Rebuilding a Do-All V-36 band saw

[A_Pmech]

Kidatari,

Glad you're enjoying the work and I hope the tricks I've shared prove useful. I've learned a few things from the members here as well, which is part of the reason why I began this thread. I enjoy sharing the progress and soliciting ideas from members.


Evil,

Thanks.

Here is a smaller version near Fort Wayne
http://fortwayne.craigslist.org/tls/1288519787.html
Great Job ill 3rd the motion to make this a sticky
Brad

Brad,

Wow, looks like my first sticky! Appreciate the 3rd.

That's the ML, a 16" version of the same vintage as my V-36.

It looks to be complete and in decent shape! From the photos, I'd consider it to be a rebuild candidate.

I think he's a little high on price though.

As an aside, I was wondering if the little round knob on the feed control wheel was stock. I figured the handle had been broken off at some point and replaced with the knob. Looking at the Craigslist photos, it's obvious the knob was stock. That's good to know, because I was going to machine a new handle.



Bimmer,

Thank you.

Yes, I'm an A&P. My attention to detail stems a great deal from my experiences as an aircraft mechanic. From the time I began as an apprentice, it was pounded into my head that missed details cause airplane crashes. As a consequence of that, and my general nature, I'm a very detail-oriented person. I believe if one attends to the details, the whole will take shape largely by itself.

Fighting a machine is frustrating. Damaged and worn-out machines reduce the quality of the work that even the best craftsman can produce. I feel that a large part of what allows me to produce quality work is having quality equipment in good working order.

I'm self-employed, so the only guy breathing down my neck is me. As a consequence, I try to make my work as enjoyable as possible. It keeps me motivated to produce the kind of work my customers expect. Good machines go a long way to making the work enjoyable.

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

Hey John i was over @ the super warehouse of machinery and spotted this Doall.
Looks just like yours. They wanted $1300 for it. I thought to myself if John can do it then i........ yeah right.

Sorry for the blurry pic. it was my camera phone.Let me know if you want it i can probably get it for $1000.

 

[A_Pmech]

Hey John i was over @ the super warehouse of machinery and spotted this Doall.
Looks just like yours. They wanted $1300 for it. I thought to myself if John can do it then i........ yeah right.

Sorry for the blurry pic. it was my camera phone.Let me know if you want it i can probably get it for $1000.

LOL Neal, one is enough for me! I don't know where I'd put a second one.

That's a later machine than mine and it appears to have the hydraulic table feed, along with a much later welder.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Neal,

The photo is mirrored (backwards) that looks like a 20 or 26" with hydraulic feed. If it is not broken that is a reasonable price.

Mine did not look much better when I got it.



But it cleaned up well.



Steve

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

"It cleaned up well" is an understatement.That saw is a beaut.
Very Nice. Well i have some more reading to do i'm only on page 3.
This is one of the best threads i can remember reading on here.

This is up there with OCG's toy shop,the bunker garage and W-Cummins "my shop AKA the obsession" to me at least.

 

[A_Pmech]

Steve,

Your saw was one of the machines I had in mind when I started this project.

I originally intended to hold out for a hydraulic feed machine like yours, but for the contouring work I do It wouldn't be very useful to me.

Great work!


Neal,

You KNOW you need that saw in your garage.

 

[A_Pmech]

Reassembling the Machine, Part 1 of ???

After de-nibbing the paint, I was in a hurry to get some of the parts back on the machine. They're taking up way too much floor and shelf space here, and I was excited to see what it was going to look like. I began by installing the tachometer and the blade welder.

Notice, the tachometer is slightly offset in it's mounting hole. That's because Do-All managed to get the screw holes offset to the bore! It's not bad, so I'll leave it be.

Next, I installed the aux. table riser:

I also cleaned up and installed the aux. table concentric bolts:

I also drilled and tapped two holes in the back of the blade welder cavity. These holes mount two short 1/4" eye bolts, to which I will clip the blade welder safety lines. These allow the welder to tip out of the cavity without falling out, for maintenance work.

The following morning, I wire-wheeled the trunnion mounting hardware and got it installed.

I also wire-wheeled the sectors for the table tilt. The scale below is finished, the pointer above is as I found it.

