Thread: Wadkin DN Bandsaw Restore - Early 1900s

Now that I've knocked over my last uni assignment for the subject (economics) I've got some spare time again. Had a go at removing some snapped bolts this evening. Bearing in mind nothing has 'just come undone with ease' on this saw, to my surprise when extracting these bolts they seemed finger tight. I can only think drilling a hole for the extraction do-da heated up the bolt making it come out with ease?!?!? All three glided out with no pressure.

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Anyway, for $15 these kit seems like a good buy:

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Hey Forum, is there any easy way to put a shine on these levers? I hit them with the sandblaster to clean them up. They were heavily rusted and somewhat pitted as the saw was about 50m from the waters edge (salt water at Victoria Point, Qld). Whats the most efficient:

I am contemplating filling the pitting and sanding them smooth then painting them if I can't achieve good enough result in bare metal.

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I buff mine with a wire wheel in my bench grinder, which gets them bright. But if you want a real shine (which also helps reduce re-rusting) you could buff them up like wallace does (cotton wheels and polishing compounds).

Cheers, Vann.

If they are pitted and you want shiny the only way to get a flawless look is to remove metal, I use a power file to sand the surface, the secret is to keep the sander moving whilst you turn the lever. Once pits are removed then you can sand with a ROS down to about 5OO grit, then you polish on a close stitched mop with compound

Thanks guys. I did have a go with the wire brush only which at the very least has provided a bit of shine which I'll stick with for now. I may do as Mark suggests and go the whole hog when I get the time.

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OK am absolutely stumped ... I've been trying to find a nut the same as on the right on the pics. This nut fits the thread perfectly. The rest don't. I had my father measure the the TPI with he's gauge that he had and we figured it is a standard BSW 1" 8tpi nut. The standard BSW 1" 8tpi nut will go on but with force only. The saw bottom wheel shaft came with both the hex and square nut pictured, the hex being the tight nut thats not 100% right.

SO, if it's not a standard BSW 1" 8tpi nut what could it be?

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Originally Posted by Charlie_6ft

...I had my father measure the the TPI with he's gauge that he had and we figured it is a standard BSW 1" 8tpi nut...

Can we assume your father measured the bolt (spindle) thread?

I can only guess from this distance, but if the male thread is 1" 8tpi, and the hex nut is also 1" 8tpi - and the nut won't go on (without a fight), then the male thread has been stretched. The perfect engineering way out of this is to have a new shaft made up, with a new clean 1" thread - but that's probably overkill. I would suggest you borrow a 1" 8tpi BSW die nut and run it over the thread to clean it up a little.

Cheers, Vann.

Thanks Vann, no he measured the square bolt nut. I can't see both sides of the shaft being stretched and it's odd that the square nut fits perfectly which makes me wonder if the thread is not in fact 1" 8tpi but some sort of slight variant, could this be possible?

Could be a 1" UNC. But highly unlikely on a british machine.

Originally Posted by Charlie_6ft

...which makes me wonder if the thread is not in fact 1" 8tpi but some sort of slight variant, could this be possible?

It's possible, but not likely. If they couldn't find a suitable British Standard thread, manufacturers sometimes made a non-standard thread to suit. But I tend to think that if Wadkin weren't happy with a BSW thread in that location they'd have gone for a BSF thread.

When you refer to "both sides of the shaft being stretched" are you saying the new nut won't fit either end of the shaft? It's possible that if someone ham-fistedly overtightened the nut on one end of the shaft, they may well have done the same on the other.

Buy, steal or borrow a BSW thread gauge and check the thread on both ends of the shaft. If they're both 8tpi then buy, steal or borrow a 1" BSW die nut to clean up the thread (or if your new nut is UNC you could use a 1" UNC die nut).

Or you could just put the square nut back on until such time as a problem develops (if ever). It just doesn't look right - so make sure your safety guards hide the nuts .

Cheers, Vann.

Is it possible that you have a UNC nut that you are screwing on a BSW shaft.

For more context see the below video. Will see what I can come up with - thanks guys.

You got one of these to go checking and comparing ?
Its a bit of a dirty old one . Plenty of shiny new ones with other thread types to compare with as well to be had .

https://www.ebay.com.au/i/1538830456...SABEgLtsPD_BwE

Not sure where you are in Brisbane but you could take the nuts down to someone like these guys:
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