My project Kalamazoo H9AW

[BLUE72CAMARO]

So just after thanksgiving my Dad and I went to a farm consignment sale just to snoop around and see what they had. To my surprise they had an old and neglected Kalamazoo horizontal band saw setting out in a muddy corn field. I already had a decent home owner/light commercial Ridgid brand horizontal saw but decided if the price was right the old saw would come home with me even though I knew it had an issue in the driveline as the drive wheel had about 15 deg. of slop in it. After standing in the pouring down rain for a few hours they finally got to the saw and for $90 it was mine. At this price I knew I could sell parts off of it and make money if things were to bad on it. We literally had to wrap a chain around it and drag it to the road so the forklift could get on it to load it for me.

Ready for the ride home.


And in the shop where I could start evaluating


So after tearing into the drive line I found the drive wheel and output shaft of the gearbox was trashed and I thought things might be looking grim for the saw unsure of parts availability for an old peice of equipment like this as they are very hit and miss in my experience.



Much to my surprise this model of saw is still fully supported by clausing that bought kalamazoo and every part I needed was readily available for it. Also found out that this saw was made in 1961 according to them. So with $600 worth of parts on order it was time to start stripping and cleaning and after a ton of wire wheeling I was left with all the castings in pretty darn good shape.

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

So with everything down to bare metal it was time to start putting lipstick on the pig. I decided that rustoleum smoke grey would be the primary color for it as I just didnt care for the original goldish green it had been and thought it would look better if I painted the controls and moving parts a different color so I went with a shade of blue similar to my work bench and cabinets in my shop.



I added channels and casters to the base so I can move the saw as needed because with it weighing in at around 900lbs I would have had to use my tractor to move it and I really didnt want it setting out in the middle of my shop either.


Finally got it back together enough to test run a couple weeks ago and actually used it a fair amount for a project for a freind of mine. Also picked up a nice roller stand that I painted to match the saw.




So last night I finally got the hood and coolant tank/chip pan back mounted up. and the old girl is running as good as a new one!





Notice the floor lock I had to add to keep it in place once on casters as it was walking itself around the shop when running without it.

As far as parts go I ended up replacing both wheels since I dont have a lathe big enough to fix the bore in the drive wheel or the shoulder that was worn off the idler, output shaft on the gearbox and necessary seals to change it, Rod seal on the feed cylinder, bearings in idler wheel, and all the guide bearings for the blade.

So at the end of the day I think I am into this saw for $800 or so and quite a bit of time. LOL

 

[JeepJohn62]

Beautiful job. You have saved another classic from a recycler or landfill.

Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my SM-A102U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[86turbodsl]

Nice resto. I just bought a Johnson J. Whats the capacity on your saw? Looks big.

 

[exmaxima1]

I bought a very similar Kalamazoo BS last year. It was pretty cheap at $200 because it was 3-phase. Turns out the variable speed pulley is jammed so it only goes slow, but it cuts perfectly straight. Nice job on the resto

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Nice resto. I just bought a Johnson J. Whats the capacity on your saw? Looks big.

9x16 is what they say the h9aw is or 9x9 at 45 deg.

I know where a johnson will be coming up for sale soon. They are cool looking saws with the rounded sheet metal on them. If i had one of them I think I would have to try and paint it up like an old johnson outboard that has the same look to it.

exmaxima,

yours is definitely a later model than mine since it has switches that turn it off and a push button power on. Mine is literally a pushrod that you raise to turn a breaker on and the saw hits when it comes down to flip it back off. Other than that everything looks very similar so it could be an H9A or its decendent for sure. That is an interesting paint job somebody put on yours with the two tone paint.

 

[matt_i]

Great Resto, Blue-72

A cold wet day is a good one to make a deal, lol. I got a reasonable deal on a tractor when the seller was about to freeze to death due to the wicked wind and his poor choice of outerwear and wanted to go back inside a lot more than he wanted to haggle over $200.

That saw will last a couple more lifetimes now that its indoors

 

[kazlx]

Nice job man. That will be a great saw.

 

[Boilerhouse]

Looks fantastic! Nice save.

 

[Monza Harry]

Damn that means bad weather comin' this way! Due to the enormous "SUCKING" from IL. $800 for a saw that size is better than Ok I'd say.

I bought a very similar Kalamazoo BS last year. It was pretty cheap at $200 because it was 3-phase. Turns out the variable speed pulley is jammed so it only goes slow, but it cuts perfectly straight. Nice job on the resto

Those Reeves drives will take a "Set" if unused for a while, pop the belt off and work the drive sheaves back and forth with the appropriate lube [check the manual, if you can find/have one] I would use WD-40 or a Kerosene based liquid until clean, dry and then some graphite dry lube, I'm not a huge silicone lube guy but many have some pretty good results with it.

Blue, for a while that colour scheme was very popular, Chevalier, Kent, Acer, and I seem to remember either a Fadel or Haas (or 2) with those colours Mid 1990's to the early 2000's. Harry

 

[chickenfarmer]

Well done, that will cut a lot of steel!! Where did you get the foot lock at? I want to do the same thing on mine

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[BLUE72CAMARO]

Blue, for a while that colour scheme was very popular, Chevalier, Kent, Acer, and I seem to remember either a Fadel or Haas (or 2) with those colours Mid 1990's to the early 2000's. Harry

Funny you say that about chevaliers, the mill setting in the background of several of the pictures is a chevalier base with the cream and reddish brown two tone. LOL They just didnt use two much of the red color on it, only the bottom few inches of the base is that color.

 

[tarmy]

Nice work OP...there is some degree of “you ****” in there...

 

[cbacres]

Nice job!

Like the shade of blue on your Vidmars

 

[BLUE72CAMARO]

Nice job!

Like the shade of blue on your Vidmars

Thanks, got lucky on finding cabinets all the same color for sale. For what its worth Rustoleum sail blue is a really close match to it so that is what the handles and small peices on the saw are as well as my work bench in my shop.

Chickenfarmer, a buddy of mine actually got it a couple years ago when the shop he works at was cleaning house of old stuff setting on shelves. It is a Bassick brand floor lock that was brand new. I contacted them trying to get a dimension for what height to weld the bracket on at and they said it was older than 1991 which was the oldest product info they had access to now so I went with what I thought was close and ended up having to shim it down with a couple washers.

 

[Keyblazer]

Sweet!
Wish I had the space for a "Real Man's Saw", like that!!