Wilmac bandsaw restoration.

[Refugee]

Make sure you buy a stealth model so that the neighbors don't find out about it.
It would be nice to see how it gets through all that paint that looks like it has been tipped on and spread with a knife.

[Retired]

Hi,

Brilliant idea Refugee and I'd like to make our entire bungalow/gardens/us invisible as well; now that would be something and allow me to get on with projects?

No complaints though today as progress is being made. I've arranged to buy and collect the soda blaster on Monday so the paint stripping can wait until the blaster is available and I'll be pleased to report on its performance. This afternoon I've been happy in the garage temporarily installing the new housings/bearings and main-shaft.

The location of this main-shaft is important otherwise the two band wheels possibly won't align so I've taken my time to make a decent job of it. The bandsaw cast iron casing has an accurate hole 1.875" diameter which accepted the original housing so I needed to align the new bearings axis with the axis of the hole; great owning the Graduate; I turned a snugly fitting double diameter wooden plug giving 1.875" dia and 0.750" dia. The larger to fit the casing the smaller to fit the bearing bore.

The wooden plug was installed and one bearing plus housing aligned; carefully center popping through one housing hole; drilling a pilot hole followed by 8mm to accept the new set screws. With the first hole accurately drilled and double checked the housing was securely nipped into position. A small drilling guide was then turned from mild steel using the Clarke lathe. This can be seen in the picture showing the single securing screw/nut diagonally. Now I could drill the remaining three 8mm holes quite easily not needing a pilot hole. The new main-shaft was slid home but not secured because the housings etc will be removed to ease paint stripping and re-painting.

There is ample adjustment to allow the two band wheels to be aligned and I'm very happy with this cheap but highly effective solution to the broken original bearing housing; once the new housings are installed and nipped up I don't think I'l be worrying about them vibrating loose; four 8mm set screws and nuts should be plenty strong enough; I could have gone out to 10mm because this is the new housing size but I don't want to have large holes through the casing if can be avoided. The new main-shaft can be moved in or out with ease in order to align the wheel edges then four grub screws will lock it in position; so easy isn't it?

I'd like to spray this bandsaw but as usual the weather won't allow it; it's been blustery all day again and won't get any better until around next June?

During the short time I've used this bandsaw it has thrown fine sawdust everywhere so this is another problem to sort out; dust extraction?

An interesting day and hopefully with many more such days to follow.

Kind regards, Col.

               

[pwdrive]

We used to use the Axminster Power Tools dust extractors for smaller saws etc, they worked well for the price.

Lawrence.

[Radio Fixer]

Well Colin, and I mean this seriously, if you buy the soda blaster and word gets around say "Yep! I can do but it will cost you XXX" where XXX depends on size. For me to have a really rusty chassis blasted clean it would be well worth a tenner! And as you say you have to buy the soda.

You keeps breaking new ground Colin. Like Alan I eagerly await your report. But don't get carried away, keep the emotions out of it and make sure you do a calculated assessment and costing, including the running costs.

All the best Gary

[AlanBeckett]

Those Blocks should certainly keep the shaft out of trouble young Col. A very neat solution if I may say.

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Lawrence; I need to give extraction some serious consideration; at the moment I have a small bag-less vac which I could hook up to the bandsaw but the filters are a constant pain blocking up with fine dust. I also have a big home made chip extractor with 4" inlet this being powered through my home made 3 phase system. Eventually when I start using the Graduate more I'll need extraction for that too especially during sanding operations.

I always get emotional regarding my kit Gary; every new bit of kit I'm like a kid with a new toy and I'll be the same with this soda blaster when I get it home; I'm eager to try it out and hope it comes up to the rave testimonials I've been reading about these blasters? I'm unsure whether to go for the smaller unit which would possibly suit my infrequent use or for a bit extra cash buy the double sized unit which also increases compressor air storage capacity? A lot depends on size because I'll be collecting the blaster and two bags of blasting medium in the Aygo so I'll make the decision when on site tomorrow.

I agree Gary that to spend a tenner to get a chassis blasted is the way to go if the service is available but in my experience people want paying when I do them the favour so I'll be extremely selective as to what I use the blaster for; I've got a feeling that setting up and cleaning up will possibly take longer than the actual blasting because I'll have to set the blaster up each time I use it and I'll need to store the blaster under the bungalow due to lack of space in the garage. One bonus though for those interested in buying a blaster I'll be trying mine out and reporting on it; I regard buying the blaster as a one off payment excluding consumables to finally give me ease of paint stripping and de-rusting. At around £200 kids receive much more expensive toys these days for Christmas which they play with once then discard through boredom? I'm interested not only in the blasters performance but in the blasting medium consumption; I'm starting off with 50kg which should easily strip paint from the bandsaw. I've also got the two home made belt sanders which I could blast then paint; the jobs add up and each job the blaster does it earns its keep and hopefully will soon pay for itself. I hope I'm not expecting too much? One way to get rid of neighbours wanting things doing for nothing is to charge £100 per hour after all our solicitor charges over £200 per hour and doesn't even get off his backside.

