Bandsaw for sale

[p111dom]

An unusual one this. I aquired this band saw some time ago as part payment for a garage clearance I did last year. It's the most substantial heavy weight machine I've ever seen. The manufacturer is Wilmac. A search on the internet has found nothing. Basically the whole thing is cast iron and I mean everything. The frame, the base, the table even the doors!!! It runs no problem but needs some work. It is extremely heavy for a saw of this size and has an air of indestructability about it. Unusually the bottom wheel is mounted directly onto the motor so it runs like the clappers. I would personally make a sub base and replace the motor with a pulley wheel from machine mart and mount the motor either behind or below and make it belt driven. I was origionally going to cannabalise it and combine it with a cheap drill press to make a drum sander but that would be such a shame. Any offers considered. I'll leave it a week from replies and then if no response I put it on ebay. These picture's are from last year when I first aquired the saw. There was some fencing stain on the top of the table as seen in the pics. This has now all been cleared off.

 

[DaveL]

Well I am not interested in the band saw, but did you make the green jeep that is in the background?
Details would be nice if you did, my grandchildren would love something like that.

 

[wizer]

I'm not interested either.

But also interested in the Jeep. I once saw on boot sale tv programme a couple who bought an old french toy car which was all metalwork. I thought it would be a great restoration job for the little'n.

 

[wizer]

PS: are you sure it wasn't made by a pair of famous plumbers?

 

[Dave S]

Well I am not interested in the band saw, but did you make the green jeep that is in the background?
Details would be nice if you did, my grandchildren would love something like that.

Thismight be of interest...

Dave

 

[George_N]

It looks a lot more substantial than my little three wheel Burgess BK1, so I might be interested. I do have a couple of questions. What sort of depth of cut does it have? You also said that it needs some work...what specifically and is it do-able by someone with limited metalworking skills or facilities.

 

[p111dom]

Ok about the jeep. I bought it already built but in a bit of a state about two years ago. It's a kit made by 'real life toys'.

http://www.realifetoys.com/

I say it's a kit, well it's more like a plan but all the main components ie wheels, tyres motor, switches, brakes etc were bought from the manufacturer at great expense. You don't see these very often for one very good reason, the price. £749.99 inc vat.

Basically it needed a lick of paint, a complete rewire and the whole braking system reconditioning. I bought it for £50 (gloat!). That said it does have two problems the first being the weight. Around 80-90 lbs so if you hit anyone or anything with it then it's a big deal. Coupled with that is the speed at arounf 4-6mph you need to jog to keep up with it to stop the aforementioned happening.

As regards to the saw the max depth of cut is 6 inches max throat depth is around 11 inches. As for the fixes it mainly needs a good clean and setting up. There are wheel bearings to the rear of the blade on both top and bottom mounts and carbon (or similar) to the sides both to and bottom. These all need adjusting. There is a vertical blade guard which looks to have been modified or repaired badly to the rear which did foul the blade. I've remedied this by simply bending it slightly but I wouldn't say its a permanent fix. The biggest problems are the speed which is way too fast hence me saying about the pulley in the origional post. Can't explain why it's so fast as it all looks origional. The table tilts to 45 degrees and the blade is 15mm wide but it's a poor one and should be replaced. Like I said I was going to butcher it up but that would be such a shame. I've just bought a fish tank and was looking for money to go toward fish but nothing major. I bet some idiot would bid lots for it on ebay due to it being all cast but thought I'd offer it here first. No reasonable/semi rediculous offer refused.

 

[9fingers]

What speed is the motor? If it is a 6 pole machine that will be 960 rpm and if the bandwheels are say 12" then the blade will run at 3600 feet per minute

Which would be about right/ bit on the high side for wood.

If it is a standard 4 pole 1425rpm motor then I agree it is rather too fast for comfort.

I spotted one in a 2004 auction catalogue in Falkirk and reference to a sander from the same manufacturer.

Perhaps Scrit can shed some light on the brand.

Bob

 

[p111dom]

If it is a standard 4 pole 1425rpm motor then I agree it is rather too fast for comfort.

I don't know to be honest but the above sounds likley but then again like I said it all looks origional so why would they make it like that? Could be either just in my opinion it sounds, looks, feels to be running a bit quick.

 

[Majorlarf]

I Have the plans of the Burlington Dart car think the company are or were based in conventry?

Also quite a few years ago good woodworking magazine ran an article of a wooden car powered by a cordless drill which i also have the plans of.

 

[p111dom]

I have the plans for this one to and all the origional recipts. This car was origionally made in 1982 so the prices are lower but when you consider the price of things at the time, bread milk etc it was even more expensive in real terms. Most if not all of the components would be easliy makeable with just a mig welder with the exception of the wheels and possible the front headlights. The motor is a single wheel chair motor driving only one rear wheel. It has and accelerator, foot brake, hand break, forward, reverse and neutras settings and the front and rear lights work as well which is good for the dark nights. These pictures were when I first got it. The pics show it to be in better condition than it actually was.

