I'm looking for info on an American Type Foundry (ATF) printer's saw,
sometimes also known as a compsers saw or trim saw and was originally design
for cutting out lead for letterpress type, I think. It's a fairly small
cabinet saw with a 6 or 7" diameter blade and sliding table, similar to the
better known Hammond TrimOSaw.

Has anybody heard of this particular brand?

Mike

Mike Henry wrote:
I'm looking for info on an American Type Foundry (ATF) printer's saw,
sometimes also known as a compsers saw or trim saw and was originally design
for cutting out lead for letterpress type, I think. It's a fairly small
cabinet saw with a 6 or 7" diameter blade and sliding table, similar to the
better known Hammond TrimOSaw.

Has anybody heard of this particular brand?

Mike


I have a Hammond Trim-o-saw, also called a Glider saw in my shop.
Outstanding for cutting small pieces. Solid cast iron. If you like I
could take some pictures and post them

--


Richard,

Richard L. Rombold
WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
good with ketchup"

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Mike Henry wrote:
I'm looking for info on an American Type Foundry (ATF) printer's saw,
sometimes also known as a compsers saw or trim saw and was originally
design for cutting out lead for letterpress type, I think. It's a fairly
small cabinet saw with a 6 or 7" diameter blade and sliding table,
similar to the better known Hammond TrimOSaw.

Has anybody heard of this particular brand?

Mike
I have a Hammond Trim-o-saw, also called a Glider saw in my shop.
Outstanding for cutting small pieces. Solid cast iron. If you like I could
take some pictures and post them

Richard

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the offer but I did find some info on the Hammond Trim-o-saw on
the OWWM web site. There's also some mention of other brands but noting at
all on the ATF saw. The Hammond looks like a pretty nice saw. Too soon to
tell on the ATF yet as it will need some work to get running. It just has
V-ways, whereas I gather that the Trim-O-Saw had ball roller ways.

If you've ever cut plastic or thin metal with it, I'd appreciate a
recommendation on saw blades. At present, I'm thinking of buying one or two
Tenryu blades, assuming that I can get them to fit. BTW, what size blades
does your Trim-O-Saw take?

Mike

"Mike Henry" wrote: (clip) Has anybody heard of this particular brand?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes. ATF was one of the oldest in the business. They made the "Chief," and
even though they went out of business several years ago, the Chief remains
one of the most popular small presses ever built. I vaguely recall that one
of the founders was Benjamin Franklin.

I've seen them back when I was in the printing business. ATF stands for
American Type Founders. I also left behind a shear type slug trimmer
that was very handy for trimming wood miters to fit. The saw was quite
thin and had a lot of teeth. It cut lead clean as a whistle.
Bugs

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Mike Henry" wrote: (clip) Has anybody heard of this particular brand?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes. ATF was one of the oldest in the business. They made the "Chief,"
and
even though they went out of business several years ago, the Chief remains
one of the most popular small presses ever built. I vaguely recall that
one
of the founders was Benjamin Franklin.


Is it possible that you are thinking of the Hammond Trim-O-Saw? They also
seemed to be sold under the Ben Franklin label based on this quote from the
OWWM site:

"Since 1881. Now known as Hammond Roto-Finish. The Hammond "Glider" and "Ben
Franklin" Trim-O-Saws were small precision tablesaws originally designed for
metal, and were popular with printers for cutting metal type. Since not many
people still use movable metal type, Trim-O-Saws have re-surfaced in
woodworking shops. There was a Fine Woodworking article that discussed
converting these saws to woodworking uses; be sure to read the discussion in
the oldwwmachines mailing list first, e.g., this message from John Marotta.
We hear that for a modest charge, Forrest will bore their blades to fit this
saw."

I'm hoping it will do the same for thin plastic and metal stock. Time will
tell - this saw needs a few things fixed before it can tested.

"Bugs" wrote in message
oups.com...
I've seen them back when I was in the printing business. ATF stands for
American Type Founders. I also left behind a shear type slug trimmer
that was very handy for trimming wood miters to fit. The saw was quite
thin and had a lot of teeth. It cut lead clean as a whistle.
Bugs

Mike Henry wrote:
If you've ever cut plastic or thin metal with it, I'd appreciate a
recommendation on saw blades. At present, I'm thinking of buying one or two
Tenryu blades, assuming that I can get them to fit. BTW, what size blades
does your Trim-O-Saw take?

Mike



My saw takes a 7" blade, 40 tooth carbide. A special blade for this
saw, the blade slips on a 3/4" shaft and is held on with 3 screws, it
has 3 3/4" holes in it for 3 cutting to poke thur for smoothing the lead
type.


--


Richard,

Richard L. Rombold
WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
good with ketchup"

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:38:51 -0700, Richard
wrote:

My saw takes a 7" blade, 40 tooth carbide. A special blade for this
saw, the blade slips on a 3/4" shaft and is held on with 3 screws, it
has 3 3/4" holes in it for 3 cutting to poke thur for smoothing the lead
type.

I have a Curle Mfg saw made in San Francisco (quite some time ago I'm
sure!). It took a 6" or so blade originally. Those were hard to find
locally with very limited selection. While I liked the sliding bar
with adjustable stop, I ended up adapting an old Rockwell table. By
putting it on risers and making a new spindle, I can run standard 7"
carbide blades and I've found the fence more useful than the original
setup.
But it's a very very nice compact and solid little saw. These saws
beat the heck out of small woodworking table saws of recent vintage.
And, I have all the parts to return it to original.

Jon

"Richard" wrote in message
...
Mike Henry wrote:
If you've ever cut plastic or thin metal with it, I'd appreciate a
recommendation on saw blades. At present, I'm thinking of buying one or
two Tenryu blades, assuming that I can get them to fit. BTW, what size
blades does your Trim-O-Saw take?

Mike



My saw takes a 7" blade, 40 tooth carbide. A special blade for this saw,
the blade slips on a 3/4" shaft and is held on with 3 screws, it has 3
3/4" holes in it for 3 cutting to poke thur for smoothing the lead type.


Thanks for the info. I think that this one originally had the same
arrangment. The seller included a couple of blades which some idiot left
behind when the saw was picked up and it looks like it the blade mounted on
a disk with 3 bolts. It looks like this one has a 5/8" arbor so it may be
possible to install standard blades on it.

BTW, there was an article in one of the WW magazines about modifying the
Trim-O-Saw. The OWWM site has it in their archives, I think.

I'd like to see pictures of your saw, especially closeups of the sliding
table/ways, fence, and blade mounting. Posting them here would not be a
good idea, but email or uploading them to your web site would be nice.

Nice web site, BTW. It looks like you do Good Work.

Mike

Jon Anderson wrote:

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 07:38:51 -0700, Richard
wrote:


My saw takes a 7" blade, 40 tooth carbide. A special blade for this
saw, the blade slips on a 3/4" shaft and is held on with 3 screws, it
has 3 3/4" holes in it for 3 cutting to poke thur for smoothing the lead
type.


I have a Curle Mfg saw made in San Francisco (quite some time ago I'm
sure!). It took a 6" or so blade originally. Those were hard to find
locally with very limited selection. While I liked the sliding bar
with adjustable stop, I ended up adapting an old Rockwell table. By
putting it on risers and making a new spindle, I can run standard 7"
carbide blades and I've found the fence more useful than the original
setup.
But it's a very very nice compact and solid little saw. These saws
beat the heck out of small woodworking table saws of recent vintage.
And, I have all the parts to return it to original.

Jon
Take heart - the new small battery saws have blades in the 5 1/2" range.
The worm drives are 6 1/2 IIRC blades.

Martin

--
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder