FILENAMES: BANDSAW1.JPG BANDSAW2.JPG BANDSAW3.JPG BANDSAW4.JPG BANDSAW5.JPG DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of refurbishing a bandsaw for woodworking. Posted by Ted Edwards . Ted provided the following description: ================================================================= "Big Red" Bandsaw E.M (Ted) Edwards Ted_E@bc.sympatico.ca Some years ago a friend gave me what he said was a meat cutting bandsaw. This thing is painted bright red, has a massive cast iron frame with 14" cast iron wheels each of which have 2 large heavy duty ball bearings. Mickey Mouse upper blade guide, no motor, no lower blade guide, no table, no tires. Couple weeks ago, another friend, Bill, e-mailed me wondering if he could come up and resaw and plane some large, fairly well aged, Dogwood branches. I had just finished a frustrating job of resawing some pine 2x4 into 5/8" planks to join to make knotty pine doors for a vanity. This was done on a 10" table saw. The best one can say for that is that it sort-of-works. Also SWMBO had aquired some nice chunks of various woods for eventual turning blanks. What's more, at least two more vanities are in my relatively near future. All these jobs scream "band saw". I have a metal cutting 4x6" band saw but that is quite unsuitable. Time to rebuild Big Red. Bill could only come up for a few days now and not again 'til June. The Big Push is on. Well, it's not finished but we can cut. Ray (next door) contributed a 1 hp motor. Another piece of the counter refered to in the Router Table would make a table. I bought tires and a blade. A thorough clean and lube, a few parts on the Smithy and it runs. Still needs work on blade guides but that's the next project. Status @ 000422: Some ideas came from a review of saws in "American Woodworker", Dec 1998. Others from the internet: http://www.timberwolf1.com/sixrules.html Wheels: Each is supported by a pair of hefty ball bearings. Four measurements of wheels average 13.999". Close enough to call 14". Drive pulley is 8.43" diam. Need 3.27" diam motor pulley for 2500 fpm. Clean up: I plan to dismantle and clean everything this weekend. While it's apart I'll carefully measure the wheels and lube while re-assembling. Motor: Ray has contributed a 1 hp motor that can be wired for 120V or 240V. Should be good. Tires: Roy's Hardwoods claims to have tires for 14" wheels. I need to confirm wheel size this weekend so I can get them. These need to be contact cemented to wheels. Done. Placed tires on wheels. Raised a section with two rods, applied contact cement, let dry, moved one rod to next section. Repeat around the wheel. Blade: 4 tpi by 1/2" wide seems to be a reasonable compromise between resawing and other uses. Need to acurately determine length. It would be best to do this after tires are on but if that will delay things, I'll measure without them and allow for thickness. My plan is to run some packing case banding around the path with the blade adjustment at min and at max and take the mean. Roy's claims they can get me any length from an outfit in Kelowna. Pulley: I need to calculate the required diameter for the desired blade speed. Seems 2500 to 3000 sfpm is the name of the game. Bought 3.3" "A" width pulley with 3/16" keyway in 7/8" hole. Works out to 2526 fpm with 1/8" thick tires. Motor mounts: Need to design and build. Simple hold down clamps but they work. Table: Need a tilting table (?) but will start out with something simpler. Blade guides: Plan to use nylon for now. Should this be a problem, will probably go to carbide. Safety covers: Yeah. Power switch: Might be handy. :-) Specs: Blade: 000623 Bandsaw blade 118" x 1/2" x 4 tpi $16.50 from Okanagan Saw Doctor Wheel diam: 14" Driven pully diam: ~8 1/2"