Horizontal Band Saw Restoration - Zapins

Since I have pretty much finished up the drill press I found another machine to waste, I mean, spend my time restoring.

Behold $50 horizontal band saw. It spent only 3 years outside in the rain.

Looks like the stand needs replacing/beefing up. The belt covers need replacing, the bearings all need replacing, the motor likely needs replacing, and the gear box shaft and pulley need fixing or replacing. And a good painting.

Surprisingly the nuts and bolts mostly look intact. Luckily I have most of the replacement parts left over from other projects. So hopefully it won't cost me more than a couple million dollars.

 

That is a clone of a Grizzly saw that I own and use. After buying it new, I put a fair bit of work into mine making various modifications. It is now a usable saw.

The first thing I did was scrap the pathetic “base” and built a waist-high tubular base on real casters. That was important as the original “base” is painfully inconvenient since it is so low and is also a primary cause of fall-over accidents with resulting breakage of the base casting—-end of saw. The new base included a good-sized chip pan, integrated long-work support brackets, storage shelves, and convenient work height. Grizzly does stock a pretty good supply of replacement parts. I’d use a 3/4 or 1 hp motor on yours. When finished, buy bi-metal blades from a company in Bellingham, Wa. LA Cutting Products is the name. There is a big difference in stock from which blades are welded and a bigger difference in weld quality. Trust me, they are unbeatable for both price and quality. And blade quality makes a big difference in performance and durability.

This will take some work.

Denis

 

I’ve found the hbs to be probably the most used machine in my little hobby shop. You surely won’t regret having one. Getting there from here looks like quite a job though. As long as the pulleys aren’t damaged and the gears aren’t chewed up, then I think you’ve got something to work with. That appears to be the same saw I have, ie made in Taiwan and sold under 2 dozen different nameplates and known generically these days as a Harbor Freight horizontal band saw.
Once I’d gotten past the learning curve of keeping the blade from popping off I get pretty good performance. Two sources of irritation while in use are the cheapness of the base and also that sheet metal blade cover. Both of those issues were obviously irritating to your saw’s previous owner as their condition is evidence of frustration. I went the reinforcement route on the base by installing tie bars because the base wasn’t all bent up (yet), but it’s still not great. I will build a replacement one of these days. As long as you’re in the re-furb mode, I’d consider stripping the old legs off and fabbing something more robust. You may have to just live with the blade cover unless you can find or make a new one. There are lots of mod videos on YouTube.
My motor bit the dust too. I replaced it with a treadmill motor with a bridge rectifier and use a harbor freight router speed controller to run it.

Pete

 

BTW, the user manual and, most importantly, parts list is available here :

https://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g0622_m.pdf

Denis

 

Ahh very good thanks. I'll page through the parts list. I was thinking the same thing with the height of the machine. Its way too low. And I can't be bending and breaking my back every time I need to use it. I'll weld up a tube base for it. The original base has hinges in the thin sheet metal?! Presumably so it could be folded up in the original box for shipping??

The blade covers look like junk and definitely need replacing. I've got sheet steel I can make a new one from so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I'd like to see pics of your modified saw including the chip pan and the shelving. Sounds useful. Then I could potentially run coolant if I want.

I have a 3/4 hp off my old vertical band saw before I upgraded that to a 1.5 hp. It has a 2 step pulley on it which may be an ok replacement for the 3 step pulley that is chipped on the horizontal saw.

I'm surprised and happy about the condition of the iron casting. Its all in very good shape under the paint. No cracks (knock on wood).

 

I'll get some pics in the next couple days.

You will not need coolant. I started down that path, but all I need is cutting oil and a chip brush. Works great. Simply not enough chip formation to need coolant like might be needed if you were running a 5 or 10 HP saw. But a chip pan is great so that you are not constantly dribbling saw swarf all over the floor.

A good blade and proper alignment are key factors to good square cutting.

Denis

 

One thing I'm constantly confronted with is what do they use to black parts?

I have tried cold bluing solution which is selenium something or other but it doesn't always turn parts black. Sometimes especially on cast iron it goes brown.

Their black patina on the factory made pulley and my brown blade guide arm.

What's a better process?

 

Ummm, maybe shaker can of Rustoleum black? Since the wheels are completely covered in cutting oil, rust is not an issue. And they are not visible. Mine are “protected” by a 1/8” thick oil/swarf/rust/dust coating on all but the blade contact areas. ;-)

Denis

 

Zap, before you spend any time or money on it, check the transmission. The bronze worm is a weak point, and if you need one it is $80 from a bearing house and requires machining. Been there and done that, and it is about what the saw is worth.

 

Gears are in mint condition luckily.

 

The 15 mm shaft needs replacing though. It is bent. However gears are good. I may buy from mcmaster and carr with a few other items.

I've nearly finished sand blasting everything and repainted about half. Will post photos when I'm done.

 

Blasted all the parts and spray painted them the customary colors.

Will start reassembling tomorrow. I will order some replacement parts that should be here by next week so I can finish it up. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do for a pulley cover. I will need to make one from scratch and have no template to go off.

Also any idea how to make a catch pan for under the band saw? They seem to be beveled at the edges and made by stamping a sheet of steel.


