Vintage bandsaws

[Seb Palmer]

Hi

Yesterday I watched a fab series of videos on YouTube, of a guy called James O'Shea stripping and refurbishing an old Tauco bandsaw. I'd post a link to the video if I could, but the forum won't let me.

I want to buy a similar Tauco bandsaw, but - unlike James - I'm a total bandsaw virgin/ignoramus. Can you guys help me compose a list of things I need to be aware of when buying such a tool second-hand?

E.g. some power tools have three-phase power, or high Ampage requirements. My wife and live in an old Victorian terrace. So I suspect both of these would be issues probably requiring fiddling with our mains electricity supply, which I can't afford to do, financially. And if a motor is missing or no longer works, what can I do about replacing it?

Then there's issues with missing or worn mechanical parts, handles, springs, bearings, blades, and so on: in James wonderful series of videos he makes several new/replacement parts on his lathe. I don't have a lathe! He also buys some parts, for example the bearings/guides that hold the blade at the working/business end (his was all bust up, and he couldn't face retooling such a complex array).

Then there's things like the cost and ease/difficulty of finding parts, e.g. replacing worn out rubber grip on drive wheels, availability of blades, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Regards

Sebastian

 

[bugbear]

To state the obvious, if you're not confident of your engineering ability to work on an rare/old machine, you may well be better off buying a more common, recent machine.

BugBear

 

[shed9]

Welcome.

If your looking to restore an old bandsaw of that vintage without the necessary skills or tools and expect it to be a user I suspect you will very quickly be knee deep in costly receipts and regret.

Buy a new one or find a middle ground and buy an old working single phase Startrite to use straight away and avoid the heart ache.

Don't wish to be negative just speaking from my own observed experience.

 

[Ttrees]

While I like old machines, most present a few problems that make them an unfeesable proposition, for my situation,
due to things like...
The weight of some of these beasts might be a ton. ...whereas 300kg, or not much more for me, as I have to lift it myself (disassembled)
Dual voltage three phase motors is what I look for all the time...
I run my 24" bandsaw, that has 17" or thereabouts of resaw height under the guides, on a 13a plug, which probably would be quite problematic with my single phase supply otherwise. ( I don't/haven't used it to full capacity )

The old Wadkins and the like, have fixed star wound motors 415v three phase or thereabouts ...
To get these motors to work for my situation, I would need to contact Bob Minchin...
(look his induction motor PDF to understand VFD's, motors, and some other switch stuff...credit to him for showing us the way 8) )
Oh yeah, back to the Bob, he would have to supply you with a customised good brand VFD, I'm not sure if he needs to do work on the motor aswell? that may differ in some cases.

Ok so you find the perfect machine getting turfed out, the wheels are of suitable size and mass to run with a basic supply,
like 24"... These wheels may have a lot more mass on a more vintage machine? I have no hands on experience on that, but I would guess so.
My ACM machine has pretty heavy cast iron (standard size) wheels, and starts easily with dual voltage 3hp motor,
Im only just wildly guessing at around 25Kg for the top wheel.

So with this suitable vintage machine, you decide to just replace the motor, then you have some other things like housed bearings that run in oil baths ...or finding or fitting pulleys ...
No mention of not so simple things like welding up broken parts on cast Iron which is often the case
I'm not opposed to welding or making up steel parts on any machine if I can...
I have done some small bits on cast with "all weld" sticks though.

Making up bits like blade guards if necessary and fixing guides is probably simple enough and the last consideration

Look up Wallace of this parish on his excellent machine restorations, and also Jack Forsberg on youtube of the Wadkin temple.
Good luck

Tom

 

[Seb Palmer]

Thanks for the replys guys.

The Tauco bandsaw I was watching has sold now. Probably a good thing; it was way up in Scotland! A much more modest little one has come up really near me, so I'm going to go look at that tomorrow.

Might post here again after seeing it... or I might just buy it. Hmm!?

 

[Ttrees]

What are you cutting Seb?
Seems like you want to go to a lot of trouble, for a machine with little capacity.
I would think twice

Tom

 

[Seb Palmer]

Well, the guy selling the Tauco says it's gone. Although the ad is still active ...

Anyway, a smaller cheaper one came up locally: £75 for a Nutool HBS-230. I figured I'd start out using this, so as to learn about using a bandsaw.

In the long run I want a much bigger bandsaw, capable of 'resawing', prob up to 12". This little benchtop only has about 3 1/2" depth of cut. But it works, and it's a start.

