# Johnson Model B Band Saw Rebuild.



## kvt (Mar 6, 2016)

Ok,  Start of a long project.   Picked up a old Johnson model B band saw today.   Once picked up drove back to home (3 hours due to traffic),   Then started the chore of clean and take apart.   Sorry did not get pic before initial cleaning.   But shortly after.   Found the bouncing ride on my little trailer did a lot to loosen some of the bolts,   Much more and I would have lost a couple.   Got some pics of the tear down have it about 90 percent torn down.   Have not taken Motor,   Hydraulics, or the gear box apart yet.   But know I have to,  once the gear box out,  Found that the output shaft has about 0.050 play in it,   and the hydraulic cylinder has a bunch of play around the shaft and did not do any thing to control the down force of the saw.   Lets it drop  almost like a rock.


As you can tell still a bit of gunk on it.   Will have to figure out what best to clean it off with.   Paint and all.


Motor removed first,  Will work on it separately.



Gained a little helper in my grandson



He wanted to help so bad.




Finally had to pull out some extra equipment.


It is coming apart piece at a time.








	

		
			
		

		
	
 Now the fun,  Cleaning it all will have to do some work on rust,   Electrolysis on big pieces, and a bit of evaporust on the small stuff like bolts etc.   In the mean time finding missing parts, and rebuild of others.
wish me luck.


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## Bob Korves (Mar 6, 2016)

"That's a big Johnson you've got there, mister."    8^)

Nice saw as well.  Post some more pics of your progress, looks like a great restoration candidate.


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## wawoodman (Mar 6, 2016)

You dont need a hacksaw, when you've got a big Johnson!


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## planeflyer21 (Mar 7, 2016)

What a unique machine!  I've never seen a bandsaw constructed from panels like that.  Pretty cool.

What's a good helper like that charge these days?


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## FOMOGO (Mar 7, 2016)

Don't recall ever seeing one quite like that. Will look forward to seeing it come back to life, and always good to get the family involved. Mike



planeflyer21 said:


> What a unique machine! I've never seen a bandsaw constructed from panels like that. Pretty cool.


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## ch2co (Mar 7, 2016)

You've got a great little helper there, how old?  Very interesting build on that thing, keep us up to date with pictures as you proceed.

CHuck the grumpy old guy


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## brino (Mar 7, 2016)

Thanks for sharing the project this far.....looking forward to the rest.
I am "watching' the thread.

-brino


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## kvt (Mar 11, 2016)

Ok,  have been looking for parts for this and have decided it may be better to take this thing into newer times.    How does a Variable speed band saw sound.   I got a treadmill motor, and controller for free,   it is a 2.65HP,  1.5 continuous.  The pulley on gear box is worn and thin,   and the one on the motor is not the correct one it is a single vice a triple.   Thus If I can find a way to make a new pulley for the gear box. and for treadmill motor it might work,   but will have to find someone to help me figure out how to control the speed on the thing.  So would it be a good Idea.   Need to replace the guide bearings, and looking at what is on it,  I can get them almost anywhere.   Having trouble finding the seals for the Gear box,   have found one of them even listed in the Timken book but everything I find is that no one can located it.   The other one I have found but out of stock.   Then I need to get the gearbox apart and see what the bearings are.   Other than that is rather to order some eccentric bolts for the guides or try to make some eccentric inserts or something.   Some were replaced with normal bolts, and another was damaged.   Other than that I have to figure something out on the hydraulics, but have not started to take the old one apart yet.   Will be away from the shop for the next week but will be looking for parts and trying to figure some things out.


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## kvt (Mar 20, 2016)

Ok,  got home this weekend, and was finally able to get the gearbox torn down for inspections,  Took a bit of work to get some of the parts apart.   The bearing had seized onto the shaft of the gear,   and did not want to turn loose, and the other had seized into the other end of the shaft.    But finally got it all apart enough to see what is needed.   It had been run dry and worn a bit.  I did find all the old bronze it was still in the case.   Now just to find the gears so It can be rebuilt or a gear  box to replace it.


Just  a little bit of wear on the gears



and here is where it all went.


You can imagine what it did to the bearings.   No wonder they got hot and seized onto the shaft.


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## kvt (May 5, 2016)

Well,   Got most if it in a molasses soak to get the rust off,  WHile cleaning found that it is in fact a Model R not a Model B as was thought.    Called DAKE as they are now the ones that own the company that made the saw,   they sent me what they had which was a how to adjust it.   So Still stuck looking for information on it.   Once company said the gear box and some other stuff were the same as for th B and J models.   Have found a couple of books on some sites I do not know if I trust for the R model .   I will still keep looking and working on it.


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## rrjohnso2000 (May 5, 2016)

Keep at it. I was glad to see the update as this is an interesting saw with unique issues. Looking forward to seeing it all figured out.


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## kvt (May 7, 2016)

Got some parts cleaned up today, and put others in to rust removal.    Once cleaned I have found that some parts are R XX and some are BXX and some are Jxx    Almost like they took pars from all to make this.   But still looking at some parts as do not have a good read on all the parts.    May have to find someone to make a few for me,   I will post other threads for them.    
Hope to start ordering some of parts this week.   (gears for the gearbox).


