Inca bandsaw

[Harbo]

Old bowling balls are a good source for Lignum - but watch out for the more modern plastic ones?

Rod

 

[Krysstel]

Our friend Google led me to a Yahoo group for Inca machines and an old post there has led me to this place in the US http://www.spaceageceramicguideblocks.com/. Apparantly they can (at least they could a year ago) supply ceramic guide blocks and thrust bearings as direct replacements for the original Inca blocks. They're supposed to last forever without wear :shock: I've fired off an e-mail inquiry and we'll see what happens.
Here's a couple of pictures that prove such blocks and guides exist :wink:

Mark

 

[sometimewoodworker]

More pictures, as requested.
I'll be ordering a couple of Tuffsaw blades on Monday.
I want to try and see if it's possible to resaw at least up to about 120-130mm. Anyone have any idea what maximim blade width the saw can cope with ?

1"

Why is the switch on the rear, away from the operator ? Is that normal ?

Yes It's standard as you can see here.

Mine is an earlier model to yours 342.186.01 and it has an aluminium table a different blade guard and no dust port

Top bearing blocks need a clean up and adjustment.

Same story with the bottom bearings.

It looks as if the adjustment screws have been changed from the original grub screws.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Our friend Google led me to a Yahoo group for Inca machines and an old post there has led me to this place in the US http://www.spaceageceramicguideblocks.com/. Apparantly they can (at least they could a year ago) supply ceramic guide blocks and thrust bearings as direct replacements for the original Inca blocks. They're supposed to last forever without wear :shock: I've fired off an e-mail inquiry and we'll see what happens.
Here's a couple of pictures that prove such blocks and guides exist :wink:

Mark

Please let me know if you get a positive answer I can use a set of thrust bearings.

 

[woodbloke]

My Euro 260 which is a later reincarnation of the same machine will take a 5/8" blade...I'd advise to get the thinnest that you can, a 'meat and fish' would be ideal but Axminster do a 'special' (by tel order only) with a 14thou stock blade. Tuffsaws also now do very thin blades as well but I haven't used them yet. With a thin, new 3tpi blade the machine will go through 150mm oak without too much bother - Rob

 

[condeesteso]

Very good to get to see inside this machine, very impressive. I saw Jim's table saw with tilting table and that is very neat. The engineering inside this looks really good. I'd like to find one and I suspect hotting the guides up could be reasonably straightforward. As a trial do get some lignum guides off Jim, then we can all see how they perform - I know david Charlesworth uses them on a big Wadkin and reckons they are excellent.

 

[Krysstel]

Jerome -
Really ? 1" blade ? I thought I'd be pushing it if I tried a 3/4" :shock:
I'll post back if I hear anything from them regarding ceramic blocks & guides.

Woodbloke -
I'm waiting to hear from Tuffsaw regarding replacement blades.
I got 4-5 blades with the saw but all look pretty old and I don't plan even trying them ! I'm looking at getting 3 new blades including a 3 tpi for resawing. We'll see what Ian at Tuffsaw recommends.
Thanks for confirming that the Euro260 is just a newer version of the 340. I beleive the 340 was Swiss made. Was the Euro260 perhaps French made ? Some relation to Kity perhaps ? - just my speculation.

Douglas -
Sorry, bit of an uknown here. Who's Jim ? Jim "Woodbloke" ?

Mark

 

[condeesteso]

Hi Mark - sorry, just contact Jim (a.k.a. jimi43 here) and tell him I sent you :lol: for a pair of upper guides in Lignum... then he'll do you a pair for free to try out. Note the upper guides are the important ones as the lower wheel is the pulling one, so below the cut tends to be fine. Leading the blade into the cut is critical I find. Very nice saw, if only I could find one.

 

[woodbloke]

Was the Euro260 perhaps French made ? Some relation to Kity perhaps ? - just my speculation.

Mark

Mine does say 'Inca' on it but the full name of the machine is the Euro 260 and it was made in France...no relation to Kity though as far as I'm aware - Rob

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Jerome -
Really ? 1" blade ? I thought I'd be pushing it if I tried a 3/4" :shock:
I'll post back if I hear anything from them regarding ceramic blocks & guides.
Mark

That was what I was told when I bought the saw & I think it's in the instruction book too,but the book is in Thailand if I still have it. However the biggest blade I usually use is a 3/4" and most of the time 1/2". Getting enough tension for a normal 1" blade seems to put the tensioner at its limit so I don't use it often.

For me the original guides work well enough so I've never bothered to change them. The only problem I've had is the top thrust bearing has lost its dust cover last year ,not bad for a 35 year old tool, so I either need a ceramic set or have to find a new bearing.

I do have a very fine blade set and the sanding accessory. Though I don't remember using either :roll: I guess I should see if they still work.

I'm sure you will have fun. If you have any other questions let me know

 

[John Brown]

I bought a pack of 4 or 8(can't remember right now) bearings from Clas Ohlsen for under a tenner. They are sold for in-line skates. I drilled a hole in the end of a 4 by 4 fence post offcut and drifted out the pins from the bearings, then pressed the replacements on with the vise. Inca, in France, wanted an arm and a leg for replacement bearings, as I recall, and I am a big cheap skate. (See what I did there?).

John

 

[Krysstel]

Jerome :
I got hold of a copy of the manual here http://www.toshen.com/images/inca340manual.pdf
(bit closer than Thailand perhaps :wink: ) and it says min 3mm - max 18mm blade width.
Have been in touch with Ian at Tuffsaw and in his very comprehensive email reply (excellent service by the way) he recommends for resawing a 5/8" blade for green wood and/or a 1/2" 3tpi for seasoned. For general purpose use he recommends a 1/2" 6tpi.
The only accessory I got with the saw was the rip fence so I don't even have a mitre gauge, let alone the sanding accessory ! Am looking into the mitre gauge options although I'm not convinced I really need one.
My thust bearings look, to my totally untrained eye, OK, but if I end up getting the cermic blocks from the US I'll almost certainly order the thrust bearings as well just so I've secured them. As of today I've heard nothing back from Spaceageceramics and I'm not holding my breath.

