The New Bandsaw...............

Norman Hitt said:

Wouldn't be anything wrong with that at all, Stu. If you look back at my post early on, I mentioned that you could even add a couple of "Spine strips" for extra strength (where you show the extra tube in the picture). I think I would slide the tube up just a little higher though, as the bottom should be plenty stiff, (I assume you are going to fasten the two bottoms of those legs to a solid plate or something?)

Click to expand...

Yes, something like that, I'm not sure what I'll do even with the length of the bottom legs, might keep them that long, or shorten them a bit?

Depends on the motor I get.

What should I shoot for in the HP dept?

I'm not planing on resawing, I have Big Blue for that.

Cheers!

Stu, it seems like most of the 14" saws range from (early ones of 1/2 hp---too low) 3/4 hp to maybe 2 hp, and even though you have Big Blue, you "Might" want to resaw some "High Dollar" wood into vaneer sometime with a thinner blade to save $$$$, so I would think a true 1 or 1 1/2 hp would be appropriate to cover any range of things you might want to do with it.

If you keep the bottom legs their current length, you would have extra room to add a DC outlet on the back side, AND to add scab plates in the bottom corners, to keep from having sawdust collect there.

Stuart Ablett said:

Yes, something like that, I'm not sure what I'll do even with the length of the bottom legs, might keep them that long, or shorten them a bit?

Depends on the motor I get.

What should I shoot for in the HP dept?

I'm not planing on resawing, I have Big Blue for that.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Motor hp.

Stu. I looked at the original motor that was on it.
3/4 hp, 1720 rpm. [yes. 1720 ]

Saw was a tad under powered I always thought.

It did fine with 1/4, 3/8ths blades.

But I never ran over a 1/2" blade on it when resawing. Manual recommends not over 1/2.

Thanks guys!

Oh yeah, Big Blue has a VERY think kerf blade, only 0.55mm thin!

Very interesting to see the progress Stu. Wish I had some insight to help you, but you seem to have it under control.
Are you going to use this as a bench top unit, or put it on a stand? Seems too short to stand on it's own. Jim.

"I have the steel, I bought too much and all it would take would be some grinding of paint and some welding....?"

Stu,

If that's the case, I would sure as heck try it. When you first asked 'do you think this is strong enough?' I was thinking to myself 'well, for most people, but I would sure as shootin find some way to break that thing by doing something stupid...

With all that extra steel, I don't think even I could break it. By the way, I'm still waiting for the manufacturer to ship the tensioning part I broke on mine. Who knew you could break something like that?

More steel!

Thanks,

Bill

Well gents, I had an up and down day.

Seems to be I took more steps backwards today than forwards.......

The problems are thus;



The shaft that the top wheel spins on is (was) held in the metal casting in the adjuster via a spring or roll pin, this was snapped off.

I'm thinking that this could have happened long ago, and Steve did not notice, as this is not the drive wheel, or that it happend when the saw took a headbutt from the roof when it collapsed.

What this meant was when I tried to tighten the bolt on the top wheel, the shaft just rotated..... I tired to fix this with a concrete screw that I had on had, but it did not work, I'll have to get a real pin to do it. Thankfully, the wheel is still straight and true

Next up was the hinges, (As marked in the pic) there is a LOT of play in them, I think this is just poor design, and the years of use that Steve had on the saw just wore them out. Under tension, it might not make a difference, but why take the chance?

I really have two options, try to make this work, or, build a whole new tension/tracking adjuster

Now even if I make a new one, I'll most likely still use the shaft and the cast piece the shaft fits into.

Now, a question for the gearheads out there, I'm intent on replacing the spring on the saw, mainly because it is 20 years old, and usually the springs that come with these saws are not great to start with.

I can buy a spring from the US for this sized saw for about $20, and it should do me, but I can also get the same spring as the one that comes on Big Blue, but the problem I foresee is that the spring rate on the large spring might be too stiff. I know that the spring on a bandsaw is there to tension the blade, but they are also there (if my understanding is correct) to absorb any shock that may come along if the blade hit a knot or forbid, a nail or such, right?