Here's a before photo of the lower band door handles, before wire-wheeling:

During:

After wire-wheeling:

These parts form the latch for the upper band wheel door. When I bought the saw, I could not open the upper door as the handle was seized. I had to press the two parts apart!

Here they are, after being cleaned up:

Here's the lower band door latch and handle re-installed:

I also installed the transmission. Although, it is not permanently set. I won't shim the transmission until all the wheels are in place.

Finally, I finished the evening by installing the main drive wheel:

Here's the saw as it stands now:

 

[Ramblur]

Clocking the screws on the tachometer? Yep, your a sic pup...

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

I have some more saving to do before i even get my garage,Theni can put one of these saws in with a lathe and mill to compliment.

Excellent pics!!
John what kind of camera are you using?

 

[keflaman]

We had a band saw almost exactly like yours in the airframes shop when I was attached to the USS Roosevelt. I had one guy who could weld blades and he was successful only about 50% of the time.

What a fantastic job of documenting the restoration and your attention to detail is fantastic even by aviation standards!

Bravo Zulu

 

[Steve from Socal]

Steve,

Your saw was one of the machines I had in mind when I started this project.

I originally intended to hold out for a hydraulic feed machine like yours, but for the contouring work I do It wouldn't be very useful to me.

Great work!

John,

While it is a neat feature, it is not needed for most work. I looked for a saw for a long time and brought this one from Alabama, a few months later two show up for sale in L.A.

You are doing a fantastic job, the folks looking on line don't really grasp the size of these in the pictures. The engine turning is a wonderful highlight on your saw. One thing I will say about the hydraulic saw, the table trunnion is far more substantial than plain versions.

Steve

 

[Steve V.]

What are the odds that when it's done just the pictures and relevant text could be put into a PDF file? I am really enjoying this thread!

Steve

 

[A_Pmech]

Clocking the screws on the tachometer? Yep, your a sic pup...

Yup.

I once listened to a WWII bomber pilot talk about flying over Germany during his bombing missions. He said on one particular mission there was bug stuck to the outside of the windshield, directly in his field of vision. The bug, he said, was just in the right spot and splattered in just the right way, to look like an ME-109 coming in for a nose-on run.

This drove him nuts for two days, before he finally demanded that the ground crews scrub off that particular bug.

I've encountered similar things while flying. Instruments with fingerprints on the glass, unclocked screws, chips in the instrument panel, leaky post lights, etc. They're all highly annoying. As a consequence, I'm always very meticulous when I clean windows and windshields, in addition to instrument panel presentation.



Neal,

Ahh, I see. You'll get there, I have no doubt!

The camera I use is an older Sony DSC-P41, 4 megapixel. I don't mind if I get it a little greasy.



Keflaman,

Yep, 50% of the time sounds about right. They're finicky to use. It seems like you'll either get a great weld, or no weld at all!

Bravo Zulu

Thanks!



Steve in Socal,

Thanks as well.

Yeah, it is hard to get an idea of the size of the machine from the photos. When I'm done with it, I'll take it outside and stand next to it. It's about 7' tall, 7' wide, 4' deep, and about 3,000lbs.

I would expect the later hydraulics would be heavier. I will say, despite it's looks, it obviously does the job. The main table is 250lbs +-, plus a 600lb workpiece load limit. Originally, the machine had two stabilizing struts with the table, although one was missing. I may eventually build another one. However, I HIGHLY doubt if any of my work will be in excess of 100 lbs.

I think most Do-All trunnions are destroyed by people who attempt to pick them up with a forklift by the table. This appears to be especially the case with the 16" saws.



Steve V,

It could be arranged.

 

[A_Pmech]

Reassembling the Machine, Part 2 of ???

In the last post I showed where I installed two new eye bolts in the back of the blade welder cavity. They're designed to "hang" the welder halfway out of the cavity for easy adjustment and servicing. Here's what I did:

First, I got two 5" eye bolts from the hardware store. Once back at the shop, I threaded the eye bolt all the way up to the eye, so I could install a nut at that location. The threads are only about 40% threads due to the undersized shaft for thread rolling. But they are sufficient to hold the nut in place against the end of the eye.

