Craftsman 103.0103 Bandsaw kinda weird

[Andrew Bracken]

I ended up with my dad's old Craftsman bandsaw a couple days ago. It's a priceless piece of machinery to me, as it originally belonged to my long-passed grandfather.

After doing some searching online I started noticing some irregularities with this saw... Most notably is the knob that controls the angle of the top wheel (not sure right now of the proper term for this) coming out of the front rather than the back. Clearly the front panel was altered due to the rather large opening done by a cutting torch some many years ago, and the hole through the back panel is there for the adjustment knob...but there's no place for the adjustment knob to go through to adjust it. I am looking to recondition this saw to it's original glory, so any ideas would be appreciated! I did disassemble it a bit and I have a hunch there's some Frankenstein-ing involved but the parts look to be OEM so not sure...

Also it works fine as is but has a noticeable wobble to the wheels when it turns, but I have a feeling it's due to the back pulley being not tight and/or the tires being old and worn.
346858

[mark mcfarlane]

I have no tips for restoration, other than that is a beautiful piece of nostalgia. Very cool. I wonder if there is a way to restore the current paint, e.g. a little rubbing compound O(or more modern chemical compound) and clear coat/wax,... I love the look of this saw.

[Doug Hepler]

Andrew,

Two suggestions.

(1) Go to vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4696

(2) google
Craftsman 103.0103 Bandsaw

I had many old power tools (from the late 1930's) and OWWM (now vintagemachinery) was very useful. Many people enjoy restoring old WW tools for fun and profit.

Doug

[Mike Wilkins]

I have that same machine, which I got for a real great price-free. Had to add a fair amount of elbow grease to get it looking and running right, but it is a really nice machine. The OWWN site has some fine examples of restorations of this same machine. I had to replace the tires, as the originals had dry-rotted to the point of being useless. All the nuts, bolts, fasteners, guides, etc. were wire-brushed or polished to get rid of the rust, but not to the point of looking show-room perfect.

Got my replacement blue tires from Lee Valley. The table top got a liberal application of elbow grease and painted edges. The round throat plate will have to be sourced from raw material of the same thickness, as the originals or replacements are non-existent. The blade guides are either brass or bronze, and can be treated with sand paper to get a smooth face.

Good luck and keep us posted of your progress.

[Gail Ludwig]

I have this bandsaw too! Like others, it was given to me for free. It was missing the upper blade guide and I found a fellow on Ebay who made a new one for me. In fact, he uses the photos I took to sell the guide online. I never have changed the tires - but am thinking about doing it sometime soon. I don't have a fence for it and am seriously thinking of buying or making one. It is a real beast though - Mine sits on a solid welded "bench" which weighs a ton!!

[Myk Rian]

(1) Go to vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4696
OWWM (now vintagemachinery) was very useful.
Why do people keep saying this? It's wrong.

owwm.org is a separate website/forum. Go there, make an account, and get all the help you need.
vintagemachinery.org is a repository of information, such as user manuals, etc.

[Thomas Pratt]

Small world!!!! I have one just like it. I figure it was vintage of the late thirties - before WW2. I finally gave up on it and bought a new BS. The old one is still under the house and maybe some parts you could use when you get into some restoration. (I live in Marietta GA.)

[Andrew Bracken]

Andrew,

Two suggestions.

(1) Go to vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=4696

(2) google
Craftsman 103.0103 Bandsaw



I had many old power tools (from the late 1930's) and OWWM (now vintagemachinery) was very useful. Many people enjoy restoring old WW tools for fun and profit.

Doug For some reason the website mentioned above doesn't work...or at least doesn't work for me. I have done a fair amount of research on this saw and was surprised to see what little info I could find. I was also thinking of upgrading the blade guide, as I saw one on ebay that supposedly fits this saw and thinking of trying it out.

