[Bandsaw] Old Bandsaw

FanMan

FanMan

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Mar 14, 2013
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Just picked up this neat old 12" bandsaw at a flea market. Didn't know what it was but it looked good, the price was right and my wife didn't argue, so I paid the man, stuffed it in her car, and hauled it home. Posted a pic on OWWM.org and had an answer in three minutes... it's a 1930s vintage Blue Star. Primarily a wood cutting bandsaw, although it works as is my thought is to change out the 1929 vintage GE motor for a treadmill motor with a variable diameter pulley for speed control and use it for light metal cutting, since I already have a small bandsaw for wood. It needs a bit of attention but nothing serious. Now to put the 10" Shopmaster bandsaw on CL to free up some space...

IMG_20180114_161101392.jpg IMG_20180114_161126092.jpg
 
Very solid looking piece. Great score. Mike
 
here is my craftsman 3 wheel, i changed it over to a treadmill motor,works good on steel and wood, just change the blade. I silver solder my own blade for metal cutting out of doall bulk material, I had a 14" 2 wheel before this that i did the same thing to, bit took up too much floor space.

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Yeah, a lot more solid than the Shopmaster.

Any advice on blades? It came with two blades, an 18 pitch and a 10 pitch, though the 18 seems rather dull. I want to use it primarily for aluminum, 1/16 to 1/2" thick. Is it unreasonable to want a single type compromise blade? Looking at Lennox Diemaster blades, which I can get in 10/14 or 14/18 variable pitch from bandsawbladesdirect.com.
 
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make your own blades, have been for years, silver solder them together, google it. Do all bulk blade material
 
Looks like a nice score! I am currently doing a speed reduction on a vintage bandsaw, Brino kindly posted the link above. I went a different route but the treadmill motor approach sounds good.
 
18 tpi blade will be a bit coarse for 1/16" aluminum, I would usually run around 24 to 32 teeth for stock that thin. On the other end of the spectrum, 6 tooth skip was my go-to for 3/8" and above, again in aluminum. A 10 or 12 tpi is also quit acceptable for the thicker range and cuts a bit smoother. So the short answer can you make one blade do the range? Yes, but not effectively nor efficiently.

Others may have different preferences, these are just what I found to work well for what I was doing. Nice saw, by the way! :encourage:

-frank
 
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Hmmm, I can get a 24 pitch in carbon steel with a raker set... in bimetal I can get 14/18 or 10/14 variable. Probably I should get a 1/4" wide 24 for anything under 1/8" and a 3/8 or 1/2" wide in one of the coarser pitches.

Gonna have considerably more tied up in blades and tires than the $50 I paid for the saw (yeah, nice score) but that's the way it goes...
 
I have 4 for my horizontal: 24, 18, 14, and a 10 on the way
Mark
ps and I might also get a 32
 
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