Old Craftsman Bandsaw

[Charles E.]

Bandsaw part starts at 7:40

[Walt]

I had a nice trip over to Jackson, MS yesterday to pick up the saw. Luckily, I had a good friend from Clinton, MS who tagged along to help us load it up. It is HEAVY.
I couldn't be happier with this; thank you to everyone here for pointing me in the direction of an old bandsaw. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can start the process of getting it up and running.
It looks like it has had some small modifications over the years (replacement bearings and pulleys). It's hard for me to tell whether the paint is original. I've spent a lot of time over at the OWWM forum that James recommended, and their website has several photos of this model. This color green seems to be a bit darker than the other examples. There are also places on handles where it looks like this green was painted over another color. Right now, I'm leaning towards refinishing it.
Here are a few pictures. I'll post some more detailed stuff when i get into the restoration.



Here's a closeup of the badge. There's actually a reason why a prior owner put that hole there, but I'll get into that during the restoration.



Here's the motor and pulley. Motor is indeed 3 phase. I'm guessing that the pulley is a replacement, because it looks like the cover was modified to accommodate it. It looks like they had the saw hardwired. I'm wondering if I could gut that breaker box and fit a VFD in there.



The styling of the base is my favorite part. There's also some mysterious cave drawings.



Here's a few more shots. It looks like the green paint is painted over a red and a yellow paint (maybe the red was a primer?). In any case, I wouldn't feel too bad about repainting the whole thing.

[Skip Kelley]

Walt, congrats! That's going to be cool when you get it up and running!

[j. condino]

Nice. 'Early square badge. You just got what I and a lot of other folks call pound for pound one of the finest small bandsaws ever made; maybe not a '23 Loar, but definitely a '37 D18!

Get it mechanically sound and make some sawdust before you consider refinishing it: Viva La Patina!!!!!

How is the table tilt mechanism? That is the weak spot on those saws.

No front motor opening on the base- that is rare.

If you are going to use a vfd for power conversion, you'll want it out front in a user friendly place. Once you get used to being able to dial in the speed for your varying materials, you'll use it all of the time. You can remove all that other electrical junk and just have the lines from the wall go into the small vfd and then a couple more to the motor; simple. You can also fit a nice 1 1/2 hp single phase modern Baldor motor in it (I have one on mine) and use it in the living room...

[Timbofood]

Pretty nice find! I don’t have need of one but, since I have a cabinetmaker buddy with a whole shop he is kind enough to allow me to use when I have some silly project to do.

[MikeEdgerton]

Nice.

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=808

[Dale Ludewig]

That is sweet.

[hank]

Walker Turner 1100 series whoo hoo!. Great friends and family to support you, priceless!!!