Storage was a bit of a problem as I don't usually keep it in the garage. It was in the first pictures as it needed a brake repair. Usually it lives here Thunderbirds style!!!

 

[DaveL]

Thanks for posting the details of the jeep. 8)
I best not start on trying to make one as there is a list of stuff I should already of finished. :roll:

 

[George_N]

Just before this thread disappears down the road in the back of a jeep I thought I'd post to say that I bought the Wilmac bandsaw from Dominic...cheers mate, nice doing business with you. I have to say it is quite a piece of kit. I still can't believe how heavy it is. This is a 12" bench top saw and I struggled to carry it from the car to the workshop on my own. The saw is direct drive ie. the bottom wheel is mounted directly on the motor shaft, The motor spec. plate says it runs at 1425 rpm, which Dom thought was too fast. I tried it out when I got it home and I think I can live with the speed as it is. I was able to resaw a length of 2x4 into 1x4s very easily, even with the old blade with the lumpy weld. That brings me to a question for the forum; I know about Dure Edge and Dragon bandsaw blades and David Charlesworth recommends the meat&fish blades for precision work, so what range of blade sizes/tooth configuration would let me get the most out of the saw. The current blade looks like 5/8" 6tpi, though the wheels look easily wide enough to take a 3/4" blade. I should add that I'd like to use it for a variety of work from toy making (possible tight curves?) to re-sawing and maybe even veneer cutting, although the max depth of cut is just over 6".

 

[9fingers]

At those speeds you will only be able to cut wood. Far far too fast for any metal and there will be too much heat generated in plastics.

for resawing work you need as wide a blade as you can get enough tension in. This won't necessarily be the widest blade that will fit although it this machine is as sturdy as it looks then you might well get a good tension on it.
Make sure the bearing are up to it. With a direct drive system you might find the lower bandwheel is supported by the front motor bearing which may or may not be rated for the job. Older machines tend to be designed properly with out price compromises.

For curved cuts then a 1/4 blade can do most jobs and maybe something in between for general purpose jobs.

As for tooth pitch, less than three teeth in contact with the work will give a rough cut and too many teeth in contact leads to slower cutting.

I reckon to have about 5 different combinations of pitch and width in stock to cover almost anything.

If you have specific tasks for the saw then talk to Ian at Dragon who is incredibly helpful. He is also on this forum.

HTH

Bob

 

[George_N]

Thanks Bob,
I hadn't even got round to thinking about cutting anything other than wood. The saw is incredibly strongly built so I hope the motor bearing is up to the same standard. I did have a quick look at the Dragon Ebay shop earlier and I will give them a call. I'm thinking about a 6 mm x 4 tpi hook tooth for curved work and a 5/8 x 3 tpi hook for straight cuts/re-sawing. That should get me started anyway and I can add others as needed. Is an electronic speed controller an option for this sort of motor, should I want to dip a toe into metalwork?

 

[dickm]

Interesting idea to use a speed controller for this. Unfortunately, it won't work with the existing single phase motor (you need a 3-phase motor to do the job). But if you could find a 3-phase with the same frame size and an appropriately sized inverter, it should just be a simple bolt-off/bolt-on job, assuming you are reasonably confident about wiring.
Certainly easier than the metalwork that would be needed to replace the motor with a pulley and separate motor.

 

[9fingers]

George,
I reckon your saw must be doing about 4000ft per minute

(12" band wheel and 1425 rpm)

For metalwork you need to be nearer 100 fpm (as well as a metal cutting blade!)

You can't use a speed controller on a single phase motor. so you would need to change to a 3 phase motor and controller. the chance of finding one to fit and having decent bearings is slim and also running the motor at 1/40th of design speed is going to give you torque problems even iwth the best of inverters as well as a cooling problem.

In your position I'd look at fixing a small pulley on the band wheel, mount a second motor behind the saw and a poly V belt drive to a second 3 phase inverter controlled motor with a big pulley to give you say a 10:1 mechanical speed reduction and then use the inverter to get a usable range of speeds for metal.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take the belt off before powering up the original motor to go back to wood cutting.

I've fitted a second belt drive to my Startrite 18-s-1 and an inverter for metal/wood conversion. Works a treat.

HTH

Bob

 

[George_N]

Thanks Dick and Bob, I don't think I'll be going down the three phase motor route, just too expensive. I do have a couple of old !/2 hp induction motors in the workshop and a few pulleys of various sizes but both motors are 1425 rpm so I couldn't gear down to a slow enough speed for metal but then, I don't hang around this forum because of the metalwork do I. I have emailed Dragon saws through their Ebay shop so hopefully they will get me fixed up ok.

 

[p111dom]

Said this the George at the time that cheap lathes in Axminster, B&Q etc seem to have induction motors with speed control and its not done through mechanical gearing as far as I can see so how does that work?

 

[9fingers]

Almost certainly variable belt drive is used on these.
Looking at the record mailshot a day or so ago, they are dropping the belt drive arrangement and going electronic/3 phase route as the prices of the electronic modules becomes cheaper.

Bob