What to look at when buying a used band-knife splitter

[Matt S]

I've had an offer accepted on a used SAS/Fortuna band-knife splitting machine subject to viewing. It's not in the best of shapes, with a little surface rust in places. The seller is an industrial machinery salvage/resale house and they don't know much about leather machines. I'll be viewing it in a couple weeks, and am under no obligation to pay unless I'm happy. Not entirely sure what model it is, maybe a UA, looks around 12" capacity. The only identifiable number is 4713, which could be a model or serial number.

I'm ignorant on band-knife splitters except for using one several times. What should I be looking for? Specifically I'm thinking of high-mortality parts. I fully expect to have to buy a new knife and covert it from 3-phase or purchase a phase converter but for the price there's a lot of room in the budget. The main purpose will be splitting 2mm waxed chrome to 1-1.2mm for small leather goods, though I would like to use it for a wider range of work. Not going to be a huge volume of work -- in the tens of SQFT per month rather than hundreds.

I'm also looking for a manual. Campbell-Randall has one for the UA/LA machines for $30 but I'm not sure if that's the correct model. Can anyone shed some light on models?