Found in a farmyard - is it worth fixing?!

[Trevanion]

My denial of 'Foyster' is based on that there are vastly less craftsmen amongst than when hand tools were primary.
What we have more greatly are 'tradesmen' out of touch with materials, learning poor techniques from utube '
experts', and numerous doing poor and incomplete apprenticeships. using power tools and nail guns, no longer
notching noggings into studs for example and working on the fact that 'it all gets hidden'.

I like to think there are still plenty of craftsmen out there, to think there were more when hand tools dominated the world is a bit of rose-colored glasses opinion because there were just as many of the rough and slap-dash kind of worker back then as there is now going by the old work I've seen throughout my time.

You'd probably like the book if you can get it where you are, "Modern Woodworking Machine Practice" by Raymond J Foyster. It goes over a lot of the theory of woodworking machinery and basically how to run them properly and efficiently much like your bit about drills.

From what I've found on the internet it's 5" for the 12", 6" for the 15" model.
Hefty looking bandsaw for just a 5" limit but I guess it all depends on the user requirements. My bandsaw can cut 6" but I've only ever cut 5" and under. I guess that makes me a miniaturist woodworker.

They were a bit of an odd manufacturer to be honest, I've seen a few of their machines and they're overwhelmingly tanky but rather small and lack capacity. I think they might've been more aimed at educational establishments than working workshops.

 

[clogs]

I think it's always good to see what sell elsewhere in Europe....
this has just been listed in Crete....€1,100.....
do u like the anti-vib mats under the feet and the blade tensioner.........?

 

[Droogs]

that should be on the Wall of Cool. for some reason I have a really bad urge to get that thing chromed

 

[heimlaga]

Concerning the bandsaw that started the thread:

To me it looks perfectly rebuildable. Myself I have resurrected worse wrecks than that with the resulting machines becoming equal to new professional grade machines.
My bandsaw was not much better than that when I bought it.

In that case I would make a new trunnion for the table from a piece of thick walled tube turned to shape and then cut in half and welded to a flange made for instance from 16mm mild steel plate. Another piece of 16mm mild steel plate could make a good table.
If I was aiming for a top notch rebuild I could even weld an apron from flat bar to the edges of the table and then have it annealed and milled.
New doors could be made from 3mm plate.
Retyring the wheels is not much of a problem either. Any industrial rubber shop can do that rather cheaply and cambering is easily done at home.

In short. A rather straightforward project that can be done using mostly scrap yard materials.
I have a 50 or 60 years old stick welder and a large drill press and of cause angle grinders and files and taps and dies and such and a hydraulic press. A neighbour has a metal lathe and is always willing to barter lathe work for woodwork. An aquintance in the next village has a better lathe and a large milling machine and a surface grinder and is also often willing to barter. I can get parts annealed through another aquintance.
With those resorces I see not problems what so ever in rebuilding that bandsaw except time.

However........ as I have done such rebuilds I am qualified to say that those rebuilds take a fair bit of time.
If you have the time and some basic metalworking skills I say GO FOR IT.
If you lack both I say RUN..... and look for another.

 

[Just4Fun]

I learned welding at Tech college and inspected it in some government projects. DIY is considerably different. Over 95% of 'DIY' welding I have seen, is atrocious and can create danger in relying on it.

Ah, so you have seen my work then?
I learned to weld at an evening course many years ago. The instructor said my welding was like an old woman's fart: rough but strong.

 

[MIGNAL]

The front cover and table for the Junior Whitehead must have been made with a heavy gold plated coating. Another one here with both missing. Someone has gone to the trouble of doing a restoration and it looks like a pretty good one at that. From David Barron's blog.

A Nice Swop.

 

[AJB Temple]

The snag for me with this kind of thread, is that my main reason for woodworking is to make stuff that I want - buildings, kitchens, furniture etc. And I don't have enough time to do that. Doing up knackered, rusty machines with missing bits, and having to improve my rudimentary metalworking and welding skills, is so time consuming that it is not viable. Plus, I would aspire to the kind of finish and quality that Wallace of this parish achieves. And I would disappoint myself.

 

[pcb1962]

The front cover and table for the Junior Whitehead must have been made with a heavy gold plated coating. Another one here with both missing. Someone has gone to the trouble of doing a restoration and it looks like a pretty good one at that. From David Barron's blog.

" Although it's only a small machine just 40" high I had to remove the door and cast iron table before I could lift it "

 

[MIGNAL]

That was the point of my earlier post, some folk get a lot of satisfaction from restoring such rust buckets. Of course in strict economic terms it's not really going to be a great investment. I like tinkering with such things, although I've not done anything as serious as what this bandsaw requires. It's a distraction from woodwork but sometimes a change is as good as a rest.
pcb1962. Yes, I guessed they had been removed for weight issues. It's just my poor form of humour.

 

[heimlaga]

To me it is not as much about satisfaction as it is about avoiding drowing a quagmire of debth.

In strict economical terms it is way better to spend 300 hours of weekends and evenings and days off and days uneployed rebuilding a wreck of a machine into a prime quality industrial machine than to take loann you aren't absolutely certain that you can ever pay back.
It is also way better than to buy cheap hobby grade machines and then spend four weeks on jobs that only pay enough to cover one week's worth of work.

We all live with different economical limitations and must all schoose the route that fits our own limitations.

 

[AJB Temple]

To me it is not as much about satisfaction as it is about avoiding drowing a quagmire of debth.

In strict economical terms it is way better to spend 300 hours of weekends and evenings and days off and days uneployed rebuilding a wreck of a machine into a prime quality industrial machine than to take loann you aren't absolutely certain that you can ever pay back.
It is also way better than to buy cheap hobby grade machines and then spend four weeks on jobs that only pay enough to cover one week's worth of work.

We all live with different economical limitations and must all schoose the route that fits our own limitations.

I agree with this. Apart from houses I have followed a simple rule: I have never bought anything on credit. If I can't afford to buy it, then I don't have it and make do some other way. I have been fortunate in that selling my time has usually covered stuff, but the principle is spot on whatever we are doing in my view.

 

[Ttrees]

Take it home if its gonna be chucked out or left there,
If even to look and tinker with for now.
Proper heritage aswell as having a bandsaw!
What a great start into ol' machine madness

 

[Droogs]

cut it into little strips and post heimliga a bit each birthday and christmas. Then it will be like building one of those magazine boat models

 

[toolsntat]

cut it into little strips and post heimliga a bit each birthday and christmas. Then it will be like building one of those magazine boat models

Yes, but does he know the last issue parts are gunna cost more than its worth

 

[heimlaga]

I can probably make do without the last shipment and make what is missing.......

 

[Jackbequick]

Ah, so you have seen my work then?
I learned to weld at an evening course many years ago. The instructor said my welding was like an old woman's fart: rough but strong.

Ahhhaaaa...you have 'outed yourself 'just for fun'...LOL!! ...Sadly rough and strong don't usually go together. The odious comparison from your critic has turned me off my dinner by the way....When I was younger (a lot) I'd do say a foot of straight (stick) welding to clear my head and see how I was going before attempting a task, By 60 that had doubled and of course as expectations increase so does fault finding. I wished always that the sticks were about 4 inches shorter! watching them waver as about to draw the arc I realise now is a symptom of hypertension.