Kalamazoo 816 Bandsaw

[dwall174]

I've been working on fixing/repairing & finally rebuilding this old Kalamazoo 816 bandsaw for several years now. It's been one of those "on & off " type of projects.

I still need to get the correct step pulleys for it & make a new belt-guard, But It's finally back to fully operational without a make-shift hand feed set-up!

Original Condition:



Doug

 

[LXCam]

Nice job!, she looks brand new.

 

[dwall174]

Nice job!, she looks brand new.

Thanks for the complement!

It runs & cuts great now.

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Thanks to ED "Oregon Rock Crusher" for sending me some copies of the original instruction sheets!

I reworked them & added a light gray background, They appear white with the camera's flash.

Doug

 

[lis2323]

Wow. A LOT of work , it turned out awesome. Nice job !!

 

[dwall174]

It turned out awesome. Nice job !!

Thanks!

Wow. A LOT of work

Yeah is was a lot of work, But it was done a little at a time over several years.

Part of the work that's not visible is rebuilding of the gear-box & hydraulic cylinder.

Doug

 

[clubairth]

What a great old saw and it looks better than new!
Good job!

What is the stuff inside the blue circle for?

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[dwall174]

What a great old saw and it looks better than new!
Good job!

Thanks!

What is the stuff inside the blue circle for?

That's a tension spring & adjusting lever, It allows you to adjust the head-weight for different cutting needs.

Doug

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Your saw looks great Doug. Lots of work but well worth it in the end. Nice job cleaning up the instruction sheets too. They add a lot to the final look. I hope you get as much use out of your saw as I have out of mine. Ed.

 

[dwall174]

What is the stuff inside the blue circle for?

Here's a couple of closer pictures of the head weight tension spring.

The tension spring was broken & the hydraulic cylinder had a damaged return line when I first got it. That curved bar on the back-end of the saw had a garage door spring on it that connected to the bottom of the leg. It helped out somewhat with the head weight, But it was still way too heavy of a feed rate.

Now with a new tension spring & the hydraulic cylinder rebuilt, The head weight is around 8lbs. Pretty impressive since the complete head/frame/motor
assembly probably weighs over 250lbs.

Total weight of the saw is over 600lbs.
Lots of good old cast-iron in this one!

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Your saw looks great Doug

Thanks ED !

I'm still working on trying to create a new Kalamazoo emblems.

My originals are in pretty bad shape!

A friend of mine has a CNC router & he may be able to make me some new emblems out of aluminium. My biggest problem is trying to closely match the font style Kalamazoo used.

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Now with a new tension spring & the hydraulic cylinder rebuilt, The head weight is around 8lbs.

Another item that helps with the head feed rate on these old Kalamazoo band saws is the correct style/size of the motor. They were designed to work with the heavier older large frame motors. Having that extra motor weight after the pivot point of the head helps balance the head weight.

Seeing Ed's "Oregon Rock Crusher" Kalamazoo rebuild made me aware of the motors weight issue.

The motor that came with the saw when I first got it was a newer style 3/4hp. and clearly not correct for the saw.

I have a older style 204 frame 1hp. 3 phase 1140-RPM motor on the saw that probably weighs around 75lbs. This extra weight works for me instead of against me in this case.

Doug

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

On bandsaws, getting the feed rate right is very important . It means getting a square cut, you have to let the saw blade cut instead of pushing through the cut. It looks pretty impressive BTW. How did you get that big spring, it doesn't look off -the-shelf !

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Getting the heavier motor mounted as well as coming up with a similar feed regulating spring to what was fitted by Kalamazoo do likely make a huge difference in how your saw will cut. I have heard at least one other owner complain that their 8 x 16 saws were prone to tearing up blades. I've assumed that the problem was likely due to excessive feed pressure. I've flat worn out several blades over the years but as long as I securely clamp the stock I'm sawing binding and jamming the blade has never been an issue. Ed.

 

[dwall174]

It looks pretty impressive BTW. How did you get that big spring, it doesn't look off -the-shelf !

