Centauro CO 600 questions

[Mike Kees]

So I pulled the trigger on a Centauro CO 600 today. Got the thing for a $1/mm .(600). It is in decent condition now,was working right up till I bought it.There are a bunch of little things to straighten out. 1. handle for the blade tracking is gone,guy welded a nut on the stud so he could use a wrench. 2. dust collection port is broken. The hinges on the doors are slightly bent,and it needs a good clean-up. If someone has a pic of the tracking knob/handle setup that would be awesome. Pretty much everything else is an hour or so at the shop. Also wondering if anyone owns this saw what blades are your favorites. I will be ripping and resawing some,but basically an all around workhorse to cut anything I can shove thru it. Van I now have four bandsaws at my shop ,is that enough ?

[Van Huskey]

Four is plenty if you only use 4 blades...

I have the Centauro CO HD 600 that they white label for SCM and plan to get another one. They are very similar except the HD is built a little heavier to support the extra resaw height. Frankly, they are my favorite WORKING saw there are other larger ones that I like a lot but I am just a fanboy for this saw, Sam Blasco feels the same. We were talking bandsaws at IWF and while he likes the 900 for sheer presence the 600 is the one he loves.

I assume you want a carbide blade for resawing/ripping. My three favorites which also seem to be the conventional wisdom is the Laguna Resaw King and the Lenox Trimaster and Woodmaster CT. I listed them from best to worst finish and also least aggressive to most aggressive. It just depends on where your balance point is. Not the finish of the Woodmaster is still really good and you can still cut quickly with the RK. I have all three and favor them differently depending on the cut. If you don't plan to resaw enough to get a carbide blade The Woodmaster C and Woodmaster B are good more economical options. With the carbide blades I would go with 1", you can probably tension a 1 1/4" but I am 100% certain on the non-HD CO. With the Woodmaster C and B you can go to 1 1/4" but only in the .035" kerf, you don't want the .042" kerf.

While I am loathed to recommend a general purpose blade, I do know what you are saying. Without knowing what you have strung on the other saws I'll just answer as if you only have the one. I consider the Lenox Diemaster 2 3/8" x 4tpi x .035" to be an excellent blade for a big saw. You can't use it for tight curves or thin stock but it will work with most anything else, though obviously slowly on deep cuts. As long as you have a more narrow higher TPI blade somewhere else this blade will handle a LOT of cuts.

That is a really good saw. I wouldn't even worry about the welded nut assuming you don't plan to change blades often. I might use a ratchet though, in my mind it seems less unwieldy.

[Mike Kees]

My other saws are a Delta 14'' with riser block,a Steel city 18'' and a Walker Turner 16'' sitting in a corner waiting for restoration. I really like the Steel city and will probably keep it as my ''smaller'' saw. The Delta may get sold. I just got this Centauro home today and unloaded at my shop. Pulled the 'bolt' out for the tracking and it is slightly bent so I will be replacing it. That is really the only actual repair needed. Cleaning and adjusting properly and maybe some fresh paint. The tires are in great shape. How do you Know when bearings in the wheels need replacing ?

[Van Huskey]

Bad wheel bearings usually start with an unusual sound, just a general mechanical roughness that you are able to isolate to the wheels or wheels. Once you get it up and running if it is smooth then likely all is well.

As for blades I would not just think about one saw but think of them as a unit. If you have two saws put a different blade on each that covers the most cuts you generally make, use the same thought process for 3 or 4 or X number of saws. Some people may have a type of cut they make a LOT of, in that case a saw with a more dedicated blade is in order, even if it means changing blades every so often on the other saw. One thing I see people occasionally do is when they get a new bigger saw they want to use it for everything, obviously, that is their choice but there are things a little 14" saw does just as well as a 36" behemoth. Again, I suggest you decide on which saws you plan to keep and make a plan for blades based around what each saw can do and how often you make those cuts.

[Brent Malwicks]

Hm, I don't have a pic of the tracking knob because I don't use a Centauro CO 600. I have the SKIL 3386-01 bandsaw, but I use my friend's Grizzly sometimes and I really like both. The bandsaw blades that have worked quite well for me are Timber Wolf, Bosch Metal, and the DEWALT DW3984C portable.

[David Kumm]

Once you change a large carbide blade and make sure it is tracking, you won't want to change it often. Bandsaw wheels turn slowly so the spindle bearings are more likely good than the motor bearings. Euro metric frame motors running on our 60 hz system tend to run warm and most motor failures begin with bad bearings so look them over and change if needed. SKF Explorer or Natchi Quest are a little better grade of bearing but still quite cheap. Dave

[Mike Kees]

Dave I have seen posts where you guys talk about the Euro motors being 50 hertz. The motor on this saw is 60 hertz,made in Italy. Is that normal or a rarity ?

[Bill Dufour]

Dave I have seen posts where you guys talk about the Euro motors being 50 hertz. The motor on this saw is 60 hertz,made in Italy. Is that normal or a rarity ?
Normal but I bet the rpm is funky. They just use the same motor and change the data plate.
BTW is this a bandsaw or a gang saw?
Bill D

[Mike Kees]

Bandsaw. So would the RPM be faster or slower ?

[David Kumm]

A Euro motor may be built for the US market at 60 hz or wound for the Euro market at 50 hz and just run faster, creating higher horsepower. That is why you see many SCM motors as 9 hp in the US. At 50 hz they were 7.5 hp. When that is the case, the motor is actually running at a slightly lower volt to hz ratio which can cause it to run warmer. The pulleys may be sized differently for the US market to maintain the same wheel speed as in Europe, or they may run 20% faster. Bandsaws range from 4000-8000 fpm. Steel saws tend to run more slowly due to vibration transmission of steel while cast iron saws often ran faster. Dave

[Bill Dufour]

A 50HZ motor run on 60Hz will run 6/5 faster.

[Mike Kees]

Thanks for the information on 50/60 hertz .

[Van Huskey]

The speed of these motors is directly proportional to the hertz, theoretically. Farther from the hertz they are wound for it becomes drifts farther from directly proportional. Quite a few of these have actual 60hz motors since the ones for export to NA often had larger motors than for domestic and Euro sales. They no longer have a separate CO line for export but they do with the CO HD which has 60hz motors and more hp. There is a good chance if your motor says 60hz (only) it is indeed 60hz. Not really an issue anyway since the duty cycle for bandsaws is usually short in a hobby shop. The biggest issue is some of the smaller saws that are 15+ years old now that had low hp metric framed motors that North Americans like to push harder due to the low hp. One thing to note is I have zero knowledge of what was exported specifically to Canada.

[David Kumm]

My point regarding the motor was only to check and likely replace the bearings. My non scientific anecdotal experience is that I've never blown an old large frame nema motor ( I have about 40 of those ) but I have had to rewind Euro motors a couple of times on 20-30 year old machines ( out of about a sample of ten ). Too many wires packed into a small frame depending on the insulation rather than air and space. They need more care than the old large frame motors that I've seen packed tightly with grease and sawdust but still running. Dave

[Bill Dufour]

I would guess those Euro motors use better insulation and varnish on the coils so they thought they could pack them tighter and smaller. They have rewound some generators from the 1930's on big dams in the west with modern square or hex wire and thinner modern varnish to get something like 20% increase in output. So it was worth doing even if the old stuff was still working fine.
Not saying it is worth doing on anything under 10,000 Hp or so.

[Tom M King]

I doubt you have to worry about the motor. We pushed mine hard for four hours at the time, making Cypress shingles, on several days, and it never even got warm. It was old when I bought it.

[Van Huskey]

Just to put the cherry on top Dave is 100% correct that the weakest point of the older Italian saws and saws from the former Soviet Bloc countries are indeed to motors and electrical. The motors tended to be underpowered compared to what we are used to and the small frame motors wound for 50hz naturally run hotter on 60hz so that is harder on winding insulation and motor bearings that also see higher rpm. So it stands to reason that they would see a higher failure rate than bearings on larger framed 60hz motors. There are also some known issues with switchgear for example some early MM16s.

Centauro (as with others) often has a different spec for export saws. Those saws destined for NA usually had higher HP motors and were wound for 60hz and other things like the table will tilt to a full 45 degrees which is not allowed in most of Europe. I think the OP's saw avoids any of these issues but I can't be sure without seeing it but it is always a valid issue to raise with older European bandsaws.

[David Kumm]

Trust but verify. Bearings are an easy swap. Dave