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Wadkin DH bandsaw

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Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 28 Nov 2021, 19:27

I bought this about 18 months ago, I'd been after something a bit smaller than the 30"DR I had previous. It came up on ebay and I won it for not much money. The only issue was collection, the seller said his place wasn't suitable for a pallet courier. I removed the seats from my VW and put a engine hoist in to help load it. It was located in leicester.

When I got their I didn't realise how close the place was to where the bandsaw was built. It was litterally a stones throw from the factory.

The joiners that had it was a peculiar setup, it was in the middle of a terrace of houses up a narrow alleyway. It had been in the family for a good few generations. You went up some tiny stairs to a bench room where stuff was made. When completed a door was opened in the wall and it was lowered into a courtyard.

I had to use every bit of skill reversing up the alleyway, I had 1.5" either side of my mirrors. Its lucky I drove FLT's for many years. I did have pics but they are on my instagram.

Luckily the bandsaw was downstairs where timber was machined up, but there was still some big thresholds to lift it over.

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I stripped most off the bits off it at leicester

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I had to use a jack to get the top column out the casting

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They were big horses back in the day, this is 2hp

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The whole top wheel bearing assembly is kept in place by two pointed bolts

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I started stripping the paint, it scraped and sanded off really easy

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A belt sander on the 'wadkin' works a treat

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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Mike G » 28 Nov 2021, 20:00

That looks an absolute beast of a machine.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby AJB Temple » 28 Nov 2021, 20:06

Very cool. What do you actually do with all these lovely machines?
Don't like: wood, engines, electrickery, decorating, tiling, laying stone, plumbing, gardening or any kind of DIY. Not wild about spiders either.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Malc2098 » 28 Nov 2021, 22:08

Wow!
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 28 Nov 2021, 22:40

AJB Temple wrote:Very cool. What do you actually do with all these lovely machines?

Alot of them I sold and are now working for their living in workshops from scotland to london, new zealand and australia. A good few I kept. I'm taking a break from other peoples machines to finish off my final few machines.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby MY63 » 29 Nov 2021, 10:27

I dont have anything to add just wanted to say thanks I really enjoy your posts.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Raymedullary » 29 Nov 2021, 14:02

We had that exact same machine where I served my yacht joiner apprenticeship. Its the bandsaw equivalent of Stonehenge!
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby clogs » 29 Nov 2021, 17:17

Wallace,
I'm in envy, just to work on one would be a treat.....
but if one came my way it would never be sold.....
been looking at a few antique Greek made machines just lately for myself....
found one that has a spiders webb cast iron frame but just mist it.....
I gueuss it was 1920's.....
thanks for ur postings ...always interesting....
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 29 Nov 2021, 18:51

Time to strip the motor, that doesnt look very wadkin



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the grease was very black which isn't a good sign.



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I think it might have spun



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It has a roller bearing on the wheel side



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I'm going to take it to my motor guy to get the leads done better and maybe put some varnish on the windings, the bitumen is cracking a bit.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Trevanion » 29 Nov 2021, 19:41

A Ransome and Marles brass-cage self-aligning ball bearing and a Hoffman brass-cage roller bearing, I dread to think how much the equivalents would be if you wanted to buy new, even if you could!
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 29 Nov 2021, 20:18

Trevanion wrote:A Ransome and Marles brass-cage self-aligning ball bearing and a Hoffman brass-cage roller bearing, I dread to think how much the equivalents would be if you wanted to buy new, even if you could!


I've found old stock hoffman self alligning for £50 but I cant find the roller one yet
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 05 Dec 2021, 18:33

I found the pics of when I went to collect this, I had to reverse 30m



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I'm not sure if the business was their before the houses



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Just around the corner was the site of wadkins original factory. I reckon that could be the original chimney.

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Anyway I digress. This is the bracket that holds the top wheel. Its seen a bit of action and had a repair



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The bearings have been changed, they came out a bit too easy so I will reinstall with some compound



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The spindle has a bit ware



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The castings on this are really nice with very little fettling



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The evaporust is getting a bit old, but still working



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This cheap little ROS has earned its keep, it has been hammered for a few years now and still performs.

I bought a new bosch and it is pants compared to this. I think it was £35 from b&q
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 10 Dec 2021, 17:10

Just noticed there was no pic of the cheapo ROS,



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I wasnt sure what to do about the wheels, if I fettled and filled them they would need balancing. I suppose I could take them to a tyre place. I decided to leave them as is. The vulcanised rubber is in good condition. It doesn't appear to be crowned either.



