Tool gloat! A 1956 Walker-Turner Metal/Wood cutting bandsaw

Hey Guys;
I have a 24" Delta Rockwell bandsaw that I got at a school sale for $400. Too dangerous for today's kids I suppose but good for me. It had a lot of lookers but everyone seemed to be shying away. I looked and figured it was because it was 5 HP, 3 Phase. Being an electrician that was no problem for me. The real problem was what I did not see. The bottom drive wheel was missing. I looked at the top but not the bottom. A friend of mine who has a large gap bed lathe and always likes to do something out of the ordinary volunteered to make a wheel. Delta wanted $910.00 for a new one. In a couple weeks I had a better than new machined and balanced, not cast, drive wheel.

We went to a local bearing store that sells belts and got a piece of ruff grip conveyor belting. After applying a heavy dose of barge cement to both wheel and belting, we let it dry/cure for about 3 hours. When we rolled that wheel to belt they became one. You won't get that belting back off. To be sure I put two pop rivets in both ends of the belt. Barge cement is what shoe repair people glue rubber or leather soles to shoes with. Tough stuff.

Slow speed for metal cutting was obtained by installing a VFD. Having employees, I tried to keep things simple. Three selector switches, 1) METAL WOOD
2)SLOW FAST, 3)OFF RUN. The drive then picks one of the four programmed speeds and I don't yell at people trying to cut bar stock at full speed!

When we first turned it on we could barely keep a blade on it. If it could be adjusted, those school kids adjusted it. Replaced a couple stripped bolts, 1/2 of the blade guard, and two ball bearings. Last was to fabricate some missing adjustment screws for the blade guides. Except for stickers and graffiti the paint is not in bad shape. The rip fence, if it ever had one is missing and being fabricated now.

Love restoring guns and old machines. Someday someone is going to own a bunch of both!
 
Holy mother of pearl that's a sweet bandsaw WOW... I'd love to see that baby running!

$150?!?! Thank you Craigslist!!!

Bernie
 
No VFD needed. It has a single phase motor. Variable speeds happen with a combination of step pulleys and a back gear system.

John

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itsme_Bernie said:
Holy mother of pearl that's a sweet bandsaw WOW... I'd love to see that baby running!

$150?!?! Thank you Craigslist!!!

Bernie
Click to expand...

Thanks Bernie. She runs very well. Cuts almost as clean as a circular saw. The wheels have been balanced using stick on wheel weights, so it's about as smooth as a bandsaw can get

This saw was never advertised on CL. I found out about the saw because someone I met was moving his father out of his house and needed to sell off his equipment. When I heard he had a WT, I was hoping it was a 16", but went to look at at anyway. Needless to say it came home with me.

John
 
John--that is an excellant looking saw--I also like Walker-Turner machines( I have a WT drill press that I bought in pieces. I will try to get them all back together hopefully this winter). thanks again for showing us, maybe it will get me started on an old machine clean up. --Dave--:whistle:
 
That is a great saw. WT made better machines than Delta did. I hope you can cut tool steel with it (annealed,of course). It might need 75 FPM to do that,if you could change a pulley to make it go slower. Should cut mild steel just fine as is.
 
Nice find. Hard to find anything lately in the south like that. The meth heads have gone to scrapping everything they can find, and when you find a older quality machine needing work, it has been stored outside without oil, or any kind of cover. I'm envious of that one. They are fine band saws and cut like a laser. Great grandfather had one in shop.
 
I believe I have the same saw...but I need a new gear in the gearbox as one of the existing ones has a few teeth missing (and has a bronze repair that failed too). I also need to figure out how it works in high-speed mode (back gear disengaged) as something is missing from that drive train too.

Any chance someone can help me out at least how the step pulley gets locked to the shaft for a direct drive operation (high speed)?

Thanks, Jeff.
 
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