You may say so indeed Big Al; the bearing solution took a bit of thinking about because it's so easy to get locked into the original manufacturers design when doing this kind of restoration; I could have bought a cast iron blank and turned this to original specification even using the small Clarke lathe; the Clarke chuck would not initially accept such a sized blank directly but as you know Alan a dummy mandrel could be turned and employed which reminds me; I'd like to expand on this a bit because I didn't fully answer Refugee for his post #23.

Experienced lathe owners get used to their lathes and learn lots of tricks to get around seemingly impossible tasks? My Clarke is very limited by its chuck size this being a tiny 3"; the chuck has both internal and external jaws but installing the external jaws as you kindly suggested Refugee would still not give the capacity to hold a blank in excess of 4" diameter but there is a very simple way around this by turning a "dummy mandrel". Most home workshop owners will have capacity to bore 1/2" diameter holes in cast iron because cast iron is very easy to work with although also very dirty stuff.

Center pop the cast iron blank as accurately as possible then drill completely through on axis; this prepares the blank for mounting in the lathe. Now using the lathe; chuck a suitable length of round bar stock and reduce to 1/2" diameter; make the length slighter shorter than the cast iron blank and drill and tap the end of the dummy mandrel at say 6mm or 8mm to accept a set screw.

Now mount the blank onto the new turned and tapped mandrel; secure with a washer and set screw nipping up tightly. Now the blank can be turned to maximum outer diameter this being the flange in this case then reduce the tail-stock end of the blank to the required size 1.875"?

This completes two diameters and the mandrel has now done its job and can be removed from the chuck; the chuck will now accept 1.875" diameter allowing the rest of the turning to be completed; the 1/2" hole can also now be very accurately opened out to finished size using a boring bar. For a novice a bit of practice is required because once an item is removed from a lathe it seldom goes back running perfectly true so a bit of fiddling around using a DTI (dial test indicator) usually sorts it out; getting used to using a four jaw independent chuck with experience and the DTI is sure to get it running true; never trust just chucking in a three jaw self centering chuck without checking for true? So Refugee; yes larger items can be turned quite simply even when a chuck won't accept the item directly; taking it a step further if a face-plate is available even odd shaped items can be turned if they can be securely attached to the face-plate; lathe work is a huge subject in its own right and after 50 years of using lathes I've still got a lot to learn. Always err on the large size when buying blanks because the blank can be turned down removing material but material cannot be added.

When asked what you want for Christmas say "a lathe".

Kind regards, Col.

[Radio Fixer]

No! I want an XXXX radio and I'm not saying what it is as some may bid against me if it comes up on Ebay. That really will be the last one

[AlanBeckett]

That's how I did Rob's Pulley, even on the Chipmaster. That would take the diameter OK but there was very little spare material at the 'ends' to grip on. Anyway, it makes sure it all runs true provided it's set up properly.

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

Nice one Gary; good luck with your quest of finding the radio you want on eBay; I bet its not a DAC 90 you are after?

Yes it's standard practice Big Al but for a novice not easy to work out how to grip larger material than a chuck will directly accept. Many times it takes longer to get the lathe set up than to do the actual turning. When I was taught lathe work as an apprentice I think we only had access to independent four jaw chucks and at first it proved very difficult adjusting these chucks but as with many things practice helps a great deal.

Bron and I have been expecting either a phone call or a visit to collect the final load of logs which were ready just needing lifting into the vehicle with all the hard work already done. Well the phone call nor visit has happened so I've taken control and just done two trips to the local tip and finally we are clear of the conifer.

We've been let down by people collecting free logs from us a number of times; usually they collect a number of full loads promising to collect the remainder then never phone us or visit us again leaving us "hanging behind the door". In future all garden debris which cannot be shredded goes to the tip; we are taking back full control of our lives; enough is enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8d39DFjGuU

I've been doing a bit more web browsing regarding soda blasting and found the above video on YouTube which gives an honest insight into owning one of these blasters; as expected it's a love hate relationship but at least I now know what to expect. Having just returned from the tip I've cleaned the car out but put the protective rugs back in ready for when we collect the blaster tomorrow. It's interesting to learn the blaster we are collecting works down as low as 15psi for gentle blasting; at this pressure with soda it would clean teeth?

I've got plenty of decent paint spraying kit with the compressors and guns but have only ever sprayed lacquers such as cellulose and spraying has been limited to very few days of the year otherwise "blooming" would be a problem; for those unfamiliar with the term "blooming" it's when say gloss black is sprayed only for it to turn virtually white due to atmospheric conditions; when this happens its sure to wind up the key in anyone's back so recently I've been brush painting which really does take a lot of practice if good results are to be obtained.

I'm using machine enamel these days and it's occurred to me I could possibly spray this enamel because I don't think it's prone to blooming although I would have to pick my day otherwise I might end up with lumps of tree sticking to the finish? I'll wait and see what the weather is like and what mood I'm in when it comes to painting the bandsaw? I can do a good job either brushing or spraying but spraying is much quicker even taking into account any masking involved and gun cleaning.

We are expecting visitors shortly time so to go.

Kind regards, Col.

[AlanBeckett]

A friend of mine refurbishes old Farm Tractors - MF. He buys the grit by the Pallet. I don't think you'll be in that camp.

Alan