Old Craftsman band saw

What size blades (thickness, width, length) does it take?
 
cleaned it up today inside and out. used a brush and compressed air then used rags and my killer yellow citrus cleaner, then wiped it down with zylene and then a damp rag rinse. couldn't believe the grime that came off. much nicer color now. may not have been cleaned in 60 years.

sanded the cast iron table down with the random orbit to remove surface rust. gave table and saw 3 coats of Colonite Fleet Wax. that was some thirsty paint.

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thanks. the guy I got it from just put new urethane tires on it. he thought is was just a bad performing wood cutting saw. had no idea it is for metal cutting.
 
Yota, looks like our paths have crossed again. I too have an old Craftsman bandsaw I have converted to cut metal. It works very well, I love it. I put a DC motor and a treadmill mill controller on it so I can adjust the speed to cut metal or wood. It did buy a good blade for it and put new tires on it too. I did make a new blade guide using ball bearings. The motor will run full speed at 2500 RPM so I geared it to do about 1450 FPM at that speed which is good for wood. I simply turn the speed pot down and run it at about 500 RPM which is about 300 FPM that works good for metal. It's just a 12" machine so I use it just on small stuff. I have a large horizontal band saw for larger stuff.

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JD, that saw is a burning hunk of cast iron art. its absolutely beautiful. and the blending of antique cast iron and modern tech is a homerun. can you imagine what that thing would cost new today?

and your shop man. awesome.
 
got 3 Lennox bimetal blades in 1/2" 10/14 tpi, 3/8" 14/18 tpi and 1/4" 14/18 tpi. adjusted all the blade guides. the manual says the blade tension is "set at the factory, no adjustment needed". ha. so loose. I removed the upper wheel assembly and cut this section off the steel tube that a tension bolt goes thru (only there to slack tension for changing blades). this allowed me to tighten it down to correct tension. cut a pc of 1/4" angle iron. worked really well.

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the leveling feet were like 1 1/2" dia and pivoting type. very tippy. I took 4 hockey pucks, cut some 3/16 thick stainless steel discs (drilled and tapped them) and used the stock adjusting bolts with high strength locktite . glued the pucks to the stainless discs with 3m 5200. the cast iron base is also threaded where the adjusting bolts got thru. very stable now.

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last thing to do, make a new table insert. going to use this acetal rod to cut one out on the lathe.


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