Bandsaw repaint opinions

[chad pickens]

Ive got my bandsaw striped.I want to repaint it but I'm undecided on the color to use.I have found out that it was originally a dark gray and then painted a green color.It was a military piece. I found these numbers on it U.S.N.X. 1123.I think thats when it got painted the funky green.The raised trim on the front is actually aluminum. I removed the plate on the front that had repaired the lid tensioner attachment,and refinished the front. Heres a pic of what it looked like before. what color would you paint the saw and would you paint the trim and controls another color or the same?

 

[Stuart in MN]

That's one heck of a bandsaw! If it was mine I'd restore it to original - something like that is kind of historical. I'd maybe put the USNX number back on it, too.

 

[chad pickens]

When I striped the paint off where the numbers where they had used a Punch and made the numbers in a dot pattern so they are still there. I was maybe thinking about painting them back on also.

 

[shovel]

Not me! I'd paint it a loud color, have it pinstriped and have it in the center of the shop. Cool saw!

 

[chad pickens]

Thanks , I actually bought some red Rustlolem but I'm having second thoughts.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Chad, I suggest you look at Old Car Guys thread that shows all of his machines, that sea of gray looks quite official. If you need further inspiration head on over to the Practical Machinist board and look at the pics and projects, you might see one like yours restored.

Personally I am an old fuddy duddy, I do not think you can go wrong with gray or original colors. Does the welder still work on it?

BTW Whatever u paid it was a steal to get that machine in my book!

The manufacturers gray, or original shade of green with black trim.

 

[rick42724]

Cool bandsaw! Rustoleum makes a nice dark grey hammered paint (among others) that I have had good results with.

 

[chad pickens]

Chad, I suggest you look at Old Car Guys thread that shows all of his machines, that sea of gray looks quite official. If you need further inspiration head on over to the Practical Machinist board and look at the pics and projects, you might see one like yours restored.

Personally I am an old fuddy duddy, I do not think you can go wrong with gray or original colors. Does the welder still work on it?

BTW Whatever u paid it was a steal to get that machine in my book!

The manufacturers gray, or original shade of green with black trim.

When I bought it.The tech said he couldn't get it to work but he hadn't really spent any time with it.When I took it apart I found a wire pinched behind the grinder motor attaching plate,and the fuse was blown. I'm hoping that was the problem.We will find out when I reassemble it.I have used the saw to cut a few pieces and it worked well. When I started looking it over the wiring was original and not in the greatest shape so I was just going to rewire it for now.Then as it always happens I kept going. It is about ready to paint now. I have to remove the main table and clean up under it and I'm done and will paint it.When I went to buy paint today I was going to get grey,but the red said use me show off that huge saw. I dont know what to do. But I want to make it nice the way it deserves to be.I thought about polishing the aluminum trim on the cover it's in nice shape and would show off the craftsmanship of the saw. I just don't want the saw to look childish

 

[Uncle Buck]

I thought about polishing the aluminum trim on the cover it's in nice shape and would show off the craftsmanship of the saw. I just don't want the saw to look childish

Gray and black says look at me, I am official, this is how I would have looked new! Polished aluminum is cool, as are red accents. The polished aluminum, red accents, and black bits and pieces working with the gray would make her just pop!

BTW: You are lucky, most of the welders are generally shot when guys get them these days.

 

[e-tek]

Uncle Buck - you must be busy posting here and moderating there - when do you sleep????

 

[rsanter]

only 2 options that I see

1 repaint the original color

2 repaint to match the other equipment in the shop

when repainting my mill and lathe, I repainted them the same color of grey and then used red to highlight some thinks like the name and a few accent lines

bob

 

[bugdust]

I think grey, green or blue hammertone would be the way to go.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Chad,

You can paint it any color you like, dark gray will make it look large. A lighter color will make it look a bit smaller. I painted my saw white, the only things I painted other colors were silver on the emblem and bezel for the job selector.

Steve

 

[Torque1st]

Battleship Gray...

 

[Stuart in MN]

You may want to check out the Old Woodworking Machines website at www.owwm.com. Those guys mainly are restoring table saws, wood lathes, etc. but there's a lot of good information about techniques and paint codes, that sort of thing. They also have a pretty large library of original owners manuals and parts manuals, it's possible there's some Doall info available.

 

[chad pickens]

SWEET thanks for the info

 

[A_Pmech]

[lurk mode]

That does look like a familiar saw...

Mine's a '47. It spent most of it's life crammed in the back corner of the toolroom at a large US company. I got it in a package deal with some other machinery a few weeks ago. I'll be completely rebuilding it this summer, as work permits. Dark machine gray is the plan. Bright machines look great, until you touch them with greasy fingers.