John :
Yes, I read somewhere else (can't remember where) that you used Clas Ohlson bearings. CO is all over Norway so could be a very interesting option for me. Could you post a link to where in their catalogue you found them ? (the catalogue on their Norwegian site is identical to the UK one). http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/Product/StartPageProducts.aspx

Before I start using the saw I'm planning to strip it down to nothing, give it a thorough cleanup and rebuild it with new blade(s) and, hopefully, bearings etc. I also need to build some kind of wheeled cabinet to stand it on. A lot to do and with Christmas round the corner I doubt I'll get any further with it until after the new year.

Mark

 

[jimi43]

From the INCA woodworking Yahoo group today:

Here's an excerpt from the first issue of Fine Woodworking:

The Inca tools are made by Injecta, a 55 year old
company with a thousand employees, specializing mostly in
precision aluminum die castings. The woodworking tools
represent about 25% of its business. They got into the
business some 35 years ago when a customer ordered molds
for a saw and then could not pay for them.

Jim

 

[JohnBrown]

I can't see the bearings in the current Clas Ohlsen catalogue, and I'm in America over Christmas. I'll have a look when I get home, and if I can find them I might drop a couple in a Jiffy bag for you. Alternatively, I'm sure that eBay will have some, if I can find the size/part number.

John

 

[moerman]

I have bought a Flott 260 two month ago. It is an Inca 260 with a Flott label. It works OK but for resawingit wanders to much. I have a tuff saws 5/8" 3 tpi m42 blade. Also when I put maximum tension on this blade it wanders towards the fence. I took the guidepost from the saw for inspection and noticed two problems:
- the assembly which holds the guide blocks can move slightly sideways. There is no way of adjusting to minimize this play.
- The guidepost is fastened by turning a big screw against it. But the tension of the screw twists the guide post sideways which causes the saw to wander. Reason is that the guide is pressed against a metal plate which is secured at one side only. The force of tightening the screw presses this plate out of alignement.

Are there any hints how to improve these problems? If needed I can post some pictures to clarify my description.

Wout Moerman

 

[Krysstel]

John - Thanks for the thought regarding the bearings but please bear in mind my location before dropping anything in a jiffy-bag. :wink:

Wout - Pictures always tell a better story and since I have just ordered the same resawing blade as you I would be very interested in looking more closely at the problems you mention.

Mark

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I have bought a Flott 260 two month ago. It is an Inca 260 with a Flott label. It works OK but for resawingit wanders to much. I have a tuff saws 5/8" 3 tpi m42 blade. Also when I put maximum tension on this blade it wanders towards the fence. I took the guidepost from the saw for inspection and noticed two problems:
- the assembly which holds the guide blocks can move slightly sideways. There is no way of adjusting to minimize this play.
- The guidepost is fastened by turning a big screw against it. But the tension of the screw twists the guide post sideways which causes the saw to wander. Reason is that the guide is pressed against a metal plate which is secured at one side only. The force of tightening the screw presses this plate out of alignement.

Are there any hints how to improve these problems? If needed I can post some pictures to clarify my description.

Wout Moerman

The pictures would help. Tracking is done while the blade is tensioned and running. The tracking adjustment is behind and below the tensioning adjustment screw. It has a locking knob you need to slack off first. With mine I can get the blade to track anywhere on the tire. The upper guide blocks do move with the upper guard but once tightened are steady. I have a set of pics I'll put up on my website so you can see how it should look when new(30years after :lol: ). I do look after my tools

Edit here is the link
http://meekings.selfip.com/nui/Groups-of-photos/Wood_work_etc/Pages/Inca_Bandsaw.html
it will probably come down (or at least have many fewer pics in a few weeks time as my server space is not infinite :roll:

 

[moerman]

Hi guys, all the best for 2012!

I still have to take the pictures but these days I am rather busy with social tasks. I don't think the problem can be tackled by adjusting the tracking. I've adjusted the tracking so the blade just occasionally touches the bearing. The teeth protrude the wheels slightly. But since the saw has flat tires I don't think this adjustment influences the tracking.

Wout

 

[Krysstel]

A short update.
Stripped everything down at the weekend and am now busy with rebuilding after cleaning 25 years og resin and crud from all the moving parts.
The steel guard closest in the picture was pretty chipped and rusty så I've sanded it down and given it a coat of green Hammerite. Not the original colour, but I had a tin in the cupboard :wink:
One of the thrust bearings is badly scraped and partly ceased so I'm looking for replacements, maybe from the company in France who claim to stock parts. I'll report back if I get anywhere with them.
The original steel guide blocks have seen better days but will hopefully be soon replaced by jimi43 supplied lignum blocks. For the moment I've just cleaned the originals up and will run the saw with them so I have something to compare the new ones with.
I heard nothing back from http://www.spaceageceramicguideblocks.com/ so have given them up
One minor problem I have is with the table adjustment. The whole mechanism is made from cast alumiunium and in places is corroded and pitted, probably (at a guess) because the table had never, or seldom been adjusted. I managed to polish out most of the pitting but it doesn't slide very smoothly. Is there anything I can use to lubricate aluminium against aluminium ?
Otherwise everything is in remarkably good condition.
Hope to get the saw running by this weekend.

Mark

 

[Steve Maskery]

Nice!
I'm no engineer, but I do know that ali against ali is notoriously "sticky". Steel on ali would be better, I believe, but am happy to demur to, well, just about anybody!
S