One of the best things about this particular bandsaw is that 1000's and 1000's were made over the years. Slight (annoying) variations exist between batches but, for the most part, spares seem to be largely interchangable.
R&D Bandsaws in Brampton, ON stock a wide array of bandsaw parts in addition to their primary business of making great bandsaw blades. I had a new 93" x 1/2 x 3tpi blade in minutes from coil stock.
Service is great. The staff is very helpful and know all the right questions to ask a customer, along with all the right answers to provide.
With copious help from the boss, I've obtained all of the parts to rework this machine except for the lower driveshaft. We agreed that the area where the bearing collar sits just doesn't look right. I'll be conferring with some machinists tonight re: options. I may not have to make a whole new shaft; a split bushing may suffice.
Monday 3 February 2014
Saturday 1 February 2014
no ounce of prevention, now pounding a cure
It amazes me how little preventative maintenance is done on tools.
People just buy them, (ab)use them, and then complain when they stop working.
Then, I buy them and complain about the condition they're in.
The bandsaw's guide blocks are badly worn showing poor operator technique.
The bottom thrust bearing is seized and the top bearing is noisy. I'll order two of whatever they are.
The upper wheel exhibits some play in the wrong axis.
A mish-mash of fasteners replace stock items here and there. So far it appears that the originals were (probably) metric and the replacements are (likely) imperial and have been forced into the holes in one or two spots. I'll know for certain shortly. I've no doubt that a couple of holes are damaged enough to need boring out and re-threaded.
The A-24 belt came through a supplier of my local auto mechanic. A touch more expensive than the A-36 but no time or fuel was wasted running around looking for it.
"Cool Blocks" (graphite impregnated phenolic) guides were obtained at Lee Valley Tools.
A new 110V paddle switch was picked up at Busy Bee Tools. I want to relocate the switch to the outside of the upper frame arm so I'll need more wire and a couple of boxes.
Thought I had a suitable bearing on-hand to replace the seized bottom one but I'll have to make another side trip next week to get the correct size. Hope I can successfully press this bad one off the hexagonal shaft today.
-afternoon update-
Good news - the bearing is a 6200 Z with a 10mm ID so it should be easy to find. Had to knock it off the shaft with a punch as my small press is nowhere to be found - likely hidden behind or under something else.
Bad news - the play in the upper wheel was because the cast whitemetal sliding bracket (tensioner) and shaft hinge are (now) in pieces. It explains the one tiny piece of casting I found in the guts of the machine when I started cleaning it up (I attributed this to debris from the PO's metal cutting work). My suspicion is that a blade was over-tensioned at some point and cracked these castings. My fault for not spotting this condition on initial inspection. This has now turned into a large repair effort.
People just buy them, (ab)use them, and then complain when they stop working.
Then, I buy them and complain about the condition they're in.
The bandsaw's guide blocks are badly worn showing poor operator technique.
The bottom thrust bearing is seized and the top bearing is noisy. I'll order two of whatever they are.
The upper wheel exhibits some play in the wrong axis.
A mish-mash of fasteners replace stock items here and there. So far it appears that the originals were (probably) metric and the replacements are (likely) imperial and have been forced into the holes in one or two spots. I'll know for certain shortly. I've no doubt that a couple of holes are damaged enough to need boring out and re-threaded.
The A-24 belt came through a supplier of my local auto mechanic. A touch more expensive than the A-36 but no time or fuel was wasted running around looking for it.
"Cool Blocks" (graphite impregnated phenolic) guides were obtained at Lee Valley Tools.
A new 110V paddle switch was picked up at Busy Bee Tools. I want to relocate the switch to the outside of the upper frame arm so I'll need more wire and a couple of boxes.
Thought I had a suitable bearing on-hand to replace the seized bottom one but I'll have to make another side trip next week to get the correct size. Hope I can successfully press this bad one off the hexagonal shaft today.
-afternoon update-
Good news - the bearing is a 6200 Z with a 10mm ID so it should be easy to find. Had to knock it off the shaft with a punch as my small press is nowhere to be found - likely hidden behind or under something else.
Bad news - the play in the upper wheel was because the cast whitemetal sliding bracket (tensioner) and shaft hinge are (now) in pieces. It explains the one tiny piece of casting I found in the guts of the machine when I started cleaning it up (I attributed this to debris from the PO's metal cutting work). My suspicion is that a blade was over-tensioned at some point and cracked these castings. My fault for not spotting this condition on initial inspection. This has now turned into a large repair effort.
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