Thread: My new old Barker Bandsaw

camoz, l know what you mean just went outside and realized i like my 30 acre backyard too much to move, cool toys or not

Hey all,

Well I decided I had done enough planning and thinking about the best way to get the bandsaw off, and I was confident I had a safe plan (I don't like rushing these sorts of things). This one was a bit different from the rest of the items, due to the height and relative instability and poor lifting points down low. Normally I would just back the trailer in, lift the item with the engine hoist and drive the trailer out. I could have done this if the roller doors were higher (I have 3m eaves, but by the time you add trailer, pallet and the fact that I am on a rise as I go under the roller door, it just wasn't going to work).

I decided the best course of action was to back the trailer in, tilt the tray and pull it off pallet and all.

photo 9.jpg photo 6.jpg

Unfortunately I don't have any reliable anchor points, so I decided to use the engine hoist to pull it off (a bit slow, but it meant that I could be well out of the way should anything go drastically wrong (my theory is I can afford to pay for damages, but not if I am dead).

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I started with the engine hoists legs up against the rear of the trailer (that had been lowered), to stop the hoist from moving forward, and I simply weighted the hoist at the back to prevent the back from lifting. The bandsaw was anchored to the pallet on all four corners (using a chain halo) with ratchets and a backup set of ratchets should one fail (highly unlikely, given that I was moving it slowly and it was reasonably stable on the pallet without the straps, and due to the orientation of the bandsaw relative to the tilt, but only took a few extra minutes to set up). Unfortunately having the engine hoist held back by the trailer was only going to pull it so far (as the pallet would not fit between the legs of the hoist, and as the machine gets closer to the hoist eventually you will only be able to lift, and not pull). To overcome this, I used 3 pieces of hardwood. Two with the ends against the back of the trailer, wide enough for the pallet to fit between, and one parallel to the back of the trailer bridging between the other two pieces. This meant I could use the bridging piece of hardwood to hold the engine hoist from moving forward, and left enough room for the pallet to come into the workshop without the engine hoists legs getting in the way.

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Should something go horribly wrong I also had two ropes around the band saw with some slack, which I simply adjusted each time they got tight, however again if something had gone wrong no one should have been within reach (this made things a bit slower as I had to regularly loosen the ropes, but it ensured that the pallet did not tilt too far forward in the critical time between the front of the pallet coming off the back of the trailer and reaching the concrete floor).

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I think if this was a 28" band saw and not 27", I would have had to come up with another plan (it cleared by about 5cm).

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Before the pallet was fully off, I placed some pieces of hardwood under the pallet so that the end did not just drop off, and so I can easily get a lever underneath the pallet in the future (for whatever reason).


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I could then raise the trailer back up and drive it out.

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One L.S. Barker bandsaw in workshop.

Sorry if I went a bit too much into detail about this, but I have bought a few heavy things home now, and when I first started most of the posts I saw, you would see a picture of the machine on the trailer and then magically in the workshop, which is good, but it doesn't just happen like that (or at least it doesn't for me).

Now I just need to get it off the pallet.

Cheers,

Camo

Off the pallet is the easy bit. Yeah that old machinery has some weight to it. I had a similar old band saw, only my trailer did not tilt.


Ah the things we do for the love of tools

Thats a funny feeling when you only have 5 cm to spare !
Did you measure the bandsaw and the opening Camo before ?

Glad its in mate, what's your next move? a lick of paint ?

Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

Thats a funny feeling when you only have 5 cm to spare !
Did you measure the bandsaw and the opening Camo before ?

Glad its in mate, what's your next move? a lick of paint ?

Melbourne Matty.

I certainly didn't measure before buying, or before loading, so it could have been a different story, but the doors open to 2.8m with the 3m eaves, so I knew from the beginning, one way or the other, I would get it in, even if I had to start the pull from outside (that just would have meant making sure I had a suitable foundation as outside is grass over stabilised road base).

I did make a rookie mistake, by measuring from the door straight down to the trailer and figured I had heaps of room (of cause as the trailer bed was on a tilt the bandsaw met the top of the door much earlier and higher than this measurement). The bit I neglected to mention was that when I finally pulled the pallet far enough forward that I could visually see how close it would be, there was a small period of concern, until I realised that the motors on the roller door don't roll the door up all the way, and I could manually raise the door another 10cm (without that it wouldn't have cleared).

My plans for this machine short term is to check it is in working order, then I really need to get the Stenner done before moving on, but to be honest, I need to get the workshop back into order even before that.

At the moment it looks like I have a machinery parking garage, not a workshop (too many double, triple ups, as I have been buying machines to get pieces I need, or upgrading without selling). This bandsaw makes number 4, so I am becoming a borderline machine horder.

