Van Huskey
02-03-2011, 6:35 PM
Executive summery:
Got two bandsaws, Delta 28-350 and PM 141 net cost to me $65
Novel version:
This all started when I tried to by a VERY nice restored PM141 from a creeker. Carroll decided not to sell but he turned me on to a guy in the biz of buying and selling machines who was going out of business and had a couple of PM 141s for sale. I looked at his stuff and was more intrigued with a Mid-60s era Delta 28-250 he had with new bearings and tires. He was about 350 miles away but I was going to be within a few miles of him on business that weekend so I called him up and decided to drop by since I had to be there anyway. The Delta was in great mechanical condition but needed to visual rehab, a Sherwin Williams restoration if you will. He only wanted $475 for the saw but it was going to be a pain to come back and pick it up, he mentioned he got great freight rates so I said "call 'em up". Long story short I got it shipped to my door for $200 so $675 all in, not great but not bad. On my way back home I started to think about the PM141 he had with a fence on it (rare) and how Carroll mentioned he would like it, so I started hatching a plan, more on that later.
My grandfather in law is one of my closest friends, he runs a small business that among other things cleans and repairs apartments/trailer parts and rental homes between tenants but has recently branched out into commercial and industrial cleanup as well. He always inspects the property before letting his "crew" get started and picks up any tools etc that he or I might use. His "crew" is a couple of "scrappers" who work for almost nothing but make a good living off reselling/recycling things found in the cleanup so you gotta get stuff before they get there! Pop (my GF in-law) has a shop about 150 miles from our house and had a couple of things saved for me (a motor and some wood), I hadn't been able to get out there to see if I wanted it since it is 2 hours away but it was on way back from Houston (where the BS was) and so I stopped in to see. To my amazement the motor was a 15hp Baldor, brand new still strapped to a pallet and shrink wrapped... hmm I think this could be fun. I have a friend who owns a material handling company (many conveyors) so I called him up and got him excited, he will meet me there the next weekend. The wood was interesting also, ~250 board feet of excellent reclaimed sinker cypress, so a call to a friend who owns a cabinet shop made things even more interesting, he will meet me the next weekend also.
Fast forward to the next weekend and I am leaving Pop's shop with $1935 in my pocket and watching the wood and the motor be loaded and my conveyor friend owes me a single phase 2 hp motor for the Delta. So now we have the Delta paid for and still have $1265 in my pocket, woo hoo!
Over that week I had planned to return to Houston with my SUV and get the PM 141 with the fence (so I could get Carrol his fence). So now with a fist full of cash I am off to Houston again. After some dickering with the machine salesman again (I want this saw, that motor cover, this fence etc etc) I left him with a PM 141 Gumby w/fence for $525. Now off to Carroll's house outside Houston to trade the fence for seventy five George Washingtons (honestly if I didn't like Carroll so much I would still have the fence, because I have never even seen one in the wild before). Now returning home with $815 in my pocket minus $138 in fuel for the second trip (first was business) so I am home with 2 saws still up $677.
Now it is time to take stock in what I have to do to make these machines what I want.
First the Delta:
Mechanically, it is fine and he put a new Timber Wolf 3/8" blade on it, funny when I started to make the first cut at his shop I noticed the tick tick tick of a bad weld... go figure... :) I consider the guides and though they are usable Carter is having a 20% off + free shipping sale at the time so I figure why not. Just under $170 and I have new Carter guides on the way. The brake needs relining so $10 to Mcmaster Carr for the material to relign it about 5 times. It needs new handles for the trunnion bolts (original ones are $50) Mcmaster Carr has near perfect replacements for 25. $70 bucks for paint and paint removal supplies and she will be finished. So now I am down to being "up" $275. Well I thought I was done but a $45 1/4" Lenox bimetal blade, a OEM blade insert ($20) and a 5ft of Linkbelt I had @ $4 a ft now has me down to $190 up... :(
Now on to Gumby (the 141). I had found a guy with a couple of tires for it for $30 shipped. Carter full retrofit guides would be nice but I will never use them so a $45 deal on a Carter Stabilzer took care of the guide situation. $30 for paint and and $10 worth of 6200 series bearings and I am ready to go, almost. The worst thing about having two homes is you always have what you need at the other house (for me 700 miles away) so $20 more dollars for a cheap gear puller to get the stuck upper wheel off, oh yeah and 5 more feet of my link belt for another $20 down. So now I am $45 up. Tracked down a 3 pk of HPDE inserts to fit for $10 and Gumby has all his pieces ready to assemble.
So two weekends of running and two bandsaw projects later and I am still $35 to the good, a stop at Bass Pro Shops for a $100 gift certificate for Pop and I have the makings of two excellent bandsaws for some time and $65 out of my pocket, I guess it sorta beats the luxury of a few clicks at the Grizzly store and paying over $2 for similarly capable saws.