I'm working on fixing the name plate up too. It was pretty mangled after I pried it off the machine.

 

I just used 16 ga steel cut as a rectangle first and then with "pie-pieces" cut out of the corners and then bent up about 1.5" tabs about 25deg and then welded the tabs at the corners. The pan is considerably larger than the saw casting. I also set my saw up on steel blocks about an inch high. Otherwise that narrow little space between the casting and the table was a perfect place for stuff to slide under the saw casting and be darn hard to retrieve not to mention swarf accumulating there. Finally, having the saw elevated a bit leaves clearance for the hand crank for the clamp.

I would suggest making a shallow groove parallel to bottom of the clamp in the clamp casting so that it is easy and to secure slightly inclined widish bar stock so that the blade does not have to fully traverse a 2 inch wide piece of 1/8 or 3/16 thick bar. Inclining it makes the blade "see" maybe 3/4" inch of steel to traverse resulting in more efficient cutting. A groove prevents the inclined bar from working losse while it is being cut.`Also making a block with a 45 degree deep grove in it makes cutting square tube and round stock easier. You set the tube in oriented so that one corner is at 12 o'clock. Then you are cutting a more uniform amount of stock as the blade proceeds down the tube rather than cutting though first a flat bar (the top), then two narrow parallel bars (the sides) and then again a wide bar again (the bottom of the tube). Pics tomorrow.

And I made a heavier "table" for the saw when used vertically. It comes with a very flimsy stamping that is supposed to be a table. The heavier table makes using the saw in vertical mode much more pleasant and effective. Caution: when the saw is oriented vertically it is very prone to toppling to one side and breaking the main casting right at the pivot. Many many of these saws meet their end that way. A custom base prevents this.

Denis

 

I pulled the tape off and blued the ground/bearing surfaces. I also got the new blade bearings and pressed them in. They spin very nicely now. No resistance.

Repainted the name plate.

I'll see about working on the catch tray tomorrow. I was thinking of making it 3 inches larger on all sides than the base to facilitate easy cleaning. What do you think?

 

Here is a photo montage:

Overview. Table 43X20 Note: Saw is blocked up on 1.5" tubing---useful.


I made an eyebolt/hook arrangement to hold weights for adjustable down pressure. Also having the grinder close by means that I can grind already-cut parts while the saw is running. Parts practically always need grinding after sawing to remove burs and sharp corners.


Long work support strut. Very handy as floor irregularity does not affect support device. Work is always level.
Strut has a lock and strut slides and can be any length of sq tube. The little support table on the strut is adjustable in height and slides on the strut.

1/4" plate table cut to fit near saw when not vertical. Removable for angle horizontal cuts.
Note the little cutting oil bottle that fits in the nook near the motor. Stays in place both vertically and horizontally. Used constantly.

Tube both round and square holding accessory.

Short piece clamping aid. Also useful are the step blocks used in hold-down sets.


Lines scribed into table at 45, 22.5 degrees and a taper pin hole that positively locates the clamping fence at 45deg o mins. Not shownb is that the table is also scribed at 90 deg with a taper pin hole to hold the fence right at 90 deg. Makes relocation of the table quick and positive.

A short and /or awkward piece holding aid. Very handy. Also useful can be tack welding odd or very large pieces to square tubing to help in holding it.


Denis

 

That’s a nice solid setup Denis. The semicircular small-parts clamp piece is a new one on me. Janky or otherwise inadequate clamping is almost always the cause of premature blade damage so I’ll take any effective “trick” I can find. I use mine in the vertical position quite often but I don’t have a table for it. I really should make one as the absence of one also lends to blade damage. I use it vertically for cutting off sprues and gating as well as hard-to-clamp stuff. Often times I’d be better off using my dedicated vertical band saw but given my limited shop space, my vbs is tucked in the corner and not terrible convenient to use unless I pull it out and set it up. That’s a good part of the reason for the hbs being used so frequently. Although I dislike the cheapness of the stock base, I like the height, mobility, and relatively small footprint. When using it vertically I simply mount it like a hobby horse and have at it.

Pete

 

I made most of the attachment parts and the tray. Will need to have it bent into a pan by local shop or I need to make myself a brake.

 

I see, now. You are planning on having the tray on top of the frame rather than as shown. As photographed the frame details are much better seen. So that is why you chose this arrangement.
That looks very robust. Will this be bench-top or are you planning a rolling base of some sort? Just FYI I find the material-support strut very very useful for pieces over maybe a foot or so in length.

Denis

 

Hmm. I'm still not 100% sure. Maybe I will mount it on the end of a table. Or maybe build a separate stand for it. My shop space is becoming a bit limited.

I'll have a think about the support. It seems necessary.

 

I decided to make a stand for it. Welded it up yesterday.

I dropped off my chip tray sheet steel at the local machine shop for them to bend the edges up for me. Will pick it up and weld corners on Wednesday probably.

Also I got a hardened ground shaft to replace the original soft bent one. But I had to drill a hole through it to register the worm gear. I used masonry drill bits which worked very nicely.

Also hand ground in a registration groove on the end for the pulley to bite into.