Building a bandsaw on the cheap from mostly scrap wood

[Griff]

and now they're cozy

[glatt]

I've been crazy busy lately, but took Friday 6/24 off to meet a stamp dealer to sell some stamps, and then was leading a weekend Scout camping trip starting that afternoon so had to pack. But taking the entire day off, I had the morning free. Perfect to putter around a little and make some band saw progress.

I wanted to tackle this one part again.

Last time I worked on this, I had machined this part out of solid maple. It wound up being too small because I had built my frame thicker than the plans called for. So I need to adjust the plans. This time, I don't have enough large pieces of maple this size, so I'm going to use plywood for the backing and make a couple smaller parts to glue to the plywood. I annotate the originals plans with measurements to account for the actual thickness, and draw out the little pieces I'm going to make.


Turns out I'm directional challenged or something, because I cut the 35 degree bevel on the post on the wrong side even after eyeballing everything a half dozen times. I can flip it around and still use it, but that messes up the dimensions a little. So I had to modify the plans for the clamping block again to compensate for that mistake. I think it won't really matter, but I may wind up trying to make these particular parts a third time. Ugh.


Here they are clamped up to dry.

[glatt]

And the corners on the frame are supposed to be eased. Not sure it serves a function other than to look aesthetically pleasing, but I do it. I clamped the frame to the bench and cut the corners with a hand saw.


Corners cut.


I wanted to secure the motor in the bracket I made. I was kicking ideas around in my head, and decided to try drilling and cutting a huge hose clamp. It worked, but I only had time to do one side of the motor.


And after meeting with the stamp guy for a couple hours, I rushed back home, took a shower, packed, and then met the troop of 14 boys and 4 dads to lead them out into the woods to this nice hike in campsite along the Potomac River and C&O Canal.

[glatt]

With those hose clamps, the current total is about $240 and if you include a saw blade, that's about $260. It's fair to include a saw blade because if you buy a saw new, it will have a blade.