[Andrew Bracken]

Small world!!!! I have one just like it. I figure it was vintage of the late thirties - before WW2. I finally gave up on it and bought a new BS. The old one is still under the house and maybe some parts you could use when you get into some restoration. (I live in Marietta GA.) I live in Cleveland, Ohio haha. However I think I've narrowed down what is weird with my saw... There's a part on the upper wheel hinge that I think is the wrong part for this particular saw, it's the part that goes on the two posts that is part of the tension adjustment as well as the mount point. I think someone replaced it with a similar part (perhaps from a different model saw?) and I may be in need of replacing that and then trying to repair the hole in the front door. Ideally, my plan would be to replace that part and get a new front top door/cover, find a match for the old blue paint and clean and repaint the whole thing. I also am looking at some new tires for the wheels as I think these are dry rotted as well.

[Doug Hepler]

Andrew

I checked the link to vintagemachinery before I replied to your post, and it worked then, But yesterday evening I tried it again and it was down.

As I recall, the vintage machinery website used to be named OWWM. There were two -- a forum and a reference site with different domain extensions, maybe .org and .com. I think that they were related. Then one changed its name to vintagemachinery. I think the forum is still called OWWM. I am responding from memory but you can verify this yourself. The history is explained on the vintagemachinery website somewhere but since it is down at the moment I could not check. My point is that you might need both the forum and the reference site.

Doug.

[Andrew Bracken]

Andrew

I checked the link to vintagemachinery before I replied to your post, and it worked then, But yesterday evening I tried it again and it was down.

As I recall, the vintage machinery website used to be named OWWM. There were two -- a forum and a reference site with different domain extensions, maybe .org and .com. I think that they were related. Then one changed its name to vintagemachinery. I think the forum is still called OWWM. I am responding from memory but you can verify this yourself. The history is explained on the vintagemachinery website somewhere but since it is down at the moment I could not check. My point is that you might need both the forum and the reference site.

Doug.Thank you, Doug, apparently the website is operational again and was able to download the parts list per the link you supplied. I have narrowed down the part I need. The part I have is definitely not the correct part for this saw, and am unsure of which saw it came from. Are there part numbers on the parts? If so, I can disassemble it again and find out. The part # I need is 13008 in the parts list.

Is there anyone here that knows which paint is closest to the original blue paint used?

[Doug Hepler]

Andrew,

Happy to hear that it helped. I recommend that you also try www.OWWM.org for specific questions. OWWM.org is a user forum and might offer you the highest chance of finding somebody who can answer specific questions.

Doug

[Myk Rian]

As I recall, the vintage machinery website used to be named OWWM. There were two -- a forum and a reference site with different domain extensions, maybe .org and .com. I think that they were related.
No. No. No. No. No.
OWWM and VM have ALWAYS been separate sites. The only thing they have in common is a clickable link to each other.

[Randall J Cox]

No. No. No. No. No.
OWWM and VM have ALWAYS been separate sites. The only thing they have in common is a clickable link to each other.

Myk rian is correct, they are separate sites. I have been a member of OWWM for years and have rebuilt 3-4 old pieces of woodworking machinery, an invaluable site for info from other members as is the VM site for historical data on the machines and their pics. Randy

[Doug Hepler]

Gentlemen:

I do not understand what is causing the passion. I did not say that vintagemachinery.org and owwwm.com are the same organization. They are different and have been as long as I have known about them. Quote:"The OWWM.org site is totally separate from the OWWM.com/VintageMachinery.org site in that it is hosted and administered by two different and distinct groups of people. With that said, the two sites work in concert with each other and most of each site's contributors belong to the other."
reference: http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/History.ashx

What I did say is that vintagemachinery.org used to be known as owwm.com. In fact, vintagemachinery.org still uses owwm.com as part of its name, as you can see from the quotation above and from the web page I cited. Please read the web page I cited. Also, I remember trying to keep the two of them straight in the old days before the name vintagemachinery.org came into use.

The fact is, my earlier post helped the OP, which is the point. I also explained the two different web sites (repository and user forum) in a subsequent post, which I think also helped him to solve his problem.

I won't participate in hijacking his thread any more. I just wanted to add a factual basis to this discussion.

Doug

Source: http://wiki.vintagemacery.org/History.ashx

[Stephen Feren]

Hi. I'm trying to fix up an old 103.0103 bandsaw that my grandfather owned... and I need 2 parts... and I live in Marietta, GA too! Is there any chance we could talk?