Next, I cut the eye bolts to length to fit in the top of the transformer, in place of two original bolts:

Once I measured the correct distance to the eye bolts installed in the machine, I made up a couple of 1/16" cables using a toolbox-sized nicopress tool:

Here they are, installed in the back of the transformer:

The welder installed and "hanging":

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

Just wanted to bump this thread so i could find it easier.

 

[A_Pmech]

Rebuilding the Upper Door Counterbalance and Installing

In the first reassembly post, I installed the upper band door. However, the door counterbalance was still in the "to do" pile. So, late last week I spent a couple hours getting it back up to new standards, so I could get the 80-lb door open for other work.

The counterbalance is essentially a large spring with a concentric bolt under tension. The tension is transferred to an extra strong double-link chain over a roller and down to a welded bracket on the band door.

To begin, I removed the upper roller and roller pin. Both of these were seized up solid:

The old pin was galled badly, so I made a new pin from 4130. New on the left, old on the right:

I sandblasted main casting and wire wheeled the bolt. I chemically stripped the spring, as I was afraid of deforming the spring by shot-peening it's surface with the sandblaster. Then, I primed the parts and finish painted the exposed head:

Here it is reassembled:

Reinstalling it in the saw. The safety wire keeps the bolt and chain from falling down into the machine:

Here's the roll pin installed in the band door:

Rebuilding the Work Lamp

I happen to really like old 40's and 50's machine tool work lamps. This saw has one of the best I've ever seen. So, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to rebuild it. Over the weekend, I disassembled and cleaned up the lamp and it's associated parts.

Here it is, as I removed it:

After taking it apart and removing the old 3-wire SO cord:

Due to old paint, I had a heck of a time removing the lamp shade from the lamp holder. My final solution was to heat up the threaded joint with a propane plumber's torch, then shock cool it with water. It came right off.

I sandblasted all the parts except the Zamac casting at the base of the lampholder and the lamp shade.

Finally, I primed and painted the lamp the same dark metallic color as the other controls and small items on the saw.

Today, I made a trip by the electric supply, where I bought the parts to begin the electrical installation on the machine.

In the pile is a Hoffman "Concept" NEMA Type 4 enclosure, backplane for said enclosure, 3-phase fusible disconnect, liquid-tight conduit and fittings, a few miscellaneous things, and last but not least, 16-3 SJOOW cord for the lamp.

I also made a stop by the hardware store, where I bought a new lampholder, as the original was worn out. The paper insulation in the original lampholder was almost gone.

I had one minor problem. The new lampholder used a smaller mounting thread than the original, as nobody had a lampholder with such a large thread. Luckily, the bases are intechangeable and my original base is in great shape. I decided to swap bases.

To begin the installation, I reinstalled the mounting bracket and the main arm. To get the wire though the saw body, I used a standard SO connector.

The new SJOOW cord was larger in diameter than the original cord, so I had to drill out all the holes in the arm. Here's the first section of arm installed:

Here's one of the places I had to drill out. This is where the SJOOW cord goes inside the the center of the second arm tube:

Here's the cord, going though the newly enlarged hole:

This is where the cord exits the second arm tube. A ground connection is made here, above the lampholder base. I also tied an Underwriter's Knot inside this space, for strain relief:

The installed lampholder base. It simply snaps into the upper threaded section, previously installed:

The finished lamp:

 

[A_Pmech]

Electrical Installation, Part 1 of ?

As I hinted yesterday, I bought all of the electrical stuff at the same time as I bought the SO cord for the work lamp. Because of the way the saw is built, the electrical has to go in as the machine is put together. Otherwise, access points are closed up and work becomes difficult.

Today, I focused on getting the Hoffman enclosure drilled and mounted, along with the fusible safety switch which will protect the machine's trunk wiring.

The enclosure is a NEMA Type 4 rated. As such, it will do a better job of protecting the controls from small flying chips, oil, coolant and all the other junk that goes airborne around a machine shop. I couldn't get the safety switch in a similar enclosure without spending LARGE bucks, otherwise I would have.

I began by marking the back corner of the enclosure for the three sections of Liquid-tight Flexible Metallic Conduit or LFMC. I used three of the existing five holes though the machine frame, where a 4" by 1 1/2" metal junction box was previously attached. With the holes marked, I used a 7/8" hole saw to make the holes for the 1/2" connections.

After sawing the three holes for the motor, control, and welder conduits, I reinstalled the enclosure on the machine and installed all three conduit connectors temporarily. Then, I marked the locations of the four mounting holes.

