Building a bandsaw on the cheap from mostly scrap wood

[glatt]

It's been almost a month since I did anything with this project. The big problem is that my shop was a mess. Literally not a single empty flat surface to work on in the entire shop. My son loves to work in the shop, but he just doesn't clean up after himself. The big problem is that he doesn't have any designated space that is his, so his stuff doesn't have a home and just sits around.

So I spent about 45 minutes on Sunday July 24th, just cleaning up the shop and putting stuff away. I eventually got both the table saw and work bench cleared off.

Then I spent another 45 minutes actually working on the saw. I'm focusing on the blade guides now. I cut the notch on the blade guide arm. The upper blade guide will mount in that notch.

And then I started cutting up the parts for the blade guides. I'll still need to drill holes in them and mount bearings, but this is the basic configuration they will have.

That dark colored wood in the front is bocote, an exotic tropical hardwood. The plans call for it by name, and I actually had some because my brother gave me a box of exotic wood samples years ago. It sat unused until now because the samples are so small, they are fairly useless.
Anyway, bocote is called for because it has a high oil content or something and is very slippery. Great for coming into contact with the running blade to keep it on track.

[Griff]

Cool brother glatt.





My work bench is completely covered with crap right now.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Griff

Cool brother glatt.

Cool Brother Glatt should be his username. Has a nice ring to it.

Cool Brother Glatt.

[BigV]

[glatt]

I made some forward progress over the weekend.

Saturday 7/30/16 : I got 2.5 hours of work in.

I was focused on making the upper blade guide. The plans call for the blade guide bearing to touch the back of the saw blade with its round surface. I wanted to mount the bearing so it would contact the rear of the saw blade with its side on the flat surface. So I needed to rework the bearings and think about how it would all go together. The plans were little help here.

I started by spreading everything out, including the plans, and looking at it all and taking measurements. I basically emptied a bunch of different fasteners on the table to see what I had that might work.


I started focusing my thoughts and came up with the following components that I would use.


I didn't get a picture of this step, but I took a hex head bolt and filed the hex head round, and then used a hacksaw to cut a screwdriver slot into the head. The original hex head was too large and would block the potential path of the band saw blade. I filed it round to make it smaller.

[glatt]

Then I took a look at the bolts that would hold the bocote blade guide blocks to the backer block, and saw that they were all too long. So I made a little jig to hold them so I could cut them all to the same length. I used the calipers to have them stick out of the maple block a consistent amount, and I cut them off flush with the maple block.


Then I drove them a couple turns deeper into the block so the cut end would stick out a little bit, and I filed the cut smooth.


Meanwhile, I prepared these backer blocks for the t-nuts by drilling holes, including 3/4 inch counter sink holes and and little holes for the prongs that hold the t-nuts in place. I also drilled two holes in the center for the drywall screws that will hold this backer block to the even larger block that will mount this thing to the guide block arm.

[glatt]

The next day, Sunday 7/31/16, I spent another 2.5 hours working on this.

I started with a first for me. I actually found that a Dremel tool was the exact tool I needed to do the job. That never happens. I used a carbide carving tip to smooth out the holes I had drilled on the drill press. A chisel would have been better if the part was bigger, but with this tiny thing, a Dremel was best. A file or rasp would have been great, but mine were all too big to fit in the hole.


This is the blade guides assembled to see how they fit. Pretty nice looking. I'm happy with them.


And here, I've used the two drywall screws to mount them to the larger block. I failed to take a picture of drilling the long hole for the bolt that holds the bearing. I also tapped that hole with the threading tool as deep as it would reach. About an inch. And then I took another bolt with the same threads and drove it down into the hole, in and out with the impact driver and basically burned the rest of the threads into the maple block. The friction was so great that smoke was coming out of the other end of the hole.


The bearing can be moved forward and backward by turning that bolt head with a screwdriver. It is supported in the rear with a nut you can't see in the picture. And the side blade guides can be moved in and out to just touch the sides of the blade.

[glatt]

And I didn't get a picture of this, but I drilled a long notch in the side of the big block in the back so it can slide forward and backward as the blade tracking is adjusted.

I drilled a hole in the support arm to hold a carriage bolt that goes through that notch. Normally with pine, you can just tighten a carriage bolt and crush a hole in the pine with the square part of the bolt head. But with hard maple, I cut a square with a 1/4 inch chisel around the hole.


And this is the whole thing assembled. You turn that black knob on the side and it loosens the carriage bolt so the entire blade guide assembly can slide forward by as much as an inch.

other views:

[Happy Monkey]

Nice

[lumberjim]

Very tidy

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by glatt

but mine were all too big to fit in the hole.

I get that a lot too.

[footfootfoot]

I like the bolt customization, you and I seem to be cut from the same cloth.

The whole guide assembly looks so clean and elegant, really nice work.

Originally Posted by glatt

. And then I took another bolt with the same threads and drove it down into the hole, in and out with the impact driver and basically burned the rest of the threads into the maple block

Since you are all about bolt customization I'll share a trick I learned. Take a spare bolt (or even the one you intend to use) and with either a dremel fitted with a cut-off disc, or the corner of a true and flat grinding wheel, Cut three or four grooves along the length of the bolt a bit deeper than the thread depth. The grooes should be more or less evenly spaced, e.g. 12:00, 3:00, 6:00. 9:00. Now you have a crude but effective tap. It will cut wood and chase metal threads.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Since you are all about bolt customization I'll share a trick I learned. Take a spare bolt (or even the one you intend to use) and with either a dremel fitted with a cut-off disc, or the corner of a true and flat grinding wheel, Cut three or four grooves along the length of the bolt a bit deeper than the thread depth. The grooes should be more or less evenly spaced, e.g. 12:00, 3:00, 6:00. 9:00. Now you have a crude but effective tap. It will cut wood and chase metal threads.

I actually tried this, but the dremel wasn't doing a good job cutting the threads, so I just gave up on it. I need better cutoff wheel attachments for it, I think.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by glatt

I actually tried this, but the dremel wasn't doing a good job cutting the threads, so I just gave up on it. I need better cutoff wheel attachments for it, I think.

Why am I not surprised you already knew that trick?

If your hardware store has a welding section you can find cutoff wheels for angle grinders that are very thin, 1/8" maybe. I find dremel tools are great in theory but lack the fortitude needed to get the job done. A Foredom tool would be ideal but $$$.

A triangular file could work given time and patience.

[glatt]

The impact driver was fun though. Brute force. And that bolt got HOT. It was no exaggeration to say smoke was pouring out the other end of the hole . I backed it out and drove it forward again. Over and over. Made quite a racket in the house.

I'm having a hard time finding the words to use without it sounding like I'm going for an obvious double entendre. How do you describe ramming a bolt into a tight hole back and forth so hard that smoke comes out without sounding like a perv?