Pics and some info on the saws follow in the next couple of posts.
Got two bandsaws, Delta 28-350 and PM 141 net cost to me $65
Novel version:
This all started when I tried to by a VERY nice restored PM141 from a creeker. Carroll decided not to sell but he turned me on to a guy in the biz of buying and selling machines who was going out of business and had a couple of PM 141s for sale. I looked at his stuff and was more intrigued with a Mid-60s era Delta 28-250 he had with new bearings and tires. He was about 350 miles away but I was going to be within a few miles of him on business that weekend so I called him up and decided to drop by since I had to be there anyway. The Delta was in great mechanical condition but needed to visual rehab, a Sherwin Williams restoration if you will. He only wanted $475 for the saw but it was going to be a pain to come back and pick it up, he mentioned he got great freight rates so I said "call 'em up". Long story short I got it shipped to my door for $200 so $675 all in, not great but not bad. On my way back home I started to think about the PM141 he had with a fence on it (rare) and how Carroll mentioned he would like it, so I started hatching a plan, more on that later.
My grandfather in law is one of my closest friends, he runs a small business that among other things cleans and repairs apartments/trailer parts and rental homes between tenants but has recently branched out into commercial and industrial cleanup as well. He always inspects the property before letting his "crew" get started and picks up any tools etc that he or I might use. His "crew" is a couple of "scrappers" who work for almost nothing but make a good living off reselling/recycling things found in the cleanup so you gotta get stuff before they get there! Pop (my GF in-law) has a shop about 150 miles from our house and had a couple of things saved for me (a motor and some wood), I hadn't been able to get out there to see if I wanted it since it is 2 hours away but it was on way back from Houston (where the BS was) and so I stopped in to see. To my amazement the motor was a 15hp Baldor, brand new still strapped to a pallet and shrink wrapped... hmm I think this could be fun. I have a friend who owns a material handling company (many conveyors) so I called him up and got him excited, he will meet me there the next weekend. The wood was interesting also, ~250 board feet of excellent reclaimed sinker cypress, so a call to a friend who owns a cabinet shop made things even more interesting, he will meet me the next weekend also.
Fast forward to the next weekend and I am leaving Pop's shop with $1935 in my pocket and watching the wood and the motor be loaded and my conveyor friend owes me a single phase 2 hp motor for the Delta. So now we have the Delta paid for and still have $1265 in my pocket, woo hoo!
Over that week I had planned to return to Houston with my SUV and get the PM 141 with the fence (so I could get Carrol his fence). So now with a fist full of cash I am off to Houston again. After some dickering with the machine salesman again (I want this saw, that motor cover, this fence etc etc) I left him with a PM 141 Gumby w/fence for $525. Now off to Carroll's house outside Houston to trade the fence for seventy five George Washingtons (honestly if I didn't like Carroll so much I would still have the fence, because I have never even seen one in the wild before). Now returning home with $815 in my pocket minus $138 in fuel for the second trip (first was business) so I am home with 2 saws still up $677.
Now it is time to take stock in what I have to do to make these machines what I want.
First the Delta:
Mechanically, it is fine and he put a new Timber Wolf 3/8" blade on it, funny when I started to make the first cut at his shop I noticed the tick tick tick of a bad weld... go figure... :) I consider the guides and though they are usable Carter is having a 20% off + free shipping sale at the time so I figure why not. Just under $170 and I have new Carter guides on the way. The brake needs relining so $10 to Mcmaster Carr for the material to relign it about 5 times. It needs new handles for the trunnion bolts (original ones are $50) Mcmaster Carr has near perfect replacements for 25. $70 bucks for paint and paint removal supplies and she will be finished. So now I am down to being "up" $275. Well I thought I was done but a $45 1/4" Lenox bimetal blade, a OEM blade insert ($20) and a 5ft of Linkbelt I had @ $4 a ft now has me down to $190 up... :(
Now on to Gumby (the 141). I had found a guy with a couple of tires for it for $30 shipped. Carter full retrofit guides would be nice but I will never use them so a $45 deal on a Carter Stabilzer took care of the guide situation. $30 for paint and and $10 worth of 6200 series bearings and I am ready to go, almost. The worst thing about having two homes is you always have what you need at the other house (for me 700 miles away) so $20 more dollars for a cheap gear puller to get the stuck upper wheel off, oh yeah and 5 more feet of my link belt for another $20 down. So now I am $45 up. Tracked down a 3 pk of HPDE inserts to fit for $10 and Gumby has all his pieces ready to assemble.
So two weekends of running and two bandsaw projects later and I am still $35 to the good, a stop at Bass Pro Shops for a $100 gift certificate for Pop and I have the makings of two excellent bandsaws for some time and $65 out of my pocket, I guess it sorta beats the luxury of a few clicks at the Grizzly store and paying over $2 for similarly capable saws.
Pics and some info on the saws follow in the next couple of posts.