How is your vari-drive? Early Do-All saws have Bakelite vari-drive sheaves that have a habit of wearing out and/or cracking. Then, the saw surges, or the sheaves eventually fly apart in several chunks. New sheaves are easy enough to make, if necessary.

While you're at it, disassemble the transmission and inspect everything in there. Parts are available, just be sitting down when you call.

Here are the manuals:

Parts: http://www.doallsawing.com/doallcommon/cmi_pdf/Model V-36_363901 - 36535628.pdf

Operation: (This is for the 3613-1, a slightly later saw. It is functionally the same, however.)

http://www.doallsawing.com/doallcommon/cmi_pdf/Model 3613-1_440_INSTR.pdf

Check the tag on your blade welder. The model number will be DBW-.... You can find the manual for it under the parts tab on the far right of this page:

http://www.doallsawing.com

Here's a guy with an ML-series saw. The section on gearbox disassembly / reassembly applies to our saws as well:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070519172426/http://home.woh.rr.com/rcbattelle/bandsaw.shtml

Have fun! Post more photos as you make progress.

[/lurk mode]

 

[chad pickens]

thanks!!! .I have started printing info as I type. When I cleaned up the (motor) compartment I saw the sheaves were black. I thought the were billit aluminum and anodized black.I tried out the saw before I dissasembled it and it worked nicely.No surging and it adjusted speed smoothly.

 

[chad pickens]

Can you tell from this pic if the sheaves are Bakelite?It looks alot better than this now but I don't have a pic yet.I don't have the air pump and the motor doesn't have a double pulley for it The piping was there though .Is this a hard to come by part ?

 

[A_Pmech]

Chad,

You have the Bakelite sheaves. Even if cracked, they may last a long time, especially in a home shop environment. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Usually, the center sheave portion cracks first. The outer pieces crack less often. Do-All later went to Cast Iron sheave sections.

It appears you're missing the air pump. The only purpose is to supply low-pressure air to a nozzle on the blade guide. A solenoid valve that opens when the saw starts and pressure regulator hooked up to your shop air supply, if available, will work just as well with less maintenance.

Edit:

The oil cup in the center of the vari-drive should be vertical.

Tires are available here:

http://www.allbandsawblades.com/urethane_tires.htm

 

[PurdueSD]

Here's the color of mine. Its the original paint. Unfortunately its still set up for 3 phase and I havent had the time to address it...

 

[chad pickens]

Here's a guy with an ML-series saw. The section on gearbox disassembly / reassembly applies to our saws as well:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070519172426/http://home.woh.rr.com/rcbattelle/bandsaw.shtml



I checked out this guys site and it was very helpful.I had noticed the tag in my switch box but didn't look at it closely .After reading the website it said he found a build date on it. Mine has a build date of DEC 1947. Thanks for the link if not for you I would still be wondering the age of my saw

 

[A_Pmech]

Yep.

You can also call Do-All.

They'll be able to tell you the build date, inspector, cost installed, buyer, shipper, accessories sold with the machine, etc.

 

[chad pickens]

My band saw and welder have no tags on them, they have all been removed.Did the military routinely remove tags ? I did find out which welder it has today.I searched the files and matched it with a DBW2 first generation.I have 39 pages of info on it now.A little at a time I'm learning alot.

It does have a brass tag on the front under the painted lettering the number is 3641482.I think that may be a military id tag though

 

[A_Pmech]

Chad,

No, the military usually covered their machines with placards, tags, and other instruction guides. My Pacemaker lathe, out of government storage, has over a hundred different tags, covering everything from how to set the taper attachment and adjust the spindle bearings, to cutting threads.

However, as a machine ages they are mutilated, wire brushed, etc. Eventually, they come loose or they are removed as a nuisance.

The rectangular brass tag located directly above the blade welder on the upper wheel cover is the machine serial number.

 

[chad pickens]

OK guys I just couldn't resist. I used the red paint I had ,I have painted the main body of the saw.I'm cleaning and going to paint the individual pieces(tables mounts cranks).It doesnt look to bad.I figure if nothing else it has good protection and I can paint over it with gray. It wouldn't be too hard to paint another color .The hard part was getting the old paint a surface rust off.Ill post a pic soon.I'm working on the cabinet door,I need to get some filler for where the support chain attachés Ive welded it back together and its a little puckered from where it originally pulled out.then Ill paint it.

 

[Kevin54]

On the red. Anything but industrial colors. When one works in a factory all their life the industrial grays, blues, and greens just about get to be too much. If factories had more color in them, they'd probably have workers with better attitudes.

 

[chad pickens]

keep in mind it is still in progress (notice the bondo)

before

after

before

after

after