Olde Arn bandsaw refresh

[nodima]

Acquired an old green bandsaw back in January.  Details are 16" Walker Turner, circa 1942 based on the tag on the upper door.  Was in running shape, but decided to tear it down and give it a once over to refresh it for it's next 70 years.  The saw is the wood/metal version, but a previous owner had removed the two speed function from it, some research on OWWM indicated that it might run smoother without it, and since I'm not a metalworker I decided not to care.  Otherwise it was basically complete other than a blade guard.  Saw has just under 12" of resaw capacity, and has a vintage 1/2HP motor, for now it will run with that, and if it turns out to want more power, I'll upgrade later.

For anyone not familiar with these, in a word they are heavy.  Everything on the saw is cast iron, and they did not spare any in making it.  After breaking it down, I found only one repair in the cast iron base, but it was  solid and not really visible from the outside.  Upon purchasing, I broke it down in several major components, and loaded each into the  truck.  And since it did not happen unless pics are shown, here you go.
In truck

Couple of the parts, including the belt guard.

The base from the front


Once in my garage, it was torn down to all the pieces, and filled a number of bags with hardware and such.  All parts degreased and cleaned.  Only thing that presented a real challenge was the removal of the lower wheel from the shaft.  Started with a couple of weeks with a gear puller and PBBlaster.  Broke the gear puller in the process.  Ended up at a local machine shop, where it finally gave way after 7 tons or so of pressure on their press.



Once that was done, bearings for both wheels were ordered, painting was done, and new tires were glued on and crowned.  Amazing that 3 weeks of work can be summed up so innocently in a single sentence.


Hardware - sprayed with aged copper.

Wheels


Crowning jig


Top door




Assembled, pre-blade guard and power switch.


Addressed the lack of a blade guard by fashioning one out of aluminum angle based on the original drawings and other ideas found over on OWWM.

[AgGEM]

Nicely done!
Ag

[barryvabeach]

Nice photos and excellent work on the rehab.   My guess is with all that cast iron, it will run very smoothly.

[Ron Brese]

That's a beautiful machine! Can't beat cast iron and art deco design in a machine.

Ron

[fishhh4]

If it cuts half as nice as it looks ... In your in like flint . Nice job!

[Admiral]

A labor of love, nice job.   How many hours you got in it over the three weeks?

[nodima]

@Admiral - I did this as a hobby and a challenge, so I did not track my time.  It went on for about 2 months all told, but mostly weekends and evenings - bet it was north of 70 all in.  Not including researching or waiting for paint to dry. Bulk of the time was painting - there are a lot of parts included.  Disassembly and re-assembly was pretty quick.

Funny part is that i'm now casually looking around at shapers and jointers...

[Bibliophile 13]

Looks great!

So have you gotten to use it much yet? How does it cut?

[Admiral]

Funny part is that i'm now casually looking around at shapers and jointers...

It can become addictive.....  go for it!

[Steve N]

Awesome refurb. Always like seeing the old brought back.

My only question is how did you get all of those photos on one post? I've never been able to get a 4th one since the new software.