Cut-off saws

Apparatus for severing work, comprising a housing having a supporting surface, a rocker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on said supporting surface for rocking upward and downward movement in a vertical direction through a stroke adapted to accommodate work of a predetermined maximum thickness and work of a lesser thickness, a motor supported on one arm portion of said rocker arm and a disc-like cutter rotatably mounted on the other arm portion of said rocker arm and having connection with said motor so as to be rapidly rotated thereby, and a vise for clamping the work in a horizontal position whereby said cutter engages and cuts through the work in its downward movement and is thereafter returned to an upward position free of the work,

• the improvement comprising:
• a control system including means activated when said cutter has cut through the work to cause said cutter to move upwardly, and means to cause said cutter to move upwardly at a constant rate throughout the upward movement, and
• a timer including manually adjustable time settable means to specify a predetermined duration of time operation, and means for commencing timer operation when said cutter begins it upward movement, the predetermined duration of the timer operation being correlated with the constant rate of upward movement of said cutter and with the thickness of the work being cut to time out and interrupt further upward movement of said cutter at a point just shortly after the latter leaves the cut at the upper surface of the work thereby to position said cutter closely adjacent the upper surface of the work for subsequent downward movement in a succeeding cutting operation.