactured ones in every minute detail?
The reason I ask is because the AGS table saw made here in Sydney by Chas Cousins of Supersaw fame had a few differences to the English mass produced saws.

I’ve had a few of each but the last locally made one was a few years back now so my memory might be not 100% perfect.

On the locally made AGS the riving knife did not rise and fall with the blade, it tilted ok but did not rise and fall.

The local throat plate was machined from billet Aluminium (like that new trendy terminology)
The English one was die cast from some sort of Al alloy.

And here’s were I’m vague the tilt and blade height adjustment handle were different but can’t remember how might have been the locking knob?
Possibly something to do with small batch production like the throat plates.

The machines had English tags with no acknowledgement of local manufacture whatsoever.

One wonders if the castings were made locally or the were basically ckd like the Pom cars we had over here. Although at one stage the Morris Major Elite had a higher local content than the Holden. (And was never made in the UK).

I should chase up Jack who would be in his 80s now, he was the sales manager for the local importers Austral Engineering and knows all the gen.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

So were the Sentinel machines identical to Wadkin manufactured ones in every minute detail?...

I don't know. I don't have a spindle moulder, let alone a Wadkin EPA, so I haven't had the chance to compare them (nor have I studied photos).

However they appear to be the same. The knobs and other detail look identical.

I have asked my contact in UK if he had any information on production numbers or batches of the sub-contracted EPAs. He could supply me with info on Green Lane batches, but not sub-contracted batches. I haven't asked further (too many other bits of Wadkin information to ask about).

Because of the similarities in knobs etc. I believe that Wadkin supplied Sentinel with all the components, and Sentinel did the fitting. Whether the castings were supplied machined, or whether Sentinel machined them I don't know, but I suspect the latter.

That is because I don't see the sense in crating up batches of parts and moving them across country just to be assembled. It would make more sense (to me) to do the machining and fitting at the same location.

Originally Posted by clear out

...One wonders if the castings were made locally or the were basically ckd like the Pom cars we had over here. Although at one stage the Morris Major Elite had a higher local content than the Holden. (And was never made in the UK).

I should chase up Jack who would be in his 80s now, he was the sales manager for the local importers Austral Engineering and knows all the gen.
H.

The EPAs were subcontracted from ~1946 to ~1951. The AGS went into production in the late 1950s or early 1960s (sorry I'm not more precise, but I haven't followed Wadkin-Bursgreen products with anywhere near the same interest as Wadkin, Green Lane products).

I would imagine that practice might well have changed - and of course the AGS wasn't made at Green Lane, but at one of the former Bursgreen factories. But I would guess that a lot of specialist parts were probably sent from UK.

You should ask Jack - as nearly all Wadkin-Bursgreen records were lost (at the UK end). He may be the last person who knows.

Cheers, Vann.