Scrimper's Fretworking Site - Hobbies Powered saws

Since it's early days J.H. Skinner and later Hobbies had been selling treadle fretsaws but around 1932/33 they developed a bench top power fretsaw called the Anchor, this page covers power operated fretsaws and attachments to convert treadle saws to power operated

The first power operated saws offered by hobbies were the Norfolk and Suffolk and later in the 1920's the Victory, although essentially treadle saws they could be driven by a power source by means of a countershaft unit, both saws are covered in depth on the treadle page.

The next method of power for fretsaws was of course Electric power by means of an electric motor and as long ago as 1931 Hobbies offered electric motor add on units for their treadle machine such as the one below. I have to say that the add on below would send 'health and safety' into overdrive! You have to take into account that in the 1930's not many households had electrical sockets in fact many did not even have electricity installed so the only way to connect was via a light fitting by means of a BC adaptor as shown in the image. The main issue of course was the lack of an earth connection with the possibility of electric shock should a fault develop.

Foot switch for motor

Machines could be purchased with a motor already fitted, alternately the motor kit could be bought for the customer to add to his own machine. As mentioned above horror would be expressed by electrical bodies today regarding the safety of the motors and wiring etc but in those early days of electricity many appliances available then would never get past the safety testing of today.

The first Hobbies bench fretsaw

Hobbies Bench machine

This is an image of the very first Hobbies motor powered work-bench machine from 1931. it is obviously the top part of a treadle machine with a motor attached.

The motor is described as being suitable for both A.C. or D.C. mains and was supplied with a 9ft (2.7 metres) and a plug for mains fitting.

As mentioned above the supplied 'plug' would have been a simple B.C. adaptor for plugging into a light fitting. if you wanted the light on too one would use a 2 way B.C. adaptor. In a time when motor bodies were all metal this could prove fatal should a fault occur where the motor casing became live as no earth was available using a B.C. adaptor, However one has to take into account that many appliances were used in this way, I remember in the late 1950'd my grandmother using a wholly metal smoothing iron via a light socket!

The Hobbies Anchor bench mounted fretsaw

The Anchor power fretsaw arrived in the early 1930's it was the first independently powered purpose built bench saw that Hobbies built. the last time that Hobbies offered it in their annual handbook was 1942, however bizarrely it did reappear in the 1967 handbook after an absence of 25 years but was not present in the last handbook in 1968.

The first Anchor is illustrated opposite, as one can see from the image it was quite basic in construction. Hobbies described as the most advanced machine of it's kind on the market and suitable for commercial use .

The Anchor offered very smooth running and featured no fewer than eleven ball bearings in it's various moving parts, it gave a true vertical stroke and gave 24 inches (610 mm) clearance behind the blade.

Table size was 24 x 16 inches (610 mm x 406 mm).

In 1938 Hobbies offered a much improved Anchor machine and as can be seen from the images it was a much more sophisticated machine than it's predecessor'

The New Anchor featured many improvements over the original Anchor machine, one of which is a double cam blade tensioning device.

The true vertical stroke was achieved by using a strong leather belt 5/8 inch (16 mm) wide which worked over ball bearing pulleys which are made to oscillate by the means of an anchor movement.

The blades are easy to insert in the clamps and blade tension is achieved with one turn of the handle as can be seen in the diagram below.

The dust blower was provided as standard whilst the lamp was optional.

Unusually the tilting table was not supplied as standard.

I have to say that for the time (early 1930's) the Hobbies anchor fret-saw looks to be a decent machine and possibly ahead of it's time.

The Hobbies Anchor machine gave a true vertical stroke using a revolutionary new design of using a leather belt.

No motor was supplied with the saw as standard presumably because at the time many different power supplies were in operation some AC some DC, Hobbies did suggest that they could supply a motor to suit the customers circuit requirements.

The Anchor was a substantial machine weighing some 84 Ibs (38 Kg)

In 1942 the Anchor was offered at £17.17.0 (£17.85) without a motor.

In 1935 it was £10.10.0 (£10.50) with a motor offered at an extra £7.00.

In the 1967 handbook it was offered at £ 65.17.6 (£65.87) but no motor was supplied nor offered.

Hobbies Anchor Minor

The hobbies Anchor Minor was a much less substantial machine than the Major weighing in at just 28 lbs (12.7 Kg) compared to the Anchor Major's weight of 84 lbs (38 Kg).

The Minor had all the usual features of the Major model including a true vertical stroke.

Unlike the Major the saw table on the minor was independent of the main part of the saw and had to be mounted on the bench separately.

It was suggested that for factory use a heavier anchor movement should be fitted, which was provided with two extra ball bearings.

In 1942 the Anchor Minor was sold be Hobbies at a cost of 110/- (£5.10.0) or £5.50 in decimal) with a motor extra.

Hobbies Long Arm Anchor Fretsaw

The Hobbies Long Arm Anchor machine was designed for cutting fretwork of large dimensions being equipped with 30 inches (762 mm) behind the blade.

Strangely unlike the other Anchor machines the long arm version was offered complete with a motor and foot control unit.

The Long Arm machine was featured in the yearly handbooks from 1935 until 1941 but by 1942 it was no longer offered.

Hobbies Marvel

Introduced in 1939 the Hobbies Marvel was a different departure from Hobbies previous machines in that it had no moving arms, saws of this type are known as 'Rigid arm' saws. the way it works is that the blade is only driven on the downstroke whilst the upstroke is produced by the spring action of a spring-loaded piston in the upper fixed arm.

The advantage of a rigid arm saw is that it gives a true vertical stroke but that virtue is far outweighed by it's disadvantages, as the saw is only driven on the downstroke and upwards by spring action it results in sudden loading and unloading of the blades tension, so the tension is not consistent as with other types of saw, for various reasons this does put a lot of pressure on the tiny fretsaw blades resulting in premature blade breakage.

(For the reasons stated above I would not recommend any type of rigid arm saws for serious or general fretwork).

As mentioned above the Hobbies Marvel arrived in 1939 in bench form as well as a treadle version (covered in the Treadle Machines pages).

It appeared until the 1941 handbook but because of WWII it was deleted from the handbook by 1942, it was offered again in the 1949 handbook and remained until the very last Hobbies handbook of 1968.

As can be seen from the pictures the Marvel was originally fitted with it's own small motor unit but by 1964 it was supplied with what was basically a simple Black and Decker electric drill with a shaft fitted rather than a chuck.

The Marvel was a mere toy compared to the robust Hobbies Anchor machine it only weighed in at 17 lbs (17.7 Kg) whereas the weight of the Anchor was 84 Ibs (38 Kg)

Hobbies Powered Fretsaw

This machine was offered by the revived Hobbies company from 1970 until 1992. The saw was very basic by todays standards having little in the way of innovations - just a simple on/off switch. The saw was advertised as being capable of cutting wood up to 1" (25mm) thick. Being simple made it reliable.

The saw was made for Hobbies by Peter Gee who also sold them under his own branding. They were painted yellow whereas the Hobbies version were painted blue.

Please note, none of the machines mentioned here are available today unless you can find a used one. they are here out of historical interest.

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