OK on to the good part

I was looking at the saw frame, thinking about a gusset etc, or a back brace or something, and I thought "if this sucker flexes, I'll be kicking myself and have to do something about it, I thought............... WWMD
(What Would Marty Do)

Yep............



Me thinks there will be no flex to concern myself about in the frame now!!

Yes the ends of the tubes are capped top and bottom!

Also, another reason to make the top wheel tension/tracker adjuster more substantial.

Tod, I can hear you from way over here saying "I told you so"

I'm beat, up at 6:30 AM for work, worked on and off all day delivering beer to the town festival, and working in the Dungeon, that was 19 hours ago, I need to go to sleep...............

Cheers!

Well shoot heck durn.
Don't be backing up now. Progress has been great

Hinge slop. I'd say it was probably that way from the factory. for sure. Wouldn't make any difference after tension was applied.

Will the wheel shaft come on out of the bracket? Easily, or with some force?

You could remove the screw there on top, get yer eyeball down in the hole, rotate shaft to align old broken pin, and maybe drill it on out. I would think that the shaft pin wouldn't be anything too hard metal wise.
Then drop a new pin/screw/bolt down in there.

Stuart Ablett said:

snip
OK on to the good part

I was looking at the saw frame, thinking about a gusset etc, or a back brace or something, and I thought "if this sucker flexes, I'll be kicking myself and have to do something about it, I thought............... WWMD
(What Would Marty Do)

Yep............

View attachment 8817

Me thinks there will be no flex to concern myself about in the frame now!!
snip
Cheers!

Click to expand...

Not quite my friend....you only put ONE TUBE on it for extra strength!!
Looks good! I think I'd try Steves answer for the pin that sheered off. And how sloppy are the hinges? Anything you could put in them as a bushing to take up the slack? Hope you're sawing logs and getting ready for work tomorrow. (Sleep man, I'm talking about sleep!!) The saw is getting there! Jim.

I did remove the shaft, and the busted off pin. There were already two holes in the shaft

I tried my best to not increase that number.

yes a new pin should do it, I just got to find where to buy one!!

OK an update......

OK, I got some more done.....

I drilled out the four holes for mounting the bearing saddle to the frame, but I needed a way to transfer the hole location onto the frame.



I put a thin piece of cardboard on top of the bearing saddle and taped it down.


Then with the face of a small hammer I tap over the holes to show the edges of the hole......


I then use the reverse of the hammer, the smaller face, to lightly tap out the hole.


There, all four tapped out.

Then I put this on the frame and mark my holes



Now that the holes are marked and drilled, I mounted the bearing saddle and the wheels.


I got out my 105" long loop of string and it fits!

I still have to contend with the problems on the top end, but I'm moving forward.

......cont

While looking at this set up, I noticed that I'd put the wheels a bit too far back in the frame, I should have had them more biased towards the front of the frame....


As it sits, I'll have a limit on the depth of throat cut of 11 3/4"


Now if i were to cut the frame, and weld some plate in there, I'd get a full 13"+ ???

You can see where I marked the frame with black marker and "X"s to show the area that could be removed.....?

Is 11 3/4" enough?

Cheers!

Stu,

Since you already have Big Blue....I'd leave it as it is. Lookin' great, and good progress.

Actually, if the truth be known, I did toy with the idea of a third wheel, to give me even a deeper throat depth, as when you are cutting curvy things, the throat depth, not the resaw height is key......

Dunno which way I'll go....

The guys out there with 14" saws, what is the actual throat depth on your saws?

Cheers!

My new Delta 28-276 is 13 3/4".

Stuart Ablett said:

Actually, if the truth be known, I did toy with the idea of a third wheel, .....
The guys out there with 14" saws, what is the actual throat depth on your saws?

Click to expand...

Stu, there is a reason that 3-wheel bandsaws are practically unknown. I don't have first-hand experience, but I've heard from a few places that they break blades quickly.

My saw has a throat depth of just a hair under 13-and-a-half inches.