I drilled and tapped the machine frame 3/8-16 in the four locations and mounted the enclosure with the provided rubber washers.

Once I was certain the enclosure was perfect, I punched the knockout in the bottom of the safety switch and marked the location of the knockout on the top of the Hoffman box.

I used a 4" section of 3/4" EMT with compression fittings to plumb the disconnect to the Hoffman box. With the conduit in place, I located, drilled, and tapped the mounting screw locations for the disconnect.

Here's the finished work, with the Hoffman box backplane installed:

Next up, I ran the LFMC conduit for the blade welder and ran the necessary wire. Then, I made up the connections at the welder frame and reinstalled the welder.

Here's the wiring for the welder, running in behind the backplane of the Hoffman box:

Here's the completed installation, so far:

 

[fatboy99]

Just wondering why you didnt paint the lamp holder upper and lower pieces to match the rest of the light assembly the brass finish stick's out like a sore thumb
Brad

 

[rickd.]

I Just love the thread on the rebuild of the Do-All band saw. I work for Do-All's biggest competitor, Hem-Saw. I have worked as a Hem-Saw machinist, programmer, and inspector for a lot of years now, and absolutely understand the effort you put into the rebuild. Your doing a great job. I love seeing all the pictures, not to mention your attention to details. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

 

[A_Pmech]

Fatboy,

I actually thought about painting it, but it didn't pass the test of my "Four Week Rule".

What's that you say? When I get into nitpicking mode on aesthetic issues, I ask myself if it is likely to bother me in four weeks. If the answer is yes, then it gets fixed. If the answer is no, then I leave it be.

I gotta stop somewhere, or I'll be working on this thing three years from now!

With the shield on, it's barely visible.



Rick,

Thanks, glad to hear you're enjoying the ongoing "saga". I enjoy the work, it's always different and interesting.

I've looked at a few HE&M dual-column horizontals. Nice machines! Maybe one day...

 

[Steve in Mi]

I actually thought about painting it, but it didn't pass the test of my "Four Week Rule".

What's that you say? When I get into nitpicking mode on aesthetic issues, I ask myself if it is likely to bother me in four weeks. If the answer is yes, then it gets fixed. If the answer is no, then I leave it be.

I gotta stop somewhere, or I'll be working on this thing three years from now!

I hear you about the four week excuse, I mean rule, but at least 3 of us know it just isn't right . lol

Do you plan to set this up to do filing also? Do you need a Do-All cabinet to hold your blades/file bands?

 

[A_Pmech]

I hear you about the four week excuse, I mean rule, but at least 3 of us know it just isn't right . lol

Do you plan to set this up to do filing also? Do you need a Do-All cabinet to hold your blades/file bands?

In about 2-3 weeks it will be only two of us. I will have forgotten by then, so long as you guys don't keep reminding me.

If I can find the parts or a suitable photo showing the necessary parts. I've never used a band file before, but I can think of some work where it would certainly come in handy!

Do you know where one is available? I might need it, if the price is right.

 

[A_Pmech]

OK, finally getting around to posting some long-overdue videos.

Here's video #16, painting the machine.

 

[Steve V.]

OK, finally getting around to posting some long-overdue videos.

Here's video #16, painting the machine.

Watching that video when the machine is loaded onto the forklift and you start bringing it out the door my rump immediately attached to my chair, if you know what I mean.



Steve

 

[A_Pmech]

Watching that video when the machine is loaded onto the forklift and you start bringing it out the door my rump immediately attached to my chair, if you know what I mean.



Steve

It's not so bad... Without the table and the upper works, it's fairly "bottom heavy" at around 1,750 lbs +-. Now, loading and unloading it from the truck, THAT WAS DIFFERENT!

I really dislike looking UP at machines while sitting on the forklift.

 

[A_Pmech]

Video #15, Rebuilding the Blade Welder

 

[A_Pmech]

Electrical Installation, Part 2 of ?

Last week, I picked up a couple of terminal blocks to terminate all the wiring that goes out of the control cabinet. I also picked up a few packs of ring terminals:

I've used the Ideal terminal blocks before. These are rated at 250V and 30A per terminal. That will be plenty for this application.

