millers printers saw

I inquired before about the Millers Printers Saw but only got two responses. One wanted to buy it but I lived too far to make it feasible. The question is - Is this saw for cutting lead or wood for furniture? This afternoon I tried cutting some wood for furniture, the saw worked fine even though a bit underpowered. The problem was that the wood would only go so far and then it bound on the hub of the saw or the belt. There are the gauges for the different points and it seems as if this would really work well for cutting furniture. When I got the saw the table was frozen tight but with a little polishing and silicon it works very well. The problem is that it doesn’t seem to move the entire length of the table to cut to the points on the gauge. Is there some place I can get more information. I tried Googling it and got a picture but I did’t need that as I already have one in front of me. I need to know how to operate the saw. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Log in to reply   7 replies so far

If your Miller Saw is on a cabinet stand with bins and partitions for leads, slugs, rules, it probably has a fixed arbor, without any lever or crank to either lower the arbor, or raise the table. One that I recall had a elevated part to raise the work on the table for cutting plates without a pica/points gauge. It’s a great saw for cutting leads, slugs and Linotype slugs. It had a great system for mitering common angles by moving the gauge in position by means of a spring-loaded pin to fit in holes on the table.
To take advantage of the point gauge you would cut the furniture oversize on another saw, then trim to measure on the Miller, or cut as far as the arbor will permit, then turn the furniture over to complete the cut. Best thing on these saws is a carbide blade. You’ll get sticker shock when you price these. We buy a standard carbide saw blade, then have a machinist drill and countersink the three holes. With this blade you won’t need the other three holes for the trimmer bits.
There were many models of Miller Saws, from the pedestal models to tabletop, to cabinet, so a photo would help us.
Good luck.

http://vintagemachinery.org/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=69
This might help
The table tops were called bench saws, sorry!

This may be a bit early for you (1927) and is a catalog rather than a manual, but it is well-illustrated:

http://www.archive.org/details/MillerSawTrimmers1927

There are manuals for a couple of other saws (Hammond, Nelson) online at:

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/comproom/saw/index....

while these obviously won’t apply exactly to your Miller saw, there are general similarities between most printers’ saws.

Regards,
David M.
www.CircuitousRoot.com

Printer’s saws generally have two primary working positions. The lower position is for cutting through; the higher position is for trimming, using three trimmer bits set into the arbor. Printer’s saw blades have three holes to accomodate the trimmers. With a carbide blade they are not needed.
It sounds like your saw is at the higher position. The Miller saws I have seen were all pedestal models that adjusted height by movking the bed up and down by a crank in front.

I have a Miller pedestal saw model that does not have the crank to raise and lower the bed. The blade was not exposed enough to make it useful to cut wood (I think only about 3/4 inch of the blade was exposed). What I did was to add 2” extensions which raised the bed to allow the blade to cut up to half its diameter. Works perfect for wood up to about 2” thick. Need a tight belt when cutting, but the control it gives is great. If you need more info I can take some pics.

I also have a Miller. Mine is a bench model on a Hamilton made cabinet designed for the saw. It cannot be adjusted up or down either, but, they had an accessory available like described above. (I don’t have it) It raises the work surface so wide items can be cross cut without hitting the arbor.

JF

image: 100_3392 copy.jpg

100_3392 copy.jpg

Now that I read the last post I now remember that the problem for cutting wood was the arbor was on the way. I raised the base so the arbor was below the bed level. Works fine.