Delta/Milwaukee Tilt Top 105-1277 exposed

[Mark in Burlington]

The tilt top saw is a bit of an orphan today the history goes back 150 years or more with some old huge iron examples made in Galt Ontario kicking around right up to the little Inca's once sold by LV but no longer in business. The design gets around the problem of either the motor turning with the bevel cut or the twisting of the belt as one move relative to the other. But the down side is you are fighting against gravity on the angle cuts. The base of these machines can be more compact compared to a contractor or cabinet saw as the whole assembly does not move inside a box. Many of these tilting saws came with chuck on the oposite end of abor for a single borer/mortiser on the end for mortising or doweling, the Delta/Milwaukee never had this option however. It seem today boat builder are still really keen on tilt top saws.
I picked up this really complete Delta/Milwaukee 8 years ago very complete with stand, guard, two fences. Gerry I think posted one of Kijiji in the GoldenOldies and propted me to take mine out. Once you have got mentally past the tilting table these machines are well above average in build quality and maybe worth a second look used as a compact saw, model saw or second shop saw as it takes a full 10" blade or dado. Some of the features include nice thumb screws for adjusting 90 and 45 degree tilts, a large brass raise/lower threaded disk, A Gib adjustment in the raise lower so there is no play. The locking thumb screws have a built in screw stop so they can't be over tightened.
I thought I would post some pictures of the two parts that make up the main assembly so you can see what makes the saw intresting.

[Gerry in Belle River]

Excellent, you brought it out into the daylight. Sweet saw, especially that cast base model.As you say they are a great saw for the flooreum challenged shop., as long as you are not doing a lot of bevel cuts. Makes me want to get rid of a couple of my tablesaws and pick up the one on Kijiji only I am miles apart from the seller price wise.

Thanks for giving us a look.

[stevem]

sweet looking saw, a huge improvement over my little craftmaster tilty and way better than the "twist the belt" types

there's nothing wrong with a tilt table as far as im concerned, id have an old delta tilty in my shop any day

[Andre in Quebec]

Hi Mark

Any idea in what year it was made?

Except for the cast iron base mine is identical.

Would have to check the serial number.

I took it apart several times to clean and lubricate but still have to do a paint job on it.

If I remember well I've checked my serial number on OWWM but without any success.

Cheers

Andre

[J. Vibert]

Tilty's are neat, but I still can't come to terms with breaking down a large-ish sheet with a needed bevel. Personally, I'd never buy a full sized (cabinet saw) version of one.

Something along the lines of what you have there Mark would be a benefit to a small shop. A secondary saw at best, imo.

My problem is, I can't seem to find a Canadian vintage slider....

[Mark in Burlington]

[QUOTE=J. Vibert;416102]Tilty's are neat, but I still can't come to terms with breaking down a large-ish sheet with a needed bevel.

Jarrett I am sure you will get your Wadkin, they are out there.
I like a second or third saw in the shop myself for different set ups I tilt my saw a fair bit, building corner cabinets come to mind.

[Brian @ Muir]

I bought a tilty from JP a couple of years ago and it has not made it home yet. If I don't pick it up soon the storage may be more than I paid for the saw. If anyone is in the area of Kintore Lumber in Kintore they have a very old and large Tilty that Mark made mention of and the use it on a daily basis. It must weigh a ton.

Brian

[Jim in Burlington]

I also have one of these saw's. Had a new arbour made years ago and its a great jobsite saw beacuse you can actually carry it. Used to have it set on a heavy duty plywood box with wheels. The old fence was quite good.

[Richardo]

Thats the same saw as I have just started as my project, although mine comes with a 6" jointer on the same stand.

[Mark in Burlington]

Can some one tell me the diameters of the pulleys they are using on their tilty? I am not sure mine are correct. The top one on the arbor I have right now is 4" and that seems a little large and would hit the bottom of the table casting.
Today I made some progress, mounted a single phase 3450 RPM 1 hp motor and took off the 3 phase as mine had come from a school originally.
Thanks, Mark

[stevem]

4 inch is a big pulley for the arbour, the beavers had 2 1/4, allowing full blade height

old blades/saws were generally run at around 3000 rpm so check the motor pulley too especially if the old motor ran at 1725.

[Mark in Burlington]

4 inch is a big pulley for the arbour, the beavers had 2 1/4, allowing full blade height

old blades/saws were generally run at around 3000 rpm so check the motor pulley too especially if the old motor ran at 1725.

That's what I am thinking as well Steve. I would like to get the machine running about 4000rpm, it can handle it. It looks like I am digging though the bone pile if not I am off to PA for some cast iron pulleys. This is one heavy saw for it's size with the cast iron base.
Cheers, Mark

[Gerry in Belle River]

Mark - From what I have been able to find on the Vintage site it appears this machine utilized a 1725 rpm motor equipped with a 5" motor pulley with a 3" pulley on the arbor. My math says that gives the arbor a speed of 2875 rpm.

Gerry

[Mark in Burlington]

Mark - From what I have been able to find on the Vintage site it appears this machine utilized a 1725 rpm motor equipped with a 5" motor pulley with a 3" pulley on the arbor. My math says that gives the arbor a speed of 2875 rpm.

Gerry

Thanks Gerry, I was looking at it today and the 3" makes sense. I measured just over a 1 1/2" centre of the shaft to the bottom of the table cast. I think I am going to stick with the 3450 motor and get a smaller 3 1/4" motor pulley. A have already drilled and taped the casting to fit. They ran machines a little slower back then because the HSS blades so I am going to up the speed a bit.
Cheers, Mark

[stevem]

those pulley sizes sound about right, maybe even 2 1/2 on the arbour and a suitable one on the motor.

my 3200's are spinning at 5000 rpm with no issues(8 inch blade), blade quality has improved a lot since these old saws were built, balance and vibration is far better than the old blades

[Andre in Quebec]

Can some one tell me the diameters of the pulleys they are using on their tilty? .
Thanks, Mark

Mark I have the same old Rockwell tilty and it runs as following if this may help:


1725 X 7 /3 = 4025rpm


Cheers,

Andre

[Mark in Burlington]

Mark I have the same old Rockwell tilty and it runs as following if this may help:
1725 X 7 /3 = 4025rpm
Cheers,
Andre

Andre, Thanks for the information, How do you find the saw? I can't decide if I am going to keep the machine yet.
Cheers, Mark

[Richardo]

I just measured mine - bottom of the pully groove to bottom of the pully groove is 1 7/8". It also has Browning BK 30 cast into it if that of any use?

[Larry Buskirk]

Steve,

Nice!

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new "old" toy.

Larry

[Andre in Quebec]

Andre, Thanks for the information, How do you find the saw? I can't decide if I am going to keep the machine yet.
Cheers, Mark

Unfortunately there are many issues with this particular table saw model:


The fact that there are so many moving parts requires regular maintenance because these become clogged with sawdust and machine becomes very difficult if not impossible to adjust properly.

This means taking the whole saw apart,clean everything,relube and put it back together.I have to perform this at least 3-4 times a year on mine.

The numerous openings under the table make it impossible to have efficient dust collection.

When I tilt the table and then bring it back 90 degres the blade and table slots become out of parallel almost everytime ,again there is a lot of fiddling around to fix this.

With no possibility of adding wings to this particular type of table,working large panels becomes difficult and hazardous unless using an extension on both the right side and the outfeed side.

The original base being quite narrow,it is not possible to set the tool on a mobile base , it could easily tip over.