Yes, I've bumped into the depth on rare occasion, but to be honest I cannot recall how often I've been over 11" but below 13.5".

Why not just live with it for a while and see how many times you bump into the problem. It shouldn't be that hard for you to do this later. And if you find that you don't need it, then ... well you're good.

...art

stu, 95% of your scrollin` work is done to the right of the blade, it`s very unlikely that you`ll need greater than the 11" you have.....i really like the gusset you added! i did have concerns about tensioning...not any more ....my opinion is to leave all the meat you have in the spine, make certain that your upper-n-lower axels are securely mounted and adjustable and start working out your guide mounting.....as for a table.....i wouldn`t even worry about tilting it, you`ve got enough resaw height that you could put a wedged extention table on top of one that`s 90 deg. if you ever need to cut bevels with the saw? what i`d worry about with the table is having 24" or more to the right of the blade, that and a easily removable extention system to increase table size to 4` right and 4` behind the blade...you`ll find that it`ll be a rare occasion that you need more than that....tod

Yeah, I'm thinking to leave it, another inch or so for that much work?

Art, I've seen and worked on some good 3 wheel bandsaws, that do not break blades, they were HUGE the 3 wheels were something like 17" or 18" cast wheels, and the saw itself was about 10' tall, and was the kind of machine they build the building around ........... but I get your point. Also where would I get a third wheel

Like I said, I "Toyed" with the idea, but I toy with a lot of ideas, most I won't even admit or discuss

Tod, a large table is a must, I was going to ask you guys about that. Now do you honestly think I can get away with a thick MDF table with laminate on it, or should I try to find a large piece of plate steel?

I worry that the plate steel will not be flat, as they are usually sheered off of larger plates, and this will twist them some what.

The blade guides that Steve sent with will work, at least as a starting point, I will have to modify them to some extent, and or just make totally new ones. MAN I wish I had a milling machine

The next step, will involve the table tilting mech, yes I need one, as I want to do segmented bowls, and it will be much nicer to do so with a tilting table.

Oh yeah, I need to order some blades

I'm thinking 1/8" 1/4" and maybe 3/8"......?

I might also try some of those 1/2" bowl blank blades.......

I plan on a fairly large sized table, like I said, but what about the "Mitre" groove, you guys that have them on your saw, do you REALLY ever use them????

Oh yeah, a light, or maybe even two lights, I was thinking one on the underside of the top part of the frame, something thing, and then a gooseneck light like I have on Big Blue.

I'll have DC on the bottom box area, and brushes on the wheels, a new spring........

I guess I'll have to build a fence of some kind too.

Yep, I've got a bit of busy time ahead of me

I figure I'll mock the trunnions up with MDF before I build them out of 1/2" plate.

Cheers!

stu, i`d start with a 1/4" 4-tooth blade and see what you can`t do with it...as for a miter guage on a bandsaw?.....i threw mine out when i got the saws .....

tod evans said:

stu, i`d start with a 1/4" 4-tooth blade and see what you can`t do with it...as for a miter guage on a bandsaw?.....i threw mine out when i got the saws .....

Click to expand...

Kind of what I figured.......

I guess if you only had a bandsaw, no TS, no SCMS, no Festool etc, well maybe, but......

The shipping will be a major cost, so I want to get a few different ones in one shot.

Cheers!

OK, I think I might have found a motor that would work for me............



We run 50 Hz here in Tokyo so that would be the highlighted rating in the pic.

I'd rather run it at 100V, as the 3-phase is at the point where I need to rewire it and add panel of sorts in the Dungeon if I want to add more tools to it, I'd rather not do that, but I'm having a bear of a time getting anything much over 1/2 HP for a 100V motor here.

5 days on the auction, and it is at $10 right now, if it stays under $100, I think I'll get it.

Remember, I'm not planning on doing a bunch of resawing with this saw, that is what Big Blue lives for!

What do you think, 0.7 Kw enough?

(to get 1 Hp you divide the KW by 0.746, so this 0.7 Kw is just a smidgen under 1 Hp)