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## kvt (May 16, 2016)

Well got more parts out of the molasses soak.   That stuff does good.   But one thing,   It will strip Zinc off,  it will eat Pot metal, and some times it turn cast blue like you ran a lite  bluing across it.   
Problem was is that it was so humid that  the surface rust would start as you blow the water off.  At least the heavy rust is gone.   will do the final sanding and prime it starting tomorrow.  
Some of the parts have been ordered, gears should be here next week I hope.


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## kvt (May 25, 2016)

Got the new gears in and started clean up of the shafts etc.   you can tell the difference if the gears both worm and bronze were somewhat different. 
Next will be getting the bearings and getting the gear box back together
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
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## kvt (Jun 6, 2016)

well got a little bit more done on the band saw,  should have gotten more pictures onit.   But most is cleaned derusted and painted.


Here is the base and vice redone,   Took a little to get all of this back together as it is where you can set the vice in 3 different positions to accept different size material.   Did some shims on the shaft to take up some of the slack and give it a better surface to turn on.  


As you can tell I did not refinish the top as good as I wanted to but it is kind of blued from the cleaning and stuff so I left it.  




As you can see the gear box is back where the gears actually meat properly.   Have all the sides plates and seals on it now.  
painting it and should be mounting it back in the system tomorrow.  






This is just a bunch of pictures of what it looks like compared to what it started out as.   Still have a few items to finish.  before I can get a blade back on it.  
then have to start looking at motor etc..    Also looking at what I can set up for auto cut off and things like that.   
Also have to get the hydraulic cylinder finished up.  (thanks to 4gsr for doing  a new shaft as they do not make this hydraulic system any longer and would have had to replace the whole thing.


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## FOMOGO (Jun 6, 2016)

The saw is really looking good. Should serve you well for a long time to come. Nice job. Mike


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## kvt (Jun 10, 2016)

Well a bit farther,   Have gotten the gear box back on,   the Old motor on with the old pulleys,   and put the old blade back on it.  
Still have to finish up the hydraulics and properly wire up switch, shutoff, etc.  But may not work like that if I can figure out how to set up the treadmill motor and controller on it,   and build a shut off switch where it will shut off when done.   
	

		
			
		

		
	




But had to give it a try,   first cuts the blade came off, did not have all the adjustments set properly, 
Finally got it all adjusted and squared with a proper machinist square.   I must have been pretty good, as the first cut after that was to square up the end of the material.   That I checked with the machinist square and was a few ridges from the cut, but was flat all the way around.   So I cut off another small slice and still squared.   
	

		
			
		

		
	



the one on the right is the first cut off to square it.  The one on the left is the one that I cut off last.


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## kvt (Jun 12, 2016)

Ok,   Took the head for the Hydraulic cylinder and bored out the hole as it was worn,  Put a bushing in, then seal on the top,   sealed up and painted.   Hope tomorrow to get some new bolts, and get it mounted on the lathe.   Then filled with fluid and tested out.  

Looks like I will not be doing the Treadmill conversion at this time,  have not figured out how to make the MC-2100 controller work without the full control head.   So I will prob take the original motor and clean it up.


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## kvt (Jun 20, 2016)

Ok,  got the hydraulic cylinder  on and tested.   It works great.   Just a little turn and it shuts off and holds the head up.    Then you can crack it just a little and it will take all day to go down  to a full open that just smooth's out the rate.   Does seem to cut soft stuff a little better without packing up the teeth.  

Just received a MC 60 control board today,  has a pot, and am waiting on relay, and momentary switches to use for control of power. 
Will then be looking at the pulley to see what I want to do.  
Fun part is the two treadmill motors are clock wise rotation and the original motor is counter clockwise.   
but first is getting the wiring and circuit figured out,  then get the pulley setup figured out so I can do the mounts.


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## kvt (Jun 20, 2016)

as you can see I have been cutting some steel and some Aluminum with it.   Have to make a new chip tray, brush setup and if possible a fluid setup.   
QUestion if I set up a system for cutting fluid,   how do I separate the garbage out of the cutting fluid to return to a tank to reuse it.   I know there has to be some way to do it. without to much trouble.


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## brino (Jun 21, 2016)

That looks fantastic; like it was new! I like the colour too.
Nice job!

My power hacksaw came with several layers of mesh screen on the coolant return trough to the reservoir....heavy stuff at the back (say 1/4" gap) for support then progressively finer mesh up front. However, I am currently feeding cutting oil manually and have not really used that set up.

-brino


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## kvt (Jun 21, 2016)

Thanks,   Right now I just us cutting fluid and dab on as I need it.   But if I start cutting much may want a different way so I do not have to attend it while cutting.
Hey now a have a good way to cut up the axle that I wanted to make a part from.


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## 4GSR (Jun 24, 2016)

I've had two different bandsaws in my past.  And each one has always run dry. Just make sure not run the blade too fast and you'll be fine.  If you feel a need to need coolant, run a spray mister on the blade. 

Man you did a nice job restoring the old band saw. Want to sell it back to me?  Just kidding!


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## kvt (Jun 24, 2016)

Thanks,   It is not finished yet,   Still working and looking to treadmill motor it,   have figured some out, but not everything.   WIll keep people advised.   
even if I do not put a coolant pump etc,   I need to put a chip tray in of some sort, and put some wheels back onit.     The swarf is hitting the ground and going everywhere, and the thing is heavy so I need a way to move it around.


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## 4GSR (Jun 25, 2016)

Yeah, that thing just didn't look so sturdy with three wheels under it.  To me, it was an accident waiting to happen.
Put four wheels under it if you can.


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