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  1. #16
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    Sep 2010
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    Melbourne
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    298

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by vk4 View Post
    Looking good .

    I would put a washer behind the wing nut on the blade guide or it will gradually pull into the timber.

    And another mode , would be a bearing on the lower blade guide , for the blade to run against ( same as the top.) I don't know if this is in the plans , probably not as you have not built it , , but most commercial machines do have the roller top & bottom.

    Are you keeping a list of material costs as you build this?? would be interesting .

    Cheers,

    jeff
    Yep, washers are something I'm out of - I need to hit Mitre10 to grab a variety of sizes before I can attach anything else.

    The angle of the photos don't show it, but there is a roller bearing on the bottom guide as well.

    Total costs so far, for everything including the motor, are sitting at $318. I estimate I need to buy maybe another $80 worth of materials to finish it off (including building a stand for it).

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    kallangur qld
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    1,074

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    Michael , great , could not see the bottom bearing, cost looks good as well.

    will follow thread to see the finished product.

    Jeff

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    298

    Default Getting there

    I've made a bit more progress on the bandsaw since last time I posted. Once reports were in, and the little one has started sleeping more regularly I've been able to get out into the shed a few times and do a bit more.

    After getting the blade guides on and attaching the motor, the next step was to put covers on, because while the blade tracks beautifully on the tires, it is somewhat disconcerting (not to mention excessively dangerous) to have the blade whizzing around at 550rpm totally exposed.

    Putting the motor on was interesting in itself. Because I couldn't readily find a pulley of the right size or shaft diameter, I had made one out of plywood. But its shaft hole was a bit off-centre, and I had made it too loose for the v-belts I had, so I made a new one. Same method as the previous ones on the tablesaw. Only this time I got a bit slack and was rushing, the upshot of which was it got shot (with drillbit still inside it) across the garage, and I went inside to bandage up a lovely new gash on one of my fingers. Morals of the story? Wear gloves, don't rush and pay proper attention to what I'm doing.

    So, fortunately the pulley wasn't damaged, so I replaced the old pulley and found that while it did reduce vibrations (with balancing the wheels and correct tension, once it's up to speed, it has very little vibration at all), whenever I pushed anything more than about 10mm thickness through it, it would bog down and after a while of doing this I would get a smell of burning rubber. So I reseated the motor and switched v-belts, and it goes like the clappers now. The biggest I've pushed through so far is a 10cm redgum posts, but it didn't even pause or skip a beat.

    Anyway, I used the bandsaw to cut and shape the bottom cover brackets, and I've put on a temporary cover because I only have a temporary non-tilting table. I'll build the final cover when I get the table done, because that will affect its shape. The top cover is the proper one, and is held in place by pegs. I made it a bit deeper than in the plans because my shafts are longer to accomodate the pipe clamps I'm using to hold the wheels on. This makes it very easy to get the cover on and off, and I must have done something right with making the pegs, because it is a nice, snug fit, with absolutely no rattling or movement once in place.

    The last thing I did was put a metal blade cover on the guide column. There was a bit of sheet metal (not sure what) in the garage when we bought the place, so I cut it up with tinsnips, bent it in my engineering vise and screwed it in place.

    I still need to put a switch on to the frame, build the tilting table and final bottom cover, build a stand and give the whole thing a varnish and coat of paint (on the covers). But other than that, it's functional and ready to use.

    Which is good, because tomorrow I'm starting on a rocking horse, which will hopefully be ready to go by Boxing Day (my second daughter's birthday).

    Cheers, Mike

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    kallangur qld
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    Mike,

    looks very good , I know what you mean about keeping the mind on the task at hand, been there done that.

    the saw loos good and I am glad to hear that , it works so well, I have a small 190mm bench top band saw from China, and I do find that I would like a larger cut depth, so I may think about building 1 of these next year , along with all the other projects I have ..

    Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year,


    Jeff

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Kentucky
    Posts
    2

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    Good job Mike. You have inspired me to build one in the spring.
    Keep up the good work.

    flint

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    298

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    Thanks Jeff and Flint,

    I've done no more work on it, but have tested it out on a 26cm blackwood log, with excellent results.

    And, for my middle daughter's 2nd birthday, I used it to build her this (it worked like a charm):

  8. #22
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    Sep 2011
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    kallangur qld
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    The Horse looks great, so the Band saw is working as designed, well done.

    Jeff

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    13

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    hey while you are making one can you make 2? I would pay $382 for that any day of the week. I am a Sketchup user and they are some great drawings )
    How much are the drawings?
    Last edited by aadbuild; 7th January 2012 at 06:10 PM. Reason: because I am an idiot and rushed in before making the post

  10. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    298

    Thumbs up All done and dusted.

    Well it's been a few months, but I've finally found some time to complete the bandsaw. Part of the problem was that since it has been functional and safe since late December, I have been using it to do other stuff rather than finishing it off.

    The tilting table was finished in January, but I forgot to take photos of it; however, Matthias has excellent videos and pictures up on his website of how it goes together. I did make a slight change to his design though. He dowels the trunion cradles to the tablemount block, and I didn't feel that I had the ability to be as precise as he was (I have had some misfortunate attempts at dowelling other things in the recent past ). So instead, I glued them in place, and then through-dowelled them, rather than having blind dowels. As best I could work out it will be as strong as the more traditional method, if a little messier to look at.

    Then, apart from adding a powerboard to the side to act as a switch (I have not electrical skills, so wasn't about to go about playing with the wiring) as I couldn't find an extension lead that ends with a switch for the life of me, I did nothing to it until this week. But school holidays have given me some time, and with the added impetus of a trailer load of green logs to slab and cut up for the lathe, I finished it off.

    The blue paint is left over from making a doll's house, and the lighting on the picture doesn't do it justice. I included a couple of pictures of it slabbing a piece of 15 y.o. blackwood for my next project, a cantilevered sewing box. (And of course the rocking horse again, the reason I got permission to make it in the first place).

    Not having had a bandsaw before, since making this one, I'm wondering how I ever did without it! My thanks to Matthias Wandel at Woodworking for engineers, where I found and bought the plans. It must be close to the best $20 I've ever spent.

  11. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Armadale Perth WA
    Age
    54
    Posts
    4,524

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    Very nice job. I guess you are happy with the amount of tension you are able to apply to the saw blade?

    And did you also get permission to use the lounge-room curtains as a drop-sheet?



    Cheers,
    Paul McGee

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
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    I had to get permission to keep them! (the first thing my wife got rid of when we moved in to the house were the curtains in the lounge room, but I just knew that one day I would find a use for them )

    Blade tension is not a problem. Without a gauge I am mostly relying on sound, a ust go until it plucks and sounds like a guitar string ( somewhere between A and D), which gives me very little lateral movement, even over the full cut.

  13. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Age
    52
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    293

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    Mate

    That is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen!!! WOW! I am gob smacked..........I tip my hat at guys like you who would even bother to make something like that!

  14. #28
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    kallangur qld
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    Michael,

    Looks very good , I have been busy building a Sailing Canoe for a friend who doesn't have the time .

    May look at getting the plans from Matthias later in the year, when I have the current project out and finished.

    The Rocking Horse looks awesome, I bet your little girl is rapt.

    Jeff

  15. #29
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    Sep 2010
    Location
    Melbourne
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    Thanks Jeff, building a boat (of any sort) has been one of my dreams since I was a kid reading Ron Edward's Bushcraft books - his descriptions of plywood flatties stirred my imagination. It's on my 15-year to-do list, but I think I need to get a bit better with working the wood before I give it a go.

    Best of luck and fortune with your own bandsaw build.

    Cheers, Mike

  16. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    1,205

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    where did you get the plans for the rocking horse from?

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