Rockwell Bandsaw…Making Everything Harder Than It Needs to Be

[Rbcsci]

So I’m a big fan of mid-century American power tools. If given the option between buying something new or scouring Craigslist for a 70 year old version for the same money, I generally go for the old stuff. Not only do I prefer the old equipment, but I like the folks I meet along the way.

My latest find is a 1951 Rockwell 14” bandsaw. They’ve been making this same saw, with slight variations for 70+ years so I figure it must be a pretty decent design. That being said, these things often get away from me and evolve into full fledged restoration projects so this time I vowed to simply buy it and use it. As usual, that was a lie.

In the “as purchased” condition, the saw was configured for cutting wood and the homemade stand was functional, but not terribly elegant. Maybe I’ll just clean it up a little…

 

[Rbcsci]

After scouring the internet for an original base, I started down the road of building a steel base, but then settled on a wooden base instead. It’s not a great deal of weight so I thought a nice wooden cabinet would do nicely. I bought a sheet of furniture grade 3/4” plywood, sketched up a diagram, and cut some pieces on the first day that it wasn’t raining.

 

[Rbcsci]

Lots of wood glue and some finish nails…

 

[Rbcsci]

I reinforced the bottom to support the casters…

 

[Rbcsci]

For the top side, I reinforced the area where the saw will sit and added some corner gussets to bolt the top down.

 

[Rbcsci]

I’m not happy with the motor location on top of the cabinet. I’m going to mount it in the cabinet, beneath the saw. Time to cut a hole for the belt.

 

[Rbcsci]

Forstner bits make such clean holes.

 

[Rbcsci]

Access hole for the motor, belt, and whatever tensioning apparatus I devise. I’ll need to make a door at some point.

 

[Rbcsci]

After a couple coats of paint, it was out to the driveway to blow away all the sawdust…

 

[Rbcsci]

My new blade showed up this week. Now I need to figure out how to get the appropriate blade speed.

 

[Rbcsci]

Challenge #1 - Relocating the motor to below the saw will require flipping the motor 180 degrees. That means reversing the direction of rotation. Unfortunately, this motor doesn‘t seem to have that option. Time to hit Marketplace for a 1/2 HP motor…preferably American made.

 

[Rbcsci]

Challenge #2 - A mounting plate for the motor. I want to hang it from the band saw mounting feet and leverage off of the saw’s frame instead of relying on the wooden cabinet as a stressed member. I’m thinking about a hinged plate and a jacking screw deal with the motor hanging below the plate. Of course, I’ll need a motor before I can get too far on this…

 

[Rbcsci]

Some quick math tells me that I’m currently running at 1,700 FPM at the blade. Unfortunately, I need to get it down to somewhere between 100-300 FPM. That’s quite a bit of reduction! Seems like a jack shaft may be in order.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

I have a 1947 Model of that saw in my garage with a metal base. I picked it up at the curb for free and did a minor restore on it. New bearings, a new tension spring, a repaint and a proper power switch got it back into service.

You did a really nice job on the cabinet. I want to build something similar for my Grizzly BS so I can store blades and accessories in the base.

100 - 300 FPM? That sounds REALLY slow - but I'm used to WW saws. What will you be cutting at that blade speed?

Cheers

Jim

 

[cnc-me]

If you have enough power I would run the saw at a faster SFM, say at least 3000 SFM. This is for wood only though.
Some of the big saws run 7000 SFM or more.

 

[Rbcsci]

I have a 1947 Model of that saw in my garage with a metal base. I picked it up at the curb for free and did a minor restore on it. New bearings, a new tension spring, a repaint and a proper power switch got it back into service.

You did a really nice job on the cabinet. I want to build something similar for my Grizzly BS so I can store blades and accessories in the base.

100 - 300 FPM? That sounds REALLY slow - but I'm used to WW saws. What will you be cutting at that blade speed?

Cheers

Jim

From everything that I can find in various forums and reviews of the Starret blades, the sweet spot for cutting steel is in the 100-300 SFM rate. One guy indicated that we has having good luck in the 400-500 SFM range, but everyone seems to agree that cutting steel is MUCH slower SFM than wood. The DoAll in my old shop ran almost slow enough to see the teeth on the blade as you were cutting. I guess I won’t know until I try it. The general consensus is that WW speeds will strip the teeth off the blade quickly if you attempt to cut steel. I’m just here to learn something new.

 

[MushCreek]

Without coolant, I like to run a bandsaw at 100-150 sfpm for steel. My old man fantasy is that I'm going to find one of the Delta saws with the high-low option so you can switch over from cutting steel to cutting wood. They're out there, but usually pricey if the seller knows what they have.

 

[acer66]

Looks like mine and nice work there.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[mogandave]

As long as you're going to hinge the motor mount AND jack-shaft it, why not put a step-pulley on it?

 

[stonesfan68]

What about driving the motor with a VFD?

 

[exmaxima1]

What about driving the motor with a VFD?

You would still need some form of transmission or jackshaft. If you reduce the motor speed by a factor of 10 you also reduce the torque a commensurate amount. I would search for a gearbox similar to the one I have in my parts cabinet---it's industrial rated for 1/3hp, so probably good enough for home-use at 1/2hp.

 

[Rbcsci]

Found this on Marketplace and picked it up on the 3 hour drive to the in-law's for Thanksgiving today. Looks like brand new. No sign that it was ever mounted and the key is still in the keyway. This should be a nice upgrade for the saw and its reversible so I have some options when I figure out how to mount it.

 

[crguy]

It's going to be difficult to get the metal cutting speed you need with a jackshaft inside that base. Then, what are you going to do when you want to cut wood? The Delta bandsaws with a slow speed transmission are out there and so are the heavier built Walker Turner saws with transmissions. That's really a better way to go unless you have the space for 2 bandsaws, one for each wood or metal.

 

[toolmiser]

I would worry about a wooden base , along with sawdust if you are going to cut metal, and wood. Could be a fire risk. Just something to consider.

 

[Rbcsci]

It's going to be difficult to get the metal cutting speed you need with a jackshaft inside that base. Then, what are you going to do when you want to cut wood? The Delta bandsaws with a slow speed transmission are out there and so are the heavier built Walker Turner saws with transmissions. That's really a better way to go unless you have the space for 2 bandsaws, one for each wood or metal.

I don’t cut wood in my shop. I have no intention of cutting wood in the future. I’m pretty sure that I can get the speed I need through jackshafts within the available space. I like a challenge.

 

[MJD1]

I have the wood and metal version, unless your cutting really hard material, 180-200 sfpm is plenty slow. For example, the Milwaukee porta band runs at 300 sfpm on full speed and everyone runs it there. 4-500 sfpm would be a nice higher speed option for aluminum or really thin sheet metal. I would run a 3 or 4 step pulley off of the jack shaft or reducer to get yourself somewhat close to those speeds. Someone mentioned the danger of fire with a wood base from metal chips, not happening. An electrical fire would be a bigger issue. Before getting mine I was considering a low speed conversion to a ww saw.

 

[tool_scrounge]

I would use 2 variable speed motors (90VDC or 240V 3 phase). One non-geared and one geared. Mount both to the hinged plate for preload. Swap pulley from one motor or the other to change speed range. Industrial gear motors and DC speed controls can be had on Ebay for reasonable.

 

[MushCreek]

200 SFPM with a 14" wheel is about 55 RPM, or a 32:1 reduction. I'd look for a surplus gear reducer.

 

[seber]

Excersize walkers sell for $50 to $100 and contain a DC motors with control. No jackshaft needed. They are generally one hp or more.