 

[heimlaga]

My first ever bandsaw which I bought a couple of years ago is a 24" E.V.Beronius. Probably manufactured at some date between 1910 and 1919. Very heavy for it's size with a solid cast iron frame.
I started by rebuilding it completely and converting it from line shaft driven to motor driven. I al so welded up entirely new wheel goards to modern safety standards and made new roller guides for it. Shifted all bearings of cause and had a crack in the upper wheel repaired by a friend who is better at welding cast iron.

So...... I don't like when people say that everyone's first bandsaw absolutely must be a new hobby grade machine made in china. However I am very willing to acknowledge that you need some machine knowledge and metalworking skills and quite a bit of time to successfully do what I did.

 

[Seb Palmer]

Thanks Heimlaga. I was a bit peeved by the first couple of responses, as they seemed rather negative. Having bought a small cheap bandsaw to get me started, I'm still looking at older bigger ones. I've also seen several people making their own on YouTube. So I may go that route...

 

[Alexam]

Hi Seb,
as others have said, you can get yourself into lots of problems restoring a really old machine.
I started with on older machine 4 years ago without any knowledge of these machines and very little woodworking knowledge, but after a year, moved onto something better and with greater cutting capacity. It only cost about £80 and once I understood that certain blades were better than others, Tuffsaw blades made an even greater improvement. Also building up knowledge of how toy use the saw, rather than spend a year or so trying to re-build an old one will be more enjoyable. Try that rout and I'm sure you will soon be enjoying yourself and getting thinks made.
Malcolm
.

 

[heimlaga]

I would not rekon it being worth the effort to build a wooden bandsaw. Not if the end goal is a good bandsaw for demanding use. I have seen many old home made wooden bandsaws with warped frames. Wood has a well known tendency to distort under long term static loads as a bandsaw frame is subjected to and over time the wheels and guides and table will go out of alignment relative to each others.
Therefore I would weld up the frame as a box section from 8 or 10 mm mild steel plate if I was to build a bandsaw.

I rekon that anyone handy enough to build a decent bandsaw will also be pretty much handy enough to rebuild an old cast iron bandsaw. There is really not very much there to be afraid of.
However I would suggest a beginner rebuilder should look for a saw with ball bearings. Pouring and scraping white metal bearings isn't very difficuilt but learning it may be a bit frustrating and takes some effort. I would also suggest that a beginner should find out what sort of electricity he can get. I have been told that a phase copnverter only makes 230 volt three phase out of a 230volt single phase line and then you run into troble if a direct drive bandsaw doesn't have a dual voltage motor.
I would not turn down a direct drive bandsaw with a burned out motor as long as the motor is still there and the saw is cheap and otherwise sound. Rewinding a motor may be just beyond the ability of most hobbyists but it is really no rocket science. There are plenty of sparkies who rewind motors so if the saw is cheap enough to validate the cost I would not hesitate. By the way I recently rewound a motor at home but I haven't tested it yet so I may rewind it another time before it works.
I am fortunate to have a 400 volt 3 phase connection

 

[Rhyolith]

I don’t know much about bandsaws, but I do know a bit about restorations.

I’d agree with others its too much to try to learn electronics, mechanical restoration, paintinging metal, etc all at the same time. If you want to restore an old machine (which is very rewarding!) and have no expierence, then I’d recommend learning basic restoration on something simpler, like a hand cranked drill before trying a big powered machine.

As far as electrics go its best to get something where that part works already. Its a specailist area and not something you can learn overnight; plus the penalty for getting it wrong can obviously be quite dangerous!

 

[Ttrees]

What he said
Stick to machines that have ball bearings and have dual voltage three phase motors
Rust would be the least of my worries

Tom

 

[Reginald]

I

My first ever bandsaw which I bought a couple of years ago is a 24" E.V.Beronius. Probably manufactured at some date between 1910 and 1919. Very heavy for it's size with a solid cast iron frame.
I started by rebuilding it completely and converting it from line shaft driven to motor driven. I al so welded up entirely new wheel goards to modern safety standards and made new roller guides for it. Shifted all bearings of cause and had a crack in the upper wheel repaired by a friend who is better at welding cast iron.

So...... I don't like when people say that everyone's first bandsaw absolutely must be a new hobby grade machine made in china. However I am very willing to acknowledge that you need some machine knowledge and metalworking skills and quite a bit of time to successfully do what I did.

Recently bought an old 24 inch bandsaw from where I work it's heavy cast and just about the nicest thing to own,restoration is a pleasure the motor is dated 1936 I paid £50 for it do I recon I'm well in hand for a little expence I would encourage everyone to restore an older machine as they were all built to be repaired and ok last a lifetime.