(continued from part I)


The Cleanup

I decided to start cleaning from top to bottom with paper
towels and a spray bottle of 409 and a solvent tray of naphtha for cleaning
the
removed metal parts.
I first removed the upper blade guide assembly (blade rollers) and detail
stripped it, re-lubed and reassembled. No surprises here. To
remove and clean the telescoping blade guard (removal is the
only way to get it clean) requires some more work. There are
two small screws that secure it to the saw frame behind the
upper door. The bottom bolt is easy; the top bolt is
inaccessible behind the upper wheel. Since I wanted to clean
everything now while I am still excited with my new toy (a
month from now I won't be as enthusiastic about detail
cleaning!), I decide to "go for it". Removal of the top wheel
is easy. One largish hub bolt was removed which allowed me to
use a large three-jaw puller inside the wheel spoke holes. No
difficulty, the wheel slid off with minimal torque on the
puller screw. Behind the wheel is a wide spacer. After
marking the outline of the blade guard flange with a marker
pen for realignment, I pulled the guard and cleaned it up
easily with a brush and the naphtha pan.
Removing the guard allows easy access to the guide support
assembly that is also well greased up. I decided not to
further disassemble this section since major realignment
could be involved. A toothbrush and rag on a stick did an adequate job. I did
notice several things at this point.
All of the alignment adjustments on the saw so far are either
slots with cinch bolts or jamb bolts/nuts. I¹ll comment on
this later.
Next came the blade tension assembly. I carefully marked the
"calibration" of the tension gauge, removed the tension unit,
cleaned, greased and reinstalled. No surprises or
difficulties.

That was about it for day one of cleaning, about 4 hours and one
roll of paper towels later.


Day 2,
I proceeded to clean the lower half of the saw (table on
down). Removal of the table was easy, just one big bolt that
locks the tilt on the trunion needed to be removed. The table
is very heavy! (24x17²) It should be noted that the trunion is located
well off center from the table and once this bolt is removed
the table can easily fall off to the side. Once removed, I
cleaned both sides of the table but I decided not to remove
the trunion from the table. There are four bolts that connect
the two together, but each one also acts as a jamb nut to
help force the table into shape and align the two parts. Many
degrees of freedom here to play with so I'll wait until I am
ready for serious aligning and squaring before touching these
bolts. Cleaning was still easy enough with a rag and
toothbrush. A quick check with a straight edge showed the table was dead
flat.

Disassembly of the lower blade guides was exactly like the
top. I decided to remove the lower wheel to clean behind it
and get a good look at the brake/kill switch mechanism. I
pulled the drive belt by releasing the motor tension
adjustment (a jack screw). The wheel came off with only hand
turning of the puller screw required, very smooth. No grease
behind the wheel to worry about but I did notice that the
brake pedal was shipped in a retracted position. I had to
relocate a screw attached to the brake arm into the hole in
the pedal to set the mechanism up correctly. I had read about people using
the mobility kit (which attaches to this brake pedal) to move the machine
before securing this second screw. The result usually was a sheared screw. A
little further
cleaning of the lower chamber followed by removal of the door
hinges for degreasing and the saw was ready to set up. I'll
wait for another day to do this.
The motor power is supplied through a short cord with no plug attached. Based
on Erik¹s statements, I mounted a small metal electrical box near the motor
and wired in 25 feet of 12/3 cord with the proper plug for my 220 volt power
outlets.
Second day cleaning and reassembly took about 2 hours.

Adjustments and Observations

The table
The table had a nice smooth finish with the only defect worth
noting, a dime sized area of porous casting. This was still
flat and was only cosmetic. I didn¹t see it until the table
was cleaned and I was waxing its surface. The finish was a
bit better than my Unisaw, it had the large circular grind
marks which indicates Blanchard grinding I think (?). Other
user reports I read had stated that the finish was relatively
rough compared to other saws so I guess they have improved
the finish in response. The casting is thick and was
obviously painted before surface grinding. The underside is
well ribbed for rigidity but plenty of flat areas for
clamping feather boards and other devices. I was worried that the long cut
for blade installation would give the table a nice place to warp, but the
casting design with ribs in the right places made this a non-issue.