After laying out all the necessary components, I marked and drilled the backplane of the Hoffman enclosure. The backplane must be bought separately from Hoffman. It's about 3/16" thick steel, designed to fit the backplane mounting studs within the enclosure. It's purpose is to mount whatever you want inside the box, without drilling though the enclosure. Because the backplane mounts over 1" off the bottom of the box, it also permits routing wires behind the backplane and out the back of the cabinet, which is what I'll be doing:

Here's the backplane installed in the enclosure, with all the components mounted:

I used a high-intensity light source (600W antique slide projector) to illuminate the heater table inside the old enclosure to photograph it. After editing, I'll paste a copy inside the new enclosure, just in case.

I also got the load side of the safety switch wired to the motor starter:

 

[A_Pmech]

Rebuilding the Third Wheel Trunnion

On Sunday, I finished rebuilding the third wheel trunnion. This is one of the smallest structural pieces on the saw, being about 7" by 9". It's a fairly simple assembly, as you can see:

Although it is difficult to see, there are two thin spacers on the trunnion arbor that must be accounted for. They space the third wheel the correct distance from the main frame.

I began by removing the trunnion arbor, which is secured to the trunnion "swivel" by a running fit and a 3/8" set screw. This set screw was actually loose, allowing the arbor to rotate and skew within it's slightly loose bore:

Above the arbor set screw you can see a small #10 set screw. This secures the trunnion pivot pin. After removing it, I beat out the pivot pin with a brass punch. Due to years of gunk and gummy lubricant, it was in there rather tight!

Here it is, completely disassembled and ready for masking and sandblasting:

Here it is again, after cleaning, sandblasting, wire wheeling and painting:

When I reassembled the arbor into the "swivel", I used #271 "Extra Strength" Red Loctite on the arbor, in addition to tightening the setscrew. This should help ensure that the arbor never moves. Should I ever have to take it apart, a few hours in the oven at 500F followed by the press should do the trick.

Here it is, all back together:

As you may recall, this trunnion was shimmed to the main frame. The shims can be seen in the bottom left of the photo above. I'll be reinstalling those shims, although it has yet to be seen if they will remain in the "as found" position.

The trunnion, installed:

I torqued the bolts to standard torque, roughly 30 ft. lbs. By closing the preload gap using a torque wrench I lessened the amount of distortion caused by the fasteners. This may become important when it's time to align the machine.

After getting the trunnion in place, I installed the third wheel. I noticed immediately that it was out of balance, which didn't really surprise me. To correct the out of balance condition, I used standard 1/4 oz. stick on wheel weights. I kept adding weights temporarily with cellophane tape until I achieved neutral balance. Then, I permanently installed the weights on the back side of the wheel.

Here it is, with the adjuster cleaned, painted and installed. I have not yet tightened the bearing adjuster nut and set the adjuster safety. I won't do that until I'm sure the wheel doesn't have to come off again.

 

[Bolster]

Outstanding. I'm trying to figure out how I can DL this entire thread when you're done, to save it in my archives.

 

[Steve V.]

Outstanding. I'm trying to figure out how I can DL this entire thread when you're done, to save it in my archives.

Maybe we'll get lucky and he will make a PDF with just the pertinent info and pictures in it. It would be a great reference.



Steve

 

[Bolster]

Great idea, Steve. Perhaps if we do enough bow-downs the A_Pmaster will grant our petition!

 

[wyndycity]

You guys can do what I've been doing....I've been saving each page as a HTML file into a folder. Not a pretty method but it's a start. Just need to archive the videos...with A Pmech's permission of course.

One potential problem is that this thread will never end...it's simply too awesome. How do you keep up with saving the valuable info that people may keep adding/contributing via comments too? If it's common for people to dig up old posts from years ago to comment on them...you think this one's gonna be left alone anytime soon?

 

[A_Pmech]

Guys,

What I've been doing is copying and pasting all my posts into a Word document. Although, that document got pretty bloated and Slooooooow as I passed 100 photos.

Eventually, when this is done, I'll be saving a copy and printing a copy of this thread for myself. I'll see if I can put together several PDF's when it's all done and host it on some webspace I have hanging around doing nothing much.

Eventually, I want to build a website and put it on there, along with some of my other stuff. I know very, very little about website design, so that will have a learning curve to it.