I think ultimately this will be my keeper bandsaw, until I can get a bigger workshop, so I would like to give it a full cleanup (it's just a question of time).

cheers,

Camo

Originally Posted by camoz

At the moment it looks like I have a machinery parking garage, not a workshop (too many double, triple ups, as I have been buying machines to get pieces I need, or upgrading without selling). This bandsaw makes number 4, so I am becoming a borderline machine horder.

Are you sure "borderline" is the right word to use there?

Originally Posted by Colin62

Are you sure "borderline" is the right word to use there?

Admitting you have a problem is the first step. I am still not ready to take that step yet.

I've got 10 lathes, what's the problem with a borderline collection lol

Hey all,

Well you know you have been slack updating your post when you have trouble finding it.....

Unfortunately not much progress, it's off the pallet, and in a location where I usually do most of the initial work. Today I finally decided to give the wiring a good look over, and fire it up to test the motor and check the bottom wheel (basically identify the most expensive problems first). Below is a quick video, not very exciting, but at least it proves I have actually done something and fired it up.



The motor is running during the total length of the video, so apart from the initial start-up, it runs very quietly (most of the noise is just air being moved, and the motor is running backwards, so I will need to switch two wires). I am very impressed so far by the lack of vibration (probably as a result of the total body of the saw being cast iron), obviously no blade on at this stage and the top wheel is not turning, but I think this is going to be a very smooth bandsaw based on initial observations.

I have had a visual inspection of the top bearing, and it seems fine (although time will tell), the top wheel spins nicely and tension tilt adjusters seem to move freely.

bottom back.jpgtop wheel adjust.jpgbottom wheel.jpgtop wheel.jpg

I have given it a look over (creating a list of must do, would like to do), and from what I can tell so far most of the issues appear to be cosmetic.

* bottom door is buckled (it is sheet metal so shouldn't be a big issue to fix)
* rubber has perished around the on off switches
* Missing one screw on handle which hold the bottom door closed
* paint work needs attention
* rubber on bottom wheel

bottom rubber.jpgtop wheel rubber.jpg

I am a bit unsure about the rubber on the bottom wheel at the moment. My first impression was that the rubber had become old and was cracking, but I noticed that someone had used a cut up wire brush on the bottom wheel to remove sawdust, and the more I look at it (although the picture does not show it well), it appears more like the rubber has bubbled with the friction from the wire brush. I am not confident that I believe that myself, but it all appears to be surface related, so if I am lucky I might get away with just dressing the wheel. Either way, I will be starting by testing it with a blade on, and if everything tracks fine, I think I will just leave it alone, and obviously throw out the wire brush and replace it with a standard bristle.

Well, I would like to say this is the start of a big push with the Barker restoration, but for those who know me by now, I would recommend not holding your breath, this could take a while.

Cheers,

Camo

Originally Posted by camoz

I am a bit unsure about the rubber on the bottom wheel at the moment.
Cheers,

Camo

Cam I have to admit I'm a little fussy when it comes to the rubber on my bandsaw wheels.
With my Barker many years ago the first thing I did was re vulcanize new rubber onto the wheels and have it trimmed, crowned and balanced.
The way I look at it is that bandsaw wheels and blade should run true, balanced and quiet and much of this depends on how good your wheels are condition wise.
I would not hesitate to get that bottom wheel done if you were not completely happy, and even more so if there is no crown, it will only make tracking difficult.

If it helps, I am about to have the J.A.Fay bandsaw done soon so I will keep you posted as to the process and cost if that helps..
Thanks for showing such a great little bandsaw !!

Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

If it helps, I am about to have the J.A.Fay bandsaw done soon so I will keep you posted as to the process and cost if that helps..

Matty,

I have actually been holding out waiting for you and 2blast67 to do the wheels on your restorations, just so I can let you guys do all the work, and I can come in behind and just use all the information and experience you guys get .

Is the trimming, crowning and balancing done by the same guys who vulcanise? I have seen some posts of people doing this process themselves, which I wouldn't mind trying, especially if there is enough meat left on the bone to avoid vulcanising, but I will definitely need to do more homework on that.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

Thanks for showing such a great little bandsaw !!

Matty you are far too spoiled with you 36" bandsaws. I always have a bit of a chuckle when you describe this bandsaw as little, previously I had a 14" and a 16" bandsaw, so to me it is a monster, but after Henry "clear out" kindly took me for a tour in Sydney were I got to see 2 36"DR's, I must admit it is a little bandsaw, but then these guys might have something to say about the 36" bandsaws:

bandsaw2.jpgbandsaw mill.jpg


Cheers,

Camo

Did you get it finished and if so could you please share some pic's I have just bought one of these and started to get it working again