On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:53:41 GMT, "R. Pierce Butler"
wrote:

I need a little advice.

The open stand Delta 14" bandsaw that belonged to my father has a bad motor
on it. Not sure what happened in storage but it overheats in a hurry. It
sounds horrible too. Run it for about 30 seconds and you can smell the
motor insulation cooking. In that short period of time the motor case get
uncomfortably warm too. This occurs with the belt off and yes it spins
freely. The motor nameplate says: "HP - 1/2B" (????) Since this is a 1/2
horse motor maybe it is time to upgrade to a 1 horse. I see some Delta
band saws come with 1.5 hp motors. Should I go all out and get a 1.5 hp
motor or is that overkill?

I need new tires for the saw. Are the Delta tires the ones to get?

Yes

My father put a household light switch on the saw which really looks hokey.
Any recommendations for an suitable on-off switch? Should I order a new
one from Delta or is there something else that I can get that is better.

Toggle switches were used for years. Held up well. Low cost.
Doesn't have that big off button that you can slap from afar if you
get in a bind, but functional.

I see that there is a release lever version of that same 14" saw. Should I
get the parts to upgrade the beast? That spring loaded tensioner is a bear
to adjust everytime I go to change a blade.

Requires some fairly close tolereance machining on the overarm casting
to retrofit the quick release/preset blade tensioning system. You can
get the better spring, and a crank handle to make tensioning an easier
task.


Be sure you get the right RPM motor, particularly if you go to the
1.5. When Delta changed to the 1.5 hp motor there were corresponding
pulley and guard changes because the output rpm changed. So if you
buy a 1.5 that would be for a recent model Delta, it would not work
without those changes. No matter the hp you want a 1725 output rpm.

Frank