Wyndycity,

Feel free to archive and use whatever you'd like for educational purposes. All I ask is if you use or publish any of it, PM me so I can give you the proper info to cite me.




It's interesting...

This thread is now hit #1 when you Google "Do All V-36". Two people signed up here and two on PM simply to message me about this thread. They're rebuilding or repairing Do-All's of their own and had questions about various parts of the machine. The blade welder has been an especially hot topic.

 

[Bolster]

I know very, very little about website design, so that will have a learning curve to it..

LOL, a guy with your know-how...I think you'll find it very easy. Thanks for planning a downloadable document for us. If you need any help converting that huge MSWord document into a PDF, let me know. It's a cinch on the Mac, it's just an alternate to the 'print' command.

 

[A_Pmech]

LOL, a guy with your know-how...I think you'll find it very easy. Thanks for planning a downloadable document for us. If you need any help converting that huge MSWord document into a PDF, let me know. It's a cinch on the Mac, it's just an alternate to the 'print' command.

I dunno... I get along with old iron a lot better than I get along with "tech" stuff.

Thanks for the offer! I'll keep you in mind when the time comes to distill it all.

 

[Bolster]

FYI, I just posted up a PDF on assembling a belt grinder. It was 10.5 MB in MS Word with photos embedded. After running it through the "shrink" option in Preview (a program that comes with the Mac) it is just 380 KB. The photos are not quite as sharp as they were, but not bad. You can see for yourself.

 

[A_Pmech]

FYI, I just posted up a PDF on assembling a belt grinder. It was 10.5 MB in MS Word with photos embedded. After running it through the "shrink" option in Preview (a program that comes with the Mac) it is just 380 KB. The photos are not quite as sharp as they were, but not bad. You can see for yourself.

Cool! Can't beat that.

I had a look at the PDF and it looks great! The photos look fine here.

 

[A_Pmech]

Disassembling the Main Wheel Trunnion

In the last post I covered rebuilding the Third Wheel trunnion. That trunnion is very simple, as it only has one adjustment for blade tracking. The Third Wheel is used for sawing at maximum throat - 36".

On the other hand, the Main Wheel Trunnion does more than just set blade tracking. It also controls band tension. This is done by a 9/16" left hand threaded jack screw which pushes the trunnion up, in the tension direction, on two 3/4" ground drill rod slides.

In addition, the entire trunnion is mounted on three adjustable concentric bolts, just like the aux. table. The height and location of each bolt must be carefully measured after removing the assembly from the saw. Otherwise, I'd have no baseline to which I could compare the machine's alignment.

Here it is, as-removed back in April:

The first step was to remove the guidepost assembly and disassemble it. The guidepost block is held in place with two 3/8" allen-head bolts and two short pins. After driving the pins out, the two bolts can be removed and the assembly parts easily.

There was quite a bit of damage up here to several components. The guidepost itself had been hammered on at one point! The only thing I can figure is that some fool didn't realize that there is a guidpost clamp!

In addition, some guy thought it would be a great idea to beat on the guide assembly shoulder bolts as well. Probably the same guy. These hold the upper saw guide to the guidepost:

There was also some expected wear. This Copper shim preloads the guidepost inside the guidepost block. Presumably, this is to prevent it rattling and prevent the guidepost falling under gravity when the clamp is loosened:

The set screw land for the tensioning handle was pretty nasty looking as well:

After an overview of the damage I got back to taking it apart. With the guidepost block off I was able to remove the elevating gear and axle. This was pretty gummed up and had to be punched out of it's bronze bearings:

After removing the guidepost:

As you can see, the wheel arbor and swivel are exactly the same as the third wheel trunnion.

To release the adjusting mechanism a pin must be punched out of the shaft collar on the bottom side of the trunnion casting. Then, the adjusting screw can be pushed though it's bearing, attached to the trunnion slider:

To release the trunnion slider the two 3/4" ground drill rod slides must be un-pinned and slid out of their line-bored holes. Before doing that, I marked each slide with an engraver. Due to the location of the pin holes, the sliders only fit in one place, so it's best to mark them.

