Building a bandsaw on the cheap from mostly scrap wood

[glatt]

Working a little on the lower wheel enclosure. this will stablize the saw by giving it a wider base and also help collect saw dust.

I used the band saw to cut these two vertical side pieces of the enclosure, and I measured from the machine while just eyeballing the plans.

[glatt]

The band saw isn't technically done, but I keep using it as if it is.

I've been using a socket wrench to tilt the upper wheel and tension the blade. I got sick of doing that so I focused last night on making a crank for tensioning the blade.

I cut a wooden piece to mimic a socket wrench.



Rounded the inside sharp edges over with a rasp.
Then I drilled an undersized hole in it and pressed one of those long skinny coupler nuts into that hole. Used the vise to press it in.

Then I made a spinny knob to loosely bolt to the end of it. I had a galvanized bolt to attach that spinny knob, which is great because the galvanization is rough enough to lock the nut in place without the nut being tightened down. It works great. Plenty of leverage to tension the blade.

[glatt]

Next I wanted a knob to cover the end of the upper blade tilting bolt.

I sketched something out on a scrap piece of paper and glued it to a scrap piece of wood I got from a thrown out table. I think this was a leg brace to attach a leg to the apron of the table. Anyway, it already had a proper sized hole drilled for the bolt head. I centered my drawing over that hole.


I cut it out on the band saw and sanded the ugly stain off.



And I pressed it over the blade tilt bolt head. Basically jammed it on there.


Both of them work great! And I don't have to go digging for the proper sized socket any more.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well done, Sir.

[Griff]

salute!

[fargon]

Very good.

[Gravdigr]

Glatt, any idea how many hours ya got in this project?

[glatt]

I was trying to keep some track of that. I could go back through this thread and add it up. It's a lot. If I were to go into business doing this, I would starve.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The next one would go much faster... because he has a bandsaw.

[glatt]

Made a lot of progress over the holiday weekend. I built a cover to go around the pulley and the belt. Safety issue there. Only a matter of time before somebody got their hair caught in that belt.



And then I wanted to make a front panel for the lower wheel. The drawings for this part were pretty complicated, and I've learned to ignore the plans when that's the case. So I cut up bits of cardboard and taped them together until they fit the opening.



Then I traced that on some plywood an cut that out. Not shown, is gluing some strips of wood to the back side to stiffen it.



This is a random bit of enclosure that fits under the table against the frame. It has to be tapered to fit the frame taper. I weigh the thing down with a couple of quarts of varnish to let the glue dry.

[glatt]

I needed a hook to hold the lower front cover closed. I could drive to the hardware store to waste half an hour and $3 to buy one, or just spend five minutes in the shop to make one for free.

Grab a coat hanger off cut I had saved from a previous project I can't remember.


Bent it into a hook shape with a pair of needle nosed pliers.


Cut it free and found a couple of screws that fit.


Installed it.


I had to plane down the board you see in the foreground of that last shot so it would fit under the table as you close the panel. It was sticking up just a little too far and was bonking into the table, so I put a very slight taper on it.

There was a fair amount of trimming and fiddling here and there to get components to fit right throughout the entire process of making this saw.

[glatt]

Front view.


Rear lower wheel has a sloped cover to direct sawdust down to the bottom.


This band saw is mostly done now.

There is a small panel to fit around the opening under the table around the blade guide. And mainly I need to build a sturdy base for it. With caster wheels. This undersized bed side table I dug out of the trash isn't very solid. And I will probably varnish it.

[Gravdigr]

Awesome.

I have enjoyed this project of yours immensely.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Cool, now make another bandsaw from clear plexiglass.

[Gravdigr]

Ooooohh.