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The covers are in good condition, the hammerite paint came off easily with a chisel.



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The side is fixed with little rivets, peened over.



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Time to chuck some primer about



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I laid it on pretty thick so I can wet sand it



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These dont look very wadkin



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Chaco Guides.

Postby Vann » 11 Dec 2021, 02:21

wallace wrote:...These dont look very wadkin

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They're Chaco guides - a Swiss company that still makes bandsaw guides. I have Chaco guides on my Preston (Canada) bandsaw and bought replacement plastic/resin guide bushes from Switzerland a couple of years ago. They were very good to deal with.

Scrit reckoned they were the best guides available (shame he hasn't posted for 10 or more years). I don't have enough experience to judge.

Cheers, Vann.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 11 Dec 2021, 09:13

Why do they have 3 adjustable plastic guides? For different thickness blades?
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Vann » 11 Dec 2021, 22:36

wallace wrote:Why do they have 3 adjustable plastic guides? For different thickness blades?
I'm not sure.

I've run a 5/8" blade in my bandsaw for most of the 5-6 years I've owned the machine, so I haven't experimented. The 5/8" blade only comes in contact with the front two of the three plastic strips on each side, so there's no wear occurring on the third strip.

I guess if it had been a single strip, I'd have to pull them out from time to time, and trim them, when the unworn part at the back came into contact with it's opposite strip - preventing further adjustment. This way, when they're 1/3 worn I can rotate them to even up the wear.

guiding element for guide m 35 45°.jpg
Sketch provided by Chaco.
(337.56 KiB)
Chaco guides.jpg
New guides from Chaco (left) and my old beaten-up guides (right).
(757.16 KiB)

Note: my bottom guide is a Vee guide with the wear strips at 45 degrees, but the top guide has the wear strips at 90degrees to the blade - hence some of the guides are cut square, not angled.

Cheers, Vann.
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Chaco Wear Strips.

Postby Vann » 11 Dec 2021, 22:44

Before I found out that I could get new wear strips from Chaco, I bought a couple of old bowling balls with the intention of making wear strips from lignum vitae.

I still have the balls, but between the old plastic strips and the new ones, I doubt it'll ever need wooden ones in my lifetime.

Cheers, Vann.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 02 Jan 2022, 17:57

A bit more done, I got my motor chap to put some new leads on, he also checked it with a mega and found the reading out so stuck it in the oven to dry out. He also noticed the rotor had been rubbing on the stator making a groove. Probably because of the bearings.



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The end bell got a bit filler



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I managed to find new old stock bearings which didn't cost the earth, £107 for both of them.



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This is one of those rocky horse poo items, I've had it stashed in my junk store for years waiting untill I found my holy grail bandsaw.



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A clean and coating of smchoo



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Then primer



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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 03 Jan 2022, 18:13

Now if you want to get really silly about paint you wet sand and prime again



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The table is in decent condition and still has alot of its original machining marks, but it does have the usual tea cup circles and some heavy staining. I was going to get it ground but I doubt its worth the effort and expense.



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The fence I have is designed to go to the left of the blade, this table only has fixing holes on the right so I will need to drill and tap the table.



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This paint drys to a nice soft sheen



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All this prep for 20 seconds with a spray gun



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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Robert » 03 Jan 2022, 23:37

Watching these transformations is great!

This one looks like it will be a very pretty final assembly.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Cabinetman » 04 Jan 2022, 14:06

Oh wow,that’s wonderful work.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby wallace » 11 Jan 2022, 17:42

Got the fence assembled



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The saw was missing its tag but I have a few in my stash. The eagle eyed will notice some rivets, they came from fred dibnahs place when the contents of his workshop were being auctioned off.



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I still need to put a brush on the bracket for the bottom wheel and their are brackets that look like they hold a guard that covers the blade between the wheels. Other than that its onto the next one.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby 9fingers » 11 Jan 2022, 17:44

Very pretty indeed Mark

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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby Robert » 11 Jan 2022, 18:11

Looks magnificent :)

Does that motor directly drive the bottom wheel? Blade must be moving a lot faster than on my 14" 'toy' bandsaw.
Guess it will be on a speed control drive so any speed you like is possible.

Another enjoyable thread. Hope you have some more to come.
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Re: Wadkin DH bandsaw

Postby 9fingers » 11 Jan 2022, 18:29

This earlier photo
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Suggests a shaft speed of 600 rpm and the ability to cope with a range of motor speeds with belt or geared drive.

600rpm would give 3750 FPM about right for wood.

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