Actually almost all the parts are still available for these old band saws, But most of them are way too expensive.
kalamazoosawparts.com

Doug

 

[ladderwell]

I have the same saw. I also got the data sheets from Oregon rock crusher, thank you. I cannot get the saw to make square cuts. It makes cuts perpendicular to the vise just fine. But as the head travels downward, it deflects inward towards the frame as the head travels down. My feed spring is broken, could this be the culprit? Andy advice anyone has regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dwall174]

My feed spring is broken, could this be the culprit?

I would bet that the broken spring has a lot to do with the cut not being square!

Parts are starting to be harder to find for the older Kalamazoo bandsaws.
Not sure if the spring is still available or not, But I got mine from this place;
https://fdk3co.com/
The contact name I had a few years ago was Frank.

The part# for the spring was S-70 "Coiled Tension Spring"

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Another problem with the saw not cutting square is the guide bearings being bad or out of adjustment!

The adjustment prosses is listed on page 3 of the kzo-816-824-01.pdf manual

If you need a copy of the manual send me an e-mail & I'll send you the PDF file. It's a little over 2.5MB, So I believe PM's won't work.
[email protected]

Doug

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Great looking old kalamazoo! I just redid an H9AW that I bought in rough mechanical shape but seeing yours mine looked like new when I got it! LOL

I wish I could find the operating instructions for my saw to put back under the hood on it. What did you print them on to put them on the saw? vinyl?

 

[dwall174]

My feed spring is broken

In regards to replacing the tension spring, It can be a little tricky to replace.
The pivot mounts are attached with tapered alignment pins & they need to be driven out from the inside of the bandsaw's wheel housing.

To get access to drive the pins out, You will probably need to remove the drive wheel.

Also you will need to have some type jack or engine hoist to hold the head in-place while taking off the front pivot bracket.

Doug

 

[dwall174]

I wish I could find the operating instructions for my saw to put back under the hood on it.

Yeah the 9A & 13A are pretty different than the smaller 816's

I do have a "kzo-8a9a13au816-01.pdf" manual that covers the larger saws incase you don't have it! It's about 3MB so as with the other PDF file e-mail me or send me your e-mail through a PM! If you need a copy. [email protected]

What did you print them on to put them on the saw? vinyl?

I just used some self stick photo paper that I got from Walmart or Meijer, I can't remember the brand name. The paper I used is actually a light gray, But the pic's look like it's white paper.

Doug

 

[930dreamer]

I have an 9A in pieces, someday.....

I have the 9A manual not sure how to post it?

 

[ladderwell]

I've already got the manual, thanks to vintagemachinery.com. I also just completely tore apart and cleaned, blasted, wire wheeled, painted, etc the guide arms. It's working better now, but still approx 1/16 out of square in 4 inches. I'll get a spring on order and see how that goes. Thanks again for the nuggets.

 

[dwall174]

As the head travels downward, it deflects inward towards the frame as the head travels down.

Another thing you could double check is for excess front & back movement on the main shaft that the head pivots on. There's a bushing on the shaft (under the base) it's held in place with set-screws & keeps the shaft from moving towards the front or back of the base.

With your spring broke & if that bushing is loose, There's a chance the head could be pulled towards the base as it cuts!

The set-screws are hard to get to with the leg attached, It's a lot easier to get to if you remove the leg. Second pic is the top/mounting area of the leg!

The two saws I worked on (one a parts saw) only had one of the bushings, But the parts drawing shows two?

Doug

 

[RoninB4]

Doug- Lot of work went into that rebuild, looks terrific. The attention to how each component functions (motor weight, spring tension, etc.) is the difference between a casual refurbish and a good rebuild. My hats off to you and all others that take the time to get it working as it should. Nice old saw I've used several of over the years in different shops and would gladly have one in my own shop.

 

[dwall174]

Doug- Lot of work went into that rebuild, looks terrific.

Thanks for the complement!

Doug

 

[bgood1130]

I have an 816 that has been around my shop for a while, and I am just getting around to trying to get it operational.

I have already made a couple of repairs. One of the eccentric screws for the horizontal adjustment was stripped due to someone using a nyloc nut on it and making it too tight. I repaired it by making a bushing to hold the unthreaded section behind the threads so that I could hold it in my lathe. I slid the bushing on, built the threads up with weld, then turned it down and rethreaded it. Sorry, no pics of that.

