12" Craftsman Bandsaw

[rixtrix1]

Hi. After lurking here for a while, I decided to start a thread about my 12" Craftsman Bandsaw. Been wanting a vertical bandsaw for some time to help with metal fabrication, but the cost of such a saw was too prohibitive. Youtube and other forums had examples of speed reduction devices so a woodworking saw could be used for light metal cutting. Most seemed to be too complicated, with multiple jackshafts, pulleys or expensive gearboxes.

First, I needed a saw! One day last spring, while visiting one of my sons in the hospital in downtown Phoenix, I happened to be looking at Craigslist and saw an ad for a 12" Craftsman bandsaw for $30. Too good to be true, but I called anyway. Turned out the owner was less than a mjle away from the hospital so I made arrangements to stop by on my way home. Saw looked ok, dirty from sitting on a carport forever, but it ran and came with 4 extra wood blades. Score!

 

[rixtrix1]

I had planned on adapting one of the variable speed DC motors from one of my sons' old wheelchairs to the saw, until I notices a strange box hanging under the saw. It said Speed Reducer on it. Some research online lead me here, Lo and behold, there was a thread just about that. Jtbinvalrico had just gotten one for his saw and included several pics and measurements of internal parts, many that were missing from my machine. A link to another thread by Bluebolt provided a parts list and picture breakdown. Well, Sears only listed the drive chain as being available. Using the parts list and measurement of parts from previous threads, I went to McMaster-Carr and found replacements for the belt, sprocket and pulley I was missing. Along with the chain from Sears, the parts cost $65. after spending a couple of hours disassembling the speed reducer and lining up all the new parts, I now have a 2 speed vertical bandsaw for less than $100. All I need now is some metal-cutting blades, a little more time cleaning up the rest of the saw and to makg some brushes to keep chips out of the tires, which are in surprisingly good shape. Does anyone know how to find our how old this saw is? Thanks.

Here's some pics of what was left in the reducer and the parts I got to make it whole again.

Ric

 

[zkling]

Nice saw for the price.

I think that actually has a gearbox built into it, just kinda delicate.

I don't want to pi$$ on your dreams for that machine, but if you really want to get a vertical metal cutting saw that is actually capable of any reasonable work, you are going to need something different. The absolute best vertical metal saws for the home shop are the older Delta or walker turner ~14" wood / metal saws with the built in gearbox for cutting metal. Most of the smaller saws that people try to convert (that one included) just aren't rigid enough to keep a metal cutting blade up to tension while cutting.

On the gearbox side, you are going to need something with a ~30:1 to 50:1 reduction. Most wood saws are in the 3000 SFPM range, where as for metal you want to be in th ~100sfpm range. What you really want is a direct coupling from the gearbox to the saw, and use the belt to drive from the motor to the gearbox. Remember speed is inversely proportional to torque. Transmitting the torque after the gearbox to the saw can be a bit problematic.

With all that said, that was a great deal on a band saw that will work great on wood, plastics and thin metals, primarily aluminum.

Just a few things to keep in mind.

EDIT, Never mind majority of my above post. : Looks like we were typing at the same time. Post the serial number and I can probably date it.

 

[nine4gmc]

In for info, I have the same saw. What blade is recommended for metal on this saw?

 

[rixtrix1]

zkling, those are precisely the uses I have in mind for the saw, probably less than 1/8". The speeds on the saw are 135 SFPM on one pulley and 2850 SFPM on the other pulley. For thicker stuff, I use a 14" Milwaukee cold saw. Here's the part and serial/date numbers off my saw: 113.243440, 0225.P0137. Thanks.

Ric

 

[zkling]

Blade recommendation is going to be based on material to be cut both thickness and type. General rule of thumb is 3 teeth in the material at all times. The wider the blade the better for straight cuts. The narrower the blade the tighter radius it will cut but may flex on straight cuts.

Generally a 10-14 or 14-18 blade is decent for general shop applications. If you tend to do specific work (ex. lots of aluminum plate or lots of stainless steel sheet) you may want to deviate from that. I'm a fan of Lennox blades, but others are good as well. I buy locally from a place that welds them per order, you may want to check to see what you have locally.

 

[zkling]

zkling, those are precisely the uses I have in mind for the saw, probably less than 1/8". For thicker stuff, I use a 14" Milwaukee cold saw. Here's the part ans serial numbers off my saw: 113.243440, 0225.P0137. thanks.

Ric

Then in that case it should work great. One tip is you may want to make a MDF sub table to support the workpiece. Those non flat aluminum tables cause the workpiece to vibrate when cutting thing sheet metal. I just didn't want you to be expecting to tackle 1" CRS plate like it is butter. You may want to jump up to a finer tooth count 18+ if all you plan to do is sheet metal.

 

[budvanbeer1]

This post is a bit old I hope the two principles are still around or maybe someone else could help me...I picked up a used Craftsman 12" Band Saw via an online ad it worked for a short while 3 small jobs. After that I started it it ran for less than 1/2 minute and the blade stopped and a humming noise started. I tried it several times with the same result. I put in the corner of the garage and figured I fix it later...well it's later and it seems the belt jumped off the pulley on the saw blade wheel. It's lined up on the small motor pulley which should drive the larger saw pulley, problem is it keeps jumping off the larger pulley. I tried the other set-up, larger motor pulley smaller saw pulley, now it jumps off the motor pulley. Lokking at the pulleys with the naked eye the motor pulleys don't seem to be lined up with the blade wheel pulleys. I can't seem to find anything that would adjust either set of pulleys. Any one out there that can help??
For reference the Model # 113.248322 and Serial ## 97246PO328. I'll wait here...Thanks 1