wadkin bandsaw restoration

[dickm]

That's impressive Mig welding - never thought of using Mig for cast iron. Did you preheat the casting?

 

[wallace]

Hi ****, yes I preheated with a blowtorch. I read somewhere it stops the cast cracking due to the intense heat created by the mig. I don't think you can do a long run of weld in one go with the mig.

 

[Nippychippy]

Great work Wallace loving this wip

 

[wallace]

Well I'm very nearly finished, I redressed the tyres and installed them. The big doors were a pain to put on by myself but got their in the end.




To get the doors on I had to dismantle my ducting, There isn't much space left between the roof.



I've still got the tension handwheel to do and a couple of tags. And then sort something for the blade guides. I was thinking bearings, anyone any ideas?

 

[wallace]

Sprayed the tag and then cleaned the raised lettering on some 400grit stuck to a float glass

Polished and sprayed the tension handwheel

I have ordered a selection of blades from tuffsaws, cant wait to have a play

 

[Flynnwood]

This picture certainly puts the size of that machine into perspective. Good job.

 

[wallace]

I've just noticed. The whitehead morticer is no slouch in size and this thing stood next to it makes it look dinky :lol: Does anyone know the normal delivery time of stuff from tuffsaws. I ordered last week. I understand he's a one man band

 

[MIGNAL]

Normally 2/3 days but he's probably busy welding the 8 tape measures together to obtain the right blade length.

 

[Flynnwood]

Normally 2/3 days but he's probably busy welding the 8 tape measures together to obtain the right blade length.

=D>

 

[wallace]

:lol: the blades are only 5200mm

 

[MIGNAL]

What's the depth of cut on that Wadkin? That looks like serious resaw capacity. The only Bandsaw that I've come across that looked bigger was in a timber reclamation yard. I swear that the blade looked 5 inch deep!

 

[Jelly]

Its 14"under guides the blade length marks the saw out as a DR30 (there's also a 36 with 18.5" :shock: ). For its class of machine, it really is a bit of a beast!

Being a narrow band saw,the practical resaw capacity may well be less; the reason the saw you were talking about had such a wide blade (5" is kinda medium as resaws go) is to allow greater tension (along with big gullets and s thin kerf), thus allowing higher feed speeds and delivering a straighter cut.

 

[wallace]

Thanks Jelly for that concise explanation. I like looking at the big old robinson re-saws, they are huge.

 

[Jelly]

Thanks Jelly for that concise explanation. I like looking at the big old robinson re-saws, they are huge.

I've only ever come into contact with the little (8" and 12" under guides) Robinson resaws, there are quite a lot still in day to day use at small timber merchants and they invariably have a similar rich patina and kind of elegant appearence... I'm around big Stenners all day (dating from 1965ish through to 2009 in age) and in spite of how frequently I'm working with them, they remain a sight to behold.

Out of interest, do you have any idea what the DR series saws were intended for, I'm assuming cutting complex shapes in thick sections but I can't think what for...

 

[wallace]

I have a photo of one being used in a pattern makers shop, I think that's where a lot of wadkin stuff was intended for.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Incredible patience shown on your part. Good to see one old Brit machine saved from the scrap heap in the sky.

Well done

 

[Paul.J]

Great restoration project Wallace and well done for saving the machine.
I used to be an apprentice Pattern Maker and that BS looks just like the one we had in our shop,it was huge.I remember it towering over me and that it was slow to build up speed but was pretty quiet for the size of machine.The blades were sharpened and set in shop on another machine they had.

 

[wallace]

First a little good news, I made a fence out of some ali box section.


And my blades arrived

Then I thought I'd make some guides and found that the blade does not go central in the guide, infact it touches one of the bolts. There is no adjustment to bring the guides to centre. So the tyres on the wheels must be worn out?




Mark

 

[dickm]

Grandmothers, eggs etc., but............ you haven't assembled something back to front/upside down, have you? From the wear on the backplate of the guide it looks as if the blade has been running pretty central; would have thought that if the tyres were worn, that wear on the backplate would extend to the left rather than being symmetrical about the mid-line?

 

[wallace]

Hi **** that was my first thought that I'd put it back together wrong, this is how it looked when I got it



Guess what I think I've just had a eureka moment, I think the bar that holds the guide assembly is machined off centre so if rotated it will move the assemble sideways
I will have to investigate, I was a bit suspect at the tyres being worn out
Mark