Yates American Bandsaw Wheels

[Rob Will]

What type of wheels did YA Snowflake BS's come equipped with?
I saw a picture of a Y-30 that had a steel disc bottom wheel but you could see through the top. Was this a cast spoked wheel? Just trying to figure out the original config.

Are the "Snowflakes" direct drive and are the blade speeds as