Bandsaw

ralitaco

Jim
Senior User
One of my neighbors decided to clean out his sheds and get rid of stuff he hasn't used in years. One of those items was his Craftsman 12" bandsaw which he kindly gave me. I haven't used one in 30+ years in high school shop. Shoot, I'm not even sure what I will do with a band saw but, you know, free tool. I have not had a chance to start it up, but my neighbor said it works. So what do you suggest I do to test this out? One more thing, what are the knobs for by the blade?

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Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Jim, Before you turn that bandsaw on, you need to check to see if the upper and lower bearings are still good. Leave it unplugged and try to spin the upper wheel by hand to see if the upper and lower wheel still turn. Next I'd search online to see if you can find a user manual for it. The knobs are for adjusting the bearing that backs up the blade when in a cut and probably for the blade side guides. It's hard to tell without getting a good look at the unit to see how everything works. Again, the manual should tell you all about these controls if you can find one online.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Here's the manual. Page 17 has the wheel adjustments in the diagram but the same lower adjustments beneath the table are not shown.

2 knobs: Thrust bearing adjustment and the other is the blade guide adjustment.

 

Berta

Berta
Corporate Member
Go to your local library and check out Bandsaw Handbook by Mark Duginske.
This will help immensely.
Better yet, go to Amazon and buy it.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
My first band saw was one of those. I did a lot of my early work with it. It works best with a 1/4" 6 tooth skip blade that's .020 thick. Thicker blades (like .025 thick) don't bend well and wider blades eat up too much of the motor's torque to cut satisfactorily. That saw looks to have a wider (1/2"±). It can be a very smooth and quiet running saw. New tires are easy to muscle on if needed. Use it for a while and if you like what you can do with it, you're good. If not, then pass it on to someone that can use it. Either way, it saves it from the land fill.
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
Free is good! Read through the manual and you will have fun with it. Bandsaws can do a lot.
Red
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Bought one of those in 1984 to cut out styrafoam letters for signs. Made tons of money on that saw. After I upgraded to a Delta 14", gave it to my neighbor.
 

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