Bandsaw

[JAderhold]

try looking here, most of all the government equipment is sold here now

http://www.govliquidation.com/?tid=GLSPPR0346&gclid=CMyt6vmu8YICFQRmJAodbFV1pg



Eddie

 

[JAderhold]

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=888480

was looking around and found this one, a do-all with 17 days left on the bid and no bids yet and not really far from ohio



Eddie



http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=894858

found this after the one above and its closer (KY) and no bids on it yet either

would still need a converter, but if you get it for the opening bid it would be well worth it.

 

[rbattelle]

http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=888480

was looking around and found this one, a do-all with 17 days left on the bid and no bids yet and not really far from ohio



Eddie



http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=894858

found this after the one above and its closer (KY) and no bids on it yet either

would still need a converter, but if you get it for the opening bid it would be well worth it.

Hmmmm... that second one looks good. We'll see how the bidding goes.



-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

Finally got a lead. A local machinery dealer contacted me and offered the saw below for $800. I went and inspected it today. It has the following problems:



1. Blade welder no good. This is not really a problem for me.

2. Blade speed indicator is not functioning. I don't know whether it's repairable.

3. I had them put power to the saw and turn it on. This particular model has a 2-speed gearbox. With the gearbox in "LOW" it ran fine. When they switched to "HIGH" speed, something in the drivetrain would bang (metal contacting metal) at a speed proportional to the speed of the blade. At first I thought it was the shift lever contacting the spokes in the transmission drive wheel, but now I'm not sure. After power was disconnected, I shifted it back to "HIGH" and moved the pulleys by hand. There was no binding and no banging noise, and the drivetrain moved freely. So whatever's banging is only doing it with the motor actually running.



The wheels are in excellent condition (lots of rubber remaining).



The plate that indicates the serial no. , model no. , electrical requirement, and speed range has been worn away. It's impossible to determine the serial number on the machine, and other than the name on the front ("Metalmaster"), I can't precisely identify the saw. 16" throat, BTW.



After me and the salesman ran it and gave it a looking-over, he said he'd drop the price to $700 because of the high-gear noise.



First picture is a shot inside the drivetrain housing showing the gearcase and its pulley. Note the oil seepage. Second picture is an overview.



If anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it. Other than the banging noise in high gear, it's in decent shape for a saw that was manufactured in the 40s.



-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

The reseller dropped his price to $600, so I'm going to buy the saw. I plan to do a complete teardown/restoration on the machine. Can't wait. Oo. I'll pick it up next week.



-Ryan

 

[rrausch]

glad you finally got one! Those DoAll saws are good ones, no doubt about that.

 

[rbattelle]

Brought the saw home today! Tonight I started what I assume will be a very lengthy refurbishment process. Based on the serial number, I believe this saw was manufactured around 1940.



The construction is impressive. The "sheet" metal is very thick, and most of the important parts of the saw are cast iron. I removed the table, and I figure it weighs somewhere between 110 and 150 lb (almost killed myself removing it).



My plan is to disassemble every last bit of the saw, clean it, and restore it to like-new condition. It's going to be great fun! Oo.



Can anyone recommend a good industrial paint stripper? Might be easier than sanding/grinding every square inch of this thing. [I don't have a sandblaster].



-Ryan

 

[rrausch]

I've always been happier getting things sandblasted that using paint stripper. If it were mine I'd disassemble it and drag the pieces to the sandblaster. When they come back they are SO clean.

 

[rbattelle]

I've always been happier getting things sandblasted that using paint stripper. If it were mine I'd disassemble it and drag the pieces to the sandblaster. When they come back they are SO clean.

Hmmm... I'll check out some prices on that.



-Ryan

 

[nickleinonen]

Hmmm... I'll check out some prices on that.



-Ryan

or if you have a good compressed air supply, buy a sand blasting tool and some sand/aluminum oxide/carborundum [silicon carbide]...



i use plain clean dry sand [kids play sand or morter mix sand] for my sand blasting at home using a cambell hausfield syphon sand blaster. . once i am done with it, i can just sweep it into the cracks in the interlock driveway

 

[rbattelle]

or if you have a good compressed air supply,

Alas, I don't have a compressor. I'm holding out for one in particular, but I'll have to rewire my garage to run it (I'm 5-amp short on capacity now ).

 

[rbattelle]

Got the underside of the table painted (will take a pic after the paint cures in 7 days ). I'm using Sherwin Williams DTM Akryl applied extremely thick (spec says minimum 5-8 mil, I've probably got 15-20 mil total after 2 coats). Very expensive paint at $65/gallon. I'm hoping I only need 1 gallon for the whole saw.



I've encountered a couple "surprises". There are several bolts missing, which is really no problem. The table tilts on 2 trunnions which are secured beneath the table using pillow blocks (for lack of a better word). Anyway, one of those pillow blocks is missing, so I'm going to fabricate a new one with my primitive tools. It's just a solid steel rectangle with 2 counterbored mounting holes and a half-circle cutout in the middle where the trunnion fits.



The other big surprise came tonight when I disassembled the lower table mount. As you can see in the picture, at some point in it's history it snapped off. Bear in mind this is a solid cast iron piece roughly 1" thick, so something very bad happened to cause it to break. It was welded very poorly (can you get a quality weld on cast iron?), with a tremendous amount of inclusion. Whoever welded it had a "PHD" in welding (Pile Higher & Deeper). I briefly considered trying to re-weld it, but decided I'd probably just make it worse (being a novice welder).



-Ryan

 

[nickleinonen]

(can you get a quality weld on cast iron?)

http://www.muggyweld.com/castiron.html <<< maybe????



i've welded some cast iron at work [wearplates on couplers]. . preheating with torch is a good idea. i usually use standard 7018 rod, but sometimes use the high nickel content blue rods [don't remember specs] but they are hard to come by there [we've got probably +100lbs of 7018 at work]

 

[MChildress]

They have nickle rods for cast that will do the job.

 

[MChildress]

I have a Meber band saw from Italy that I love. Laguna Tool out of Ca. is now importing these saws and rebadgeing them with their name.

 

[rbattelle]

Worse than I thought

The damage to the table bracket is worse than I thought. Not only did the one ear break off as in the previous pics, but the entire thing cracked down the center and was welded back together (poorly, again). I wish I knew when this happened and the circumstances.



-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

I can't express how great it is to work on this machine. Not only is every fastener English, but it's also "common" thread: 1/4-20, 3/8-16, or 1/2-13. The "sheet" metal parts of the saw are 10-ga (0. 137") - very strong and heavy enough to be tapped.



I've found some more problems with the unit: broken auto-feed mechanism (common) and missing air pump and plumbing (common). These are to be expected after 65 years of use in a variety of shops.



I wanted to point out that the stripper pictured below is awesome stuff. Awesome and incredibly dangerous. It's extremely low odor (almost no odor), but is obviously extremely toxic. I wear a respirator and nitrile gloves when using it, but when I get it on the gloves they immediately swell up and begin to burn my skin! But it lifts the paint within about 2 minutes - you can actually hear and see the paint sizzling as it bubbles up.



There are 3 distinct coats of paint on the machine. The top coat is a light gray that was applied with a brush very poorly. The middle coat was applied much better and much thicker, and possibly sprayed on. The bottom coat, which I believe is the original factory paint job, is extremely thin and very dark green in color. I feel like an anthropologist as I work my way through the layers.



I managed to damage the saw removing the lower wheel door. The hinge pin was extremely difficult to remove, and I ended up breaking part of a weld that holds the hinge onto the door. No big deal - I'll just grind off the old weld and re-weld it. It was originally stick-welded from the factory, but I think electric arc welding was more primitive back in 1941 so the quality is not all that great (lots of inclusions). It's obvious why the weld broke - it was only holding on by a couple tiny "blobs" of weld material. The challenge for me re-welding it will be to keep from warping the door.



-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

I repaired the door tonight. Below is a (poor) picture of the weld after grinding and polishing. I used 7018 DCEP @ ~70 amp, which probably wasn't enough. I probably should have used 75 or 80 amp to achieve better penetration. The bead looked like a drunken sailor welded it (crooked), but grinding revealed no inclusions and a nice solid mass of metal deposited. I think this repair will last a long time, and I managed to avoid warping the door.



I found out that based on the serial number this saw was number 343 ever produced. Production on the Metalmaster (model "ML") ran from 1941 to 1952. I'm thinking of contacting the dealer I bought it from to see if he'll put me into contact with the shop they got it from so I can maybe get a complete history on it. I'm wondering if the saw originally supported the WWII effort.



-Ryan

 

[Briman]

Nice saw Ryan. Good luck with your restoration efforts.

 

[rbattelle]

Upper Door

The upper door is bent inward (toward the saw) at the lowest hinge segment. This is a problem because it means the door seam doesn't fall where it should when closed. I'd like to bend it back into position, but this is really thick strong steel (0. 137"). I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for bending this metal in the direction of the arrow.



Ryan