Castings and Finish

One of the things I noticed while disassembling was how well all
parts were finished. Welds were all smooth and sharp edges on
the table and fence nicely chamfered. The "hidden" castings
were left rough however. I had noticed when I first moved the
table from it's 45 degree tilted position (as shipped) to flat that the
motion was kind of rough. After removing the table I saw why,
the edges of the machined trunion ways were rough and sharp.
A quick pass with a file cleaned it all right up and tilting
is as smooth as I'd expect it should be. All castings appeared to be iron
with the exception of the blade guide holder thing-ma-job. It looked to be
aluminum.

The Fence

I had heard that the newer saws were being shipped with
upgraded fences (taller). My saw came with a very robust cast
iron fence a full 4" high and 1" thick, machined on the top
and both faces. There were no predrilled/tapped holes for
mounting risers as stated with the old model fence, but no
big deal. The fence walls are about 1/4" thick (interior is
hollow) so drilling/tapping will be easy enough and provide
plenty of meat for bolt holding strength once I decide what
additional fence accessories I need to add.
The fence slides along a solid steel square guide bar with a
Inch unit measuring tape riveted onto the top surface in a shallow
recess. At 3/4² x 1², no worries about this puppy getting crushed or bent!
The guide is attached to the table with two short flat brackets that give
plenty of adjustment room in every direction but up/down (could do this with
washers if needed).
The slide that mates the fence to the guide bar is a hefty
cast iron part well machined and smooth operating. A single screw lever locks
it to the guide rail. Inset into
this slide is a sight glass that has a pointer and magnifies the
scale on the guide bar. There is enough parallax as you move
your head side to side while aligning up the mark to make
this fence measuring guide very iffy for anything better that
1/8" inch. A fixed pointer that slides directly on the measuring tape would
have been more useful. There is adjustability to align the measuring tape
with the blade by moving the fence guide bar, but I consider
this fence position feature of the saw useless. I¹ll stick to using a steel
ruler between the fence and blade to get my settings.
The fence adjusts for blade lead by pivoting on a roll pin
and clamping with a bolt. A very sturdy and nice arrangement
but be warned! When I was removing the fence from the slide to clean, I
taped the pin down so I could more easily separate the fence. It turns out
that the pinhole drilled into the
slide is a blind hole so if you drive the pin too far, it'll
be very difficult to remove. Fortunately I stopped short with
about 1/4" to spare and was able to ease it back out with
some pliers. As an afterthought I really didn¹t need to take these two pieces
apart. The fence rides on the table via four machined
flats on the fences lower edge. Squaring for vertical should be easy
enough with a file once the saw is fully set up and aligned.
A quick check with a machinists square shows it is within a
hair of being dead on.

Lockdowns

A band saw does not get the daily adjustment of table tilt
and blade guide adjustments like a table saw does (at least
in my case) therefore I don¹t expect the mechanisms to be as
"user friendly" or refined.
Of note is the table tilt trunion. There is one largish bolt
(easily accessible) to loosen before you can tilt. The
trunion also includes a readable angle scale and crisp
pointer for angle referencing but I'd feel better using a
dedicated angle gauge if I required accuracy better than a
few degrees.
The lower blade guide assembly is aligned by a slotted bar
and one bolt. All fine adjustment is done with fine pitch
screws and sliding bar locks on the guide holder casting so this coarse
adjustment will only need changing when the table is tilted. The lower guides
can be positioned very close to the table top surface this way.

The upper wheel location (tilt and blade tension) uses a nice
beefy casting with a lead screw arrangement and close fitting
spindle carrier that rides in a ground slot. Tilt is
accomplished buy a pivot rod at the upper end of the
assembly. Fore/aft location of the wheel axis is controlled
by another set of jamb bolts. The only reason I could see needing to adjust
these is if your blade ends up tilted excessively with the table. The lead
screw rides on a roller thrust bearing with flat races for nice smooth
operation even under heavy blade tension. The wheel co-planar
adjust has a locking lever to keep everything set.

Wheels
The wheels are massive cast iron with only three small oval
cutouts that effectively create three spokes. It would be
best to describe them as solid rimmed wheels. I saw evidence
on the backs of the wheels where balancing was done both with
securely riveted weight additions and small holes drilled
into the rims. The tires are "flat" and fit into grooves in
the wheels. Runout was within 0.002² at the rim in both axis.

-Bruce
(continued in part III)