Cal-Hawk 4"x6" bandsaw help

[Tio Loco]

I've been resisting for a while, but I finally found a 4x6 bandsaw at a price I couldn't resist. It's a Cal-Hawk, which the previous owner told me that Harbor Freight sold at one time before the brand became Central Machinery or whatever it is now. Watched all the videos on the tube, read about all the cool mods, and got her all cleaned up and tuned up with new bearings, fresh gearbox oil and a new blade and she cuts square, so I'm pretty pleased with that.

I want to weld up a new stand, touch up missing paint, etc. but the issue of the day is the motor. Apparently it was dropped at some point in its sordid life on the front side. It had a plastic shroud over the end (now MIA) and a plastic fan blade (now broken) on the motor.

I'm confident that I can 3D print both, and I have part of the fan blade to work from but I'm wondering about the shroud. I was initially thinking it was probably a slotted dome, but now I'm not so sure. From what I can see, the new ones have a solid dome shaped shroud without any slots or louvers. Is that how they all are? Or how they were? I suppose that would push air out along the ridges on the motor case for cooling.

If any of you have this saw and could provide a good picture of the shroud or any other insights, that would be awesome. This may be an academic exercise in the end as I doubt I'll ever use it enough to overheat the motor, but I'd like to restore it as much as possible.

 

[markba633csi]

My feeling is unless you were running the saw continuously from morning till night, in a hot environment with zero airflow, the fan is probably of minimal value. Most of the 4x6's I have seen don't have fans.
But if you are itching to 3-D print something have at it
The shroud could probably be made from thin sheet aluminum or even light plastic (from a plastic container perhaps?)
-Mark

 

[Eddyde]

You can buy generic replacement motor fans on eBay. You might be able to find a shroud there as well.

 

[Tio Loco]

@markba633csi Thanks, but I cut off a couple of chunks of aluminum bar yesterday, and the motor casing got uncomfortably hot, at least too hot to touch for any length of time.

I did some more sleuthing and all of the 4x6 saws do have a motor fan, just concealed in a shroud. When I refer to the shroud, it's the dome shaped plastic cap on the end of the motor. Harbor Freight's product shot is so bad it appears to be a solid dome, and when I blow up the picture it's obvious that there is some sort of texture to the center of the dome, but it's impossible to ascertain what. I did however find these... General International, and Shop Fox respectively.

The third image is my saw with arrows pointing to the mounting lugs for the shroud, so I don't think this design of the motor has changed much at all over the years, just the orientation of the shroud mounting screws. As I speculated air is drawn in through the grid and forced along the ridges of the motor case.

@Eddyde thanks as well, but part of the enjoyment for me is being able to make needed parts. If I'm not learning something, I'm not having fun.

 

[rabler]

Thanks, but I cut off a couple of chunks of aluminum bar yesterday, and the motor casing got uncomfortably hot, at least too hot to touch for any length of time.

Did you put new bearings in the motor? Just for a sanity check, I'd run it with the belt off for a while, maybe 5 minutes, and check to see if it has heated up significantly. If so, I'd look into why, as unloaded it shouldn't generate serious heat, a bit warm yes, but not too hot for extended contact.

 

[Tio Loco]

Did you put new bearings in the motor? Just for a sanity check, I'd run it with the belt off for a while, maybe 5 minutes, and check to see if it has heated up significantly. If so, I'd look into why, as unloaded it shouldn't generate serious heat, a bit warm yes, but not too hot for extended contact.

No, I replaced the blade guide bearings, but not the motor. I'll try your suggestion, I need all of the sanity I can accumulate. Thanks

 

[markba633csi]

Looks like they may have transitioned to non-vented motors which would get warmer without forced air cooling
The earlier saws like mine have a vent at the bottom that allows some small amount of air in
-M

 

[Tio Loco]

@rabler Ran it for about 5 minutes without the belt, and yes, it got toasty. IR thermometer recorded 168° to 174° on the case, but the shop was at 96° so that might be a factor. The motor sounds fine, no bearing noises at all. I think my next step is to get busy drawing up a fan and shroud in Fusion 360 and doing some printing.

 

[Weldingrod1]

I 3d printed a fan and housing for.my 900 rpm drill press motor. You can too!

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Tio Loco]

Progress... black is the busted ass original, white is the first print (PLA) but the blades and base were too thin, red (PTEG) is hopefully the final print.

Mounted on the motor:

Now, on to the shroud...