Restoring old bandsaw

I got this old bandsaw some time ago. It was made in about 1930. It was last used in the 70s and was pretty much rusted solid. Also, quite a few of the parts were missing.

The first thing was to take everything apart. This required a lot of penetrating oil, time, and some custom made tools. After every part had been removed, it was possible to clean and derust them. Derusted parts were then painted, oiled and everything was put back together.

Some new things had to be made to make the bandsaw usable. First of all, I made a custom pallet so that the bandsaw can easily be moved with a pallet jack. As the bandsaw had been driven by a flat belt system, a pulley wheel had to be made to use the V belt system. A left-handed shaft nut had to be made to hold the upper wheel on the shaft and the blade tensioning bar had to be cut to tension the blade with a weight. Wooden blade guides were replaced with bearing guides fitted in the original holders and belt guard was created to make the saw a bit less dangerous.

After everything was done, it was time to test the saw. It seems to work pretty well. However, the one belt drive system doesn't have enough friction and the belt slips when enough resistance is applied. I will try to cast an aluminum wheel for a two belt setup at some point. Meanwhile, it helps to add some weight to the motor to keep the belt tight enough to offer some extra friction.