Thread: Woodfast Junior Restoration - Advice needed

UPDATES!

PROBLEM ONE (Thrust/Guide Bearing Rod)

Okay so I couldn't help but continue taking notes and trying to problem solve this, here are some dimensions for the parts. I actually realised I have another one of the stepped rods for the (guide/thrust?) bearings that was attached to the bottom of the case. Don't know how I forgot about it, took about half an hour to get the thing out because it was rusted solid.



Anyway, it appears as though the stepped rod is 1/2" in diameter, stepped down to 1/4" diameter then stepped down again to 1/8". Overall length of the part is 1 1/8". The brass pins to guide the blade are 3/8" in diameter, 3/4" length. I made a sketch because I suck at explaining things, link is below because the image is enormous.

http://i.imgur.com/nudcnxI.jpg

So now that I have a decent reference point I think I might try looking around and finding a machinist that is willing to machine these things for me. If anyone has recommendations I'd love to hear them. Still need to figure out bearings as well, luckily I found a source pic that should make things WAY easier. In saying that I'm a total noob when it comes to bearings, any help would be greatly appreciated.

http://i.imgur.com/QCuJB3u.jpg


PROBLEM THREE (TYRES)

Took some measurements of the wheel to see if I can find a tyre to fit the channel. The wheel has a 10" diameter, the channel is 1/4" wide x 1/8" deep. After searching around it looks like most of the tyres for the 10" wheels are 3/4" wide x 1/8" thick so they meet the thickness requirements but are way too wide. Tried searching around but I couldn't find anything in those dimensions for a 10" wheel but maybe I'm missing something.

Was thinking I could trim one of those down to the correct width, use that to fill the channel and then put a urethane tyre over the top. This would hopefully make a bit of a crown too. Thoughts? Maybe I'm overcomplicating things.

* Apologies mods, I've got the hang of this editing stuff now!

Knocked up a CAD model of the shaft real quick in TinkerCAD. Will probably re-do it on real software but this gives me a good baseline.

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/d1A...ed-bearing-rod

Is this the same as yours?
Woodfast Machinery Co. (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. -

Unfortunately not. This is a 10" model, as far as I'm aware Woodfast don't have parts for them.

Woodfast should be able to replace the tyers for you it won't be cheap

Yeah I saw they had prices quoted for the 14" and higher models but no mention of whether they do 10" ones. Will probably be too pricey for my liking but I'll ask them anyway.

I've actually just finished the proper cad files for the bearing shaft and emailed them to a three Aus places and a couple of places in the US, hopefully I hear back from some of them tomorrow! If they don't cost too much I'm actually considering having some extras made, thinking I might try working something out with Woodfast where I send them some replacements for their stock and they hook me up with a good price on the wheels.

Picked up some paint stripper today, got to punch the pins connecting the two sides of the case and then I'm going to start prepping for paint. I'm thinking black for the case and red for the adjustment knobs and wheels

Could try inner tubes for tires like Mathias? Are you trying to restore it if not consider fixing the table flat somehow might be easier. Personally I have never tilted my table I guess it depends on what your doing with it. I had one of these as my first bandsaw was a great little machine.

Yeah I'm pretty much sold on locking the table flat at this stage, I figure at this early stage of my woodworking hobby I can do without angle adjustment. Sickeningly enough I decided to do a bit of a hunt around the various auction houses in each state and found a Junior that sold for $80 on Sunday. Missed it by that much! I've got a Google alert set up for any new auctions that pop up so I might be able to find another one but in the mean time I'm not that fussed, will just be happy to get it up and cutting again.

Luckily I have this week off work so tomorrow I'm going to go on the hunt for appropriately sized rubber. Think I'm going to just glue some into the channel so that it sits a little bit proud and then run a urethane tyre on top of it. Surprisingly it was running pretty smooth when the guy fired it up and that was with almost no tyres left so anything has to be better than what was on there.

Got the case sides separated this afternoon and once I can get the bearings out I'll start paint! Kind of popping between this and an old GMF 8" Bench Grinder restoration but I'm waiting on bearing pullers to arrive from eBay so this should get most of my attention this week.

EDIT: Oh yeah, got knocked back by my first machine shop today! They were nice enough to suggest searching Gumtree for people that do small orders and I actually managed to find several places so I'll message them and see what happens.

I don't specifically have a Junior, but I do have nearly all the parts for the bandsaw component of a 1960's Woodfast combination machine and it looks VERY similar to your BS.
The main difference to your is that this BS is mounted on a pair of this steel rods on the side of the machine base and drew its rotational power from the same shaft as the TS.
The rest looks very similar and may even be identical as I can't imagine Woodfast making two small bandsaws in that period without making the parts highly interchangeable.

As far as I know this little BS has either never been used, or has only ever had very light use because it would have been a real nuisance to use because the way it mounted onto the machine interfered with the rest of the machine operations. It also originally resided in a workshop where there were already several other Woodiest BSs so there was no need to get it out.
When I picked up the combination machine it had no accessories with it but a couple of months later the bloke I got the saw from called me to say they had opened a cupboard up in a back room and found all the accessories for the machine including the little BS.

I don't have it here with me right now but tomorrow I am going to where it is stored (about 30 minutes drive away) and I will take a few pics of it.
The last time I saw it was about 6 months ago and noticed the Al casings were a little corroded but that is all I remember about it.

It is unlikely I will every use the little Woodfast (as I have no space in my shed and already have a nicely kitted out 19" BS) so I am more than happy to sell it if it works out for you.
If not I have a small metal workshop so may be able to make some of the pieces you need.

BobL: Thank you so much man, that would be incredible.

Today has been a great day, just gotten back from Bob's place after picking up this baby! He was also kind enough to give me a walking tour of his shop, never before have I seen a place so packed to the brim with awesome stuff.



So this job just got a lot easier. Bob and I both agreed it would be better to use this as the restoration machine and pull the motor off the other one. They are exactly the same in every way with the exception of the drive wheel at the rear of the machine. Makes sense though, I'm assuming the combi had a much higher RPM motor so it'd need a larger wheel to compensate. Initial inspections show it's in great condition, will need to replace the bearings but other than that it shouldn't need much work other than a fresh coat of paint. The rubber even appear to be in pretty good shape so I'll hit it with some armor all and see how it goes, figure I can work on fitting urethane tyres to the spare wheels in the mean time.

Bob, your blood is worth bottling. Thanks again mate.

Thanks for those complimentary words bueller. Like most of my other stored machinery I have/had great plans but realistically that little saw would just have sat in the damp dark sea container for the next decade and corroded away. It's so much better that it sees the light of day and gets used.

You didn't say what else was discovered inside the cabinet.

You know what I got so excited to start work on the new machine that I put that on my desk and totally forgot about it! Linked a photo below as it's massive.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

What you're all looking at is the original instructions for the machine! So amazing to me that something like this would survive 50ish years inside the bandsaw, as Bob said it's obviously not seen much use over it's lifetime. Also likely full of useful information, I've never set up a bandsaw before so it will be of great help.

The instructions were originally sticky taped inside the cabinet. When I opened the cabinet, lots of little pieces of paper fell out and one big one, on which there it is still sufficient info to work out the instructions.