One of the guide arms looked like it had been left loose for a long time, and there was almost nothing left of the upper reference surface. I didn't take a pic before I fixed it. I built it up with silicon bronze tig brazing, then machined it back to spec.

I am having an issue with out of square cuts though. I am going to do some more messing around with spring tension, but I don't think that is the issue. It cuts perpendicular to the base of the machine, but out of square to the vise jaw. With a 16 inch framing square it looks almost perfect to the vise jaw, yet the cut is almost 1/16th out of square over 4 inches. I have seen the mention of shaft bushing, and those are the next thing I'm going to look at.

I found the manual on vintage machinery, but it was nice to find the sheets for inside of the wheel cover, as somebody painted over them.

Does anybody know if you can still get the brushes? I haven't had any luck finding them. The holders were still there, but no brushes.

 

[dwall174]

Does anybody know if you can still get the brushes? I haven't had any luck finding them.

I know that sawblade.com still carries parts for the larger 9A series Kalamazoo bandsaws since there's still a lot of them in small shops.

Parts for the 816 & smaller saws are starting to get harder to find since Clausing bought out the Kalamazoo bandsaw line years ago.

I got several hard to find parts a few years ago from fdk3co.
I was referred to this place from Practical Machinist. The guys name is Frank. He's mainly known for parts for old lathes, But he can also get ahold of some old Kalamazoo parts.

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Here's a few pictures of cuts I've made with my saw at or over it's normal cutting capacity.
The first 3 pics are from cutting a I-beam from an old log splitter, This took up almost all of the height clearance.

The last 4 pics are from cutting a 1-1/4" thick plate that was roughly 18" x 24"

Doug

 

[dwall174]

Here's a few more pics of cutting the plate.

Doug

 

[avery7676]

Thanks to ED "Oregon Rock Crusher" for sending me some copies of the original instruction sheets!

I reworked them & added a light gray background, They appear white with the camera's flash.

Doug

These instruction sheets look great! Do you happen to have a higher-resolution version kicking around somewhere? I am looking to replace the original instruction sheet on one of these machines, and your version is very well made.

 

[Doginu]

I've been working on fixing/repairing & finally rebuilding this old Kalamazoo 816 bandsaw for several years now. It's been one of those "on & off " type of projects.

I still need to get the correct step pulleys for it & make a new belt-guard, But It's finally back to fully operational without a make-shift hand feed set-up!

Original Condition:



Doug

Interested in another, found this today https://www.allsurplus.com/asset/6900/4740

 

[jabberwoki]

****** nice job mate, very satisfying.

 

[dwall174]

Interested in another,

No two was enough!
I picked up a second non-running 816 for parts to rebuild the first one.

I ended up selling my Kalamazoo 816 because it took up too much room in my two-car garage.

Doug

 

[dwall174]

****** nice job mate, very satisfying.

Thanks!
If I had a bigger garage, I would have kept the Kalamazoo.

I have a small portable band saw several die-grinders & a set of torches, so there's always a way to cut something. The big band saw just made things easier & had a lot cleaner cut.

I sold the Kalamazoo to someone I know that's a retired machinist & he has a small shop behind his house, so I can always get him to cut something if needed.

Doug

 

[vanapplebomb]

I recently got an 816 as well, with four step pulleys. However, I don’t think they are original. Anyone know what the stock size steps were for the motor and gear box?

 

[dwall174]

The original one was a three steep pulley 2" / 3" / 4"

 

[vanapplebomb]

Any idea if that diagram exists for the newer ones that had four speeds?

 

[Michael_PE2003]

No diagram but it does list the four step sizes.

 

[Michael_PE2003]

The original one was a three steep pulley 2" / 3" / 4"

dwall174, I have an early three step saw (it has a 4-step on the gearbox and 3-step on the motor) but haven't found any information on the old saws, where did you find that information? It looks like it would be helpful for my rebuild. It even shows the early cast aluminum belt guard like my saw has.

Also, would you have still have the files for the instruction sheets? I really like the look and would like to put them on my saw.