1915 Crescent Bandsaw

steve morris

Member
Messages
52
as promised in the turning section!

this is my oldest tool, other than the odd handtool

its a 1915 (or so) crescent 20 inch bandsaw. i picked it up a couple of years ago from a hobby machinist who was using it for aluminum and brass

im posting just a couple of pics, but i do have detail pics of the entire restoration

first is the picture from the kijiji ad(canadian version of craigslist), its powered by a tiny 1/2 hp mounted on a hinged plate hanging on a 1 inch steelrod drilled right through the main casting(shameful!

$_35.jpg

next as an "in progress" pic. they were'nt too fussy about the appearence of castings in 1915, afterall WW1 was having an effect on the entire north american manufacturing situation
the main casting is hollow, made from 2 mold halves. there was a large amount of filler required at the seams plus of course the big hole drilled for the junky motor mount

042.JPG

the final product, its powered by a 1940's delta 1 hp repulse induction motor running on 240

1002.jpg

lots of detail pics are available, this was my most ambtious rebuild to date!
 
A beautiful restoration Steve. Amazing how different that saw looks without it wheels on. I do appreciate the guards you have made but still think I would pass on using it, when a blade breaks I don't think I want to be the person standing in front of it.
 
others have said that too, but i did have a blade come off once before the guards, very nondramatic, it just stopped moving the second it came off the wheels
 
Yeah, I wouldn't think if the blade broke it would be that big of a thing usually. I was helping a friend with his sawmill a bit back. He had the blade cover off for some reason or the other that escapes me now. Anyway, the blade rolled off the rollers and it just dropped onto the wood almost directly below it. I don't think it went more than 4" from the rollers. But, then again that's a 4" wide bandsaw blade and don't ask me how long. All I can tell you is that it was a 30" sawmill. Still, it did make me jump a bit and I was behind it.
 
You have some nice looking equipment Steve.

I passed up on a very slightly newer saw of a similar size and capability for a reasonable price not to far away and still have a few pangs of regret..
 
here's a few shots from the rebuild

babbitt bearing on the lower wheel, it got a slight reaming and reshimming, the upper wheel is a steel shaft running in the cast iron housing.

the upper wheel shaft was running hot until i found the right lube(30 w oil), now it runs nice and cool

shop made guides both above and below table, they are just regular ball bearings on adjustable bolts

it uses a 122 inch blade

i rebuilt the motor, it was in great shape, i replaced the bearings anyway. brushes and commutator were fine. the brush system is for starting the motor rather than the more modern capacitor and centrifugal switch type motor
 

Attachments

  • 001 (3).JPG
    001 (3).JPG
    77.4 KB · Views: 32
  • 044.JPG
    044.JPG
    41 KB · Views: 30
  • 046.JPG
    046.JPG
    42.9 KB · Views: 28
  • 1006.jpg
    1006.jpg
    62.4 KB · Views: 30
  • DSC00591.JPG
    DSC00591.JPG
    67.5 KB · Views: 29
  • DSC00592.JPG
    DSC00592.JPG
    66 KB · Views: 31
  • 001 (2).JPG
    001 (2).JPG
    71.2 KB · Views: 34
Last edited:
its posible the've been repoured, i was preparing to repour them myself because the lower wheel was binding. but some scrapping and adjusting shims resolved the issue

there is also babbitt around the table quadrant and for the upper guide rod
 
i think babbitt was used in those areas(quadrant and guide rod) to simplify machining.
thinking of the guide rod, all you need in the casting is a big round hole, then the hexagonal shaft, some damming material, someway to hold the rod in the right place and pour the babbitt
no machining at all

i have a 1950's Parks planer, its sealed ball bearings are retained in babbitt
 
havent been on here for a while, summer stuff just seems to get in the way!!
im pleased to report that the old crescent is operating well, gets used almost everyday

i've got lots of pics of the rest of my old iron collection, some beaver, rockwell, parks and couple of others, i'll post some if you're interested. the rest of my oldies are from the 40's and 50's
 
havent been on here for a while, summer stuff just seems to get in the way!!
im pleased to report that the old crescent is operating well, gets used almost everyday

i've got lots of pics of the rest of my old iron collection, some beaver, rockwell, parks and couple of others, i'll post some if you're interested. the rest of my oldies are from the 40's and 50's

Interested? We're always interested. :D Post away!
 
Top