Here are the slides being removed:

After removal:

The final disassembly step was to remove the concentric bolts. First, I engraved each location with a number:

After measuring and noting how far each adjustment bolt stood proud of the machined casting surface I removed the adjusters and their locknuts:

 

[A_Pmech]

Rebuilding the Main Wheel Trunnion, Part 1 of 2

At this point I had all the individual components stripped down about as far as they could go. I began by preparing the main casting for sandblasting. Using bolts and washers, I closed up all the machined holes. Electrical tape covered the critical machined surfaces the guidepost runs on:

After the usual sandblasting of the non-critical surfaces I cleaned the critical surfaces with Scotch Brite and a wire brush. Then I masked, prepped and painted the main casting:

While the paint was drying I cleaned up the damage on the guidepost and where the tensioning handwheel mounts to the tensioning screw:

I also used Scotch Brite to clean up all the bare metal parts and bring back their satin brushed finish.

TIP: Scotch Brite used with a light oil, such as 10W machine oil, WD-40, or "3-in-1" oil will leave a very nice decorative "brushed" finish. Use in a straight-line motion under moderate hand pressure.

Here are all the parts, ready to go back together:

The first thing to do was install the tensioning screw and thrust bearing. I lubricated the thrust bearing very lightly with axle grease. Just enough to fill the indentation in the lower race, no more. The bearing is well protected in it's cup, but too much grease or leaking oil would promote dust and shavings build-up.

If you look carefully, you'll see that I filed the flat where the tensioning handwheel set screw clamps so that it ramps into the shaft. This way, if the set screw ever loosens the wheel won't just fall off.

After installing the slides and trunnion slider:

I wanted to get the main trunnion assembly mounted to the saw before it got too heavy for me to handle. As it stands in the photo above, it's in the 80lb range. Plenty for me to be lifting over my head. Plus, with the guidepost and elevating mechanism installed it becomes very difficult to place into position.

Before I could install it, I needed to re-set the concentric bolt adjusters. To do this, I found the notes I made earlier and made up a few feeler stacks. Using a die maker's square, I moved the adjusters until they corresponded with the feeler gauge stack.

Obviously, there's some personal error involved with feeler stacks. But since this is a relative measurement, the purpose of which is to get the main casting in-plane it works well. My personal error is fairly consistent. I rock the square blade back and forth between measurements, feeling for a "firming" of the feeler stack as it compresses out. Then I fine-tune by looking for a light gap under mild pressure to keep the feelers compressed.

After tightening the concentric bolt jam nuts I made a couple of quick assembly guides. Basically, I cut the head off a couple 1/2" by 6" bolts and installed them in two of the three mounting bolt locations:

As you can see, there are two alignment pins still in the machine frame. Since the holes don't go through the outer frame they can't be removed. Instead, I have to install the trunnion frame "onto" these pins. The 1/2" guide pins will help with this.

Here's the trunnion frame installed:

It took some moderate tapping to seat the frame onto the installed pins using a 32oz hammer and a brass drift over the pin hole, but it did make progress and finally bottomed. I didn't want to use the mounting bolts to pull the frame tight, as doing so would distort the frame to some degree.

The original bolts were 3 - 1/4 inches long, not exactly a standard size. Three inch bolts were too short. After measuring the actual distance to the bottom of the blind hole, I was able to find three bolts in my stash of sufficient length to go though the machine frame completely, but not bottom on the outer frame.

As before, the bolts were torqued to 30 ft. lbs.

Installed!

With that done, I got to work finishing up the guidepost for installation.

The first thing I had to do is deal with the remains of a broken off 4-40 screw which secures the adjustment rack to the guidepost:

Using a sharp carbide scriber and the side of the slot as a fulcrum I was able to back out the remains of the screw.

The new screw is a 4-40 x 3/8" allen head. I had to file the head down about 1/64" so the adjusting gear wouldn't get caught up on it.

The rack going back in:

Installed:

The allen head screws on either end of the rack also act as stops, preventing the guidepost from falling out of the guide block.

 

[A_Pmech]

New Guidepost Hardware

As I showed earlier, some genius thought that a 32oz. hammer was the perfect tool for adjusting the guidepost height. In the process, he bent the shoulder bolts that hold the upper guide block to the guidepost:

These shoulder bolts are special, with a .310" shoulder diameter, so I made a couple.

A_Pmech's "Special Watchmaker's Lathe"

Finished blank:

Knurling:

Finished: