Hello all,

I'm looking for someone who may be able to explain to me what is attached to this 1/3 hp electric motor that came with my (slightly used )1950's craftsman bandsaw. The guy I got it from said he didn't know what it did either.
I'm trying to restore the bandsaw to its former glory and currently have the whole thing torn down cleaning everything/trying to wrap my head around what everything does. Any and all comments/suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

-Colbi


Ps. I'm talking about the gear looking thing, however if someone would like to confirm what that black thing is hanging off the back (capacitor??) that would be great!

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I'd say it was a gear /belt reduction drive to slow the blade down for metal cutting. I used something similar way back when ... on a 12" Craftsman saw to cut metal.

from http://www.vintagemachinery.org/phot....aspx?id=15829

That does, like woodnthings said, appear to be a reduction gear box for cutting metal. And yes, the 'thing' hanging off the back is a capacitor. Welcome to the forum, Colbi!

Thank you sir! Those pictures are spot on!

I think I'll go ahead and remove it and if I ever need to reduce the speed maybe I'll looking into upgrading to a digital motor controller.

Thank you David!

Another vote for that being a gear reduction. Wonder what the reduction ratio is, depending on how slow it goes I might k ow a guy who want to take it off your hands...

Wood cutting speeds are around 3000 FPM. Metal cutting speeds vary between 300 FPM to 100 FPM for the harder stuff like steel. So .... a 10 to 1 ratio is what you need and that's what I used back when. That one appears to be a "double reduction" system to keep the size as small as possible.
https://www.sawblade.com/band-saw-bl...feed-chart.cfm
Using pulleys, a 10" pulley on the machine and a 1" pulley on the motor would work. But there are other factors like wheel diameter. Typically a built in bandsaw speed reducer works on either 3000 FPM or 1000 FPM, which is too fast to cut steel. You can cut aluminum at wood cutting speed with no ill effects. BTDT.

I wonder how you get a blade tight enough to do metal cutting on a woodworking bandsaw. I have a metal cutting bandsaw and the wheels don't have tires on it and the blade is tight as a piano wire.

The little Craftsman has rubber bands on the tires, the big Roll In saw has no tires, just steel wheels. All you need is enough tension to make the blade "stiff" and enough to keep it from slipping .. usually one and the same. I use the sound the blade make when I "plunk" it as I tighten it, rather than the indicator on all my bandsaws.

Most metal cutting saws that ive seen rely just as much on the width of the blade as they do on tension. My little HF portaband puts the blade under tension, but its still possible to flex the blade if you try. During a cut though, the blade is wide enough to keep straight.

The bigger problem would be finding a metal cutting blade long enough to fit a woodworking bandsaw. I cant imagine the lengths would match up with the common woodworking sizes, given that metal cutting saws tend to jump from "portaband" to "giant horizontal", with very few steps in between

My thoughts were the metal saw puts more tension on the blade and thought that much tension would damage a woodworking saw. As far as finding a blade that fits there is a lot of places around that would custom make a blade to fit.

Seems like the metal dust would contaminate wood pieces being worked on.

Go to Starrett, Lenox, Grainger, Roll In, or Grizzly and look for metal cutting bandsaw blades, many widths, and lengths and tooth count.

http://www.lenoxtools.com/pages/leno...aw-blades.aspx

http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2016/main/611?p=611

yes, the black thing is a capacitor. please be aware that the connections could have as much as 340 volts on them, even after you turn off power. it is usually housed in a case mounted to the side of the motor. it needs to be covered up.