Rockwell Wood & Metal Bandsaw

[rrausch]

A few weeks ago I bought a Rockwell Wood & Metal Bandsaw. It is an older model, the one with splayed legs on the open base and an oval belt guard. I tuned it up and set it up and it runs great.



The only info on it is "Serial # CJ138" on a Rockwell tag. Anybody know the model number of this saw?



I'd like to get a copy of a manual for this saw. Does anybody know where they might be available on-line?

 

[KWentling]

You might try at acetoolrepair.com. They are a source for parts for old machines like that. Found that in a Wood magazine.



Kim

 

[rrausch]

Thanks Kim. An on-line source is exactly what I am looking for. I tried OWWM but it was so darn difficult to get a message posted I temporarily gave up trying. I tell ya, it made me appreciate the sites that work great--like the TDR!

 

[KWentling]

Hope they can help you. I've never even looked on their site, but thought that it might come in handy sometime.



Kim

 

[rrausch]

Thanks Kim, I checked their site, and I can get everything I need from them.

 

[rbattelle]

rrausch - post some pics and a discussion about your rebuilding process!!



-Ryan

 

[rrausch]

Pics... well I have no digital camera--just a nice old Nikon, l but I'll get some taken & developed & scanned & posted before too long. Actually it is not that hard now that Costco does high res. digital scans from film.



I bought the older Rockwell (I think it's an 880 model) and it doesn't need much. Just a knurled adj. knob and maybe a bushing for the top pulley. I wasn't sure the Multi-Speed part worked when I first got it--I couldn't get it to shift into the low speed needed to cut steel. So I pulled the drive wheel, took out the lower shaft&shifter rod, and took the lower casting apart, and found that a pin which shifts the clutch was badly bent--looks like somebody had tried to shift it with a hammer at some point. So I pulled it, and put in a 5/32 roll pin, and it shifts great now! What a relief--I was worried the gears had been trashed, but upon disassembly they looked great. I gotta say--what a heck of an engineering job Rockwell did on this saw. They really spared no expense to make a rugged, precise, dependable bandsaw. The proof is that 55 years or so after it was made it is still cutting very well with no signs of falling apart. The gears are all helical-cut, hardened and run pretty quiet.