Mmmm. Milk!

Another Week of Band Saw Progress

My new bearings arrived in the mail, and I was able to spend an hour or two in the barn this past Saturday.  As you can see, metric bearings were pretty standard even on equipment that is 65 years old and made in Michigan.  Who knew?  There was one oddball size - metric OD with a fractional bore.  That special bearing was about $2 more.

I got all 6 new bearings installed with relative ease. 

The best tool for this is called "patience".

I got the table installed, too.  Trimmed in black!

I added a bit of detail.  "Honeymoon Red" nail polish seemed to be just the right color for the indicator of the tilting table.  We'll see how well nail polish holds up.

And the band guide finished up nicely.  

I hope to finish painting the covers to the top and bottom wheels this upcoming week with the improved and warmer weather.  

Finally, a New Dishwasher

Our dishwasher is rather old, and it had quite a few "issues" to deal with.  It had a cantankerous lock mechanism, the water inlet valve failed quite often, and the soap cup was not reliable.  We always started the old dishwasher then set a timer for 13 minutes to make sure the soap cup opened without problem.

Finally, we got a new dishwasher with the help of the the in laws from Michigan.  (Thanks so much!)

For the installation, I had lots of good help:

Lots of neat stuff to see under there:

We finally got the old one out:

Then it was time to decorate the dishwasher hole:

And finally, the new dishwasher got installed after about 6 trips to Menards.  Things are always more complicated then they seem, and this project was no exception.  No picture of the new dishwasher, but we're very happy with it.  

Weekend Bandsaw Progress

I was able to do a bit more work on ye ol' bandsaw this past sunny weekend.  I wish I had more time to do a little more.

I painted some miscellaneous pieces.

And some more:

This is half of the top cover:

Some reassembly

Another view:

A closeup of the tilt action:

I painted the underside of the table black:

Finally, I checked out an old old old motor,

and it seems to work pretty smooth.  I

think I'll use this one for my project.

Going Whole Hog

I've been going back and forth on thinking about this crazy band saw project.  It's been gnawing on me lately:  

Should I put in the minimum amount of work and time, 

and simply get it running again?

- Or -

Should I go crazy and tear the whole thing down to it's last nut

and bolt; a mechanical and cosmetic restoration?

I decided on the latter.  I don't know why.

Glutton for punishment.

 Well, actually, now that I think about it, I do know why.  I made a promise to the previous owner, and I intend to keep it.  And in the end, I would have gone whole hog anyways.  I can hear those wise words now, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it over?"

Tearing it apart:

Tearing it apart even more:

Paint stripped, cleaned, and masked for priming and painting:

The final color.  A bit more silvery than I had hoped,

but it's fine in natural light. 

Removing some masking tape:

More parts and pieces to come as weather improves.

Drilling out a Woodruff Key

The woodruff key in the driven spindle of the bandsaw was severely stuck.  I tried all the usual mechanical tricks to no avail.  This is the frustration as pictured still installed on the machine.

After damaging it with a pair of vice grips and dykes (none of which worked), I took the shaft out of the bearings and brought it to work.  There, I chucked it up in a collet and placed it in the vice of the mill.

Here's a little better picture of the stuck key.

 I indicated the centerline of the shaft (y axis), and approximated the center of the key (x axis) and center drilled.  It turns out keys are not hardened.

The key is 0.125 wide, so I used a 0.120 drill bit and kind of "felt" my way down.  I could feel it break through the key.  I was then able to bam out half at a time with a screwdriver and a hammer.

The other half came out just as easy.

The key seat was undamaged and is ready for a new woodruff key.  Yay!

I was able to get this stubborn key out in 5 minutes.  It's all about having the right tool.  

The Sickness Continues

Oh, I can't help it.  I just keep buying more old woodworking equipment.  If it's cheap and rusty and made before 1970, I tend to like it.  Thus, the jointer joins the herd:

Now I gotta figure out what it's use is.  Hmmm.

More Band Saw Progress

With a warm weather weekend, I was motivated to work on my bandsaw restoration project.  I took off the lower 12 inch wheel to investigate the bearings.

Bearings were dirty, but appeared to be OK.  

I thought I would also take off those old crusty "tires".  It appears the previous owner tried to keep it going with a few wraps of black electrical tape.

Now this appears to be the original black rubber tire.  I see it is too narrow.  It is a 3/4" tire fitting into a 7/8" groove.

I took off the old tire, and cleaned off the remnants of 70 year old rubber with lots of solvents and a wire wheel.  I was also happy to see a "crown" is machined into these wheels.

I used my new Starrett dial indicator to check for run out.  I only have 0.003 inches of variance from high to low.

Progress is slow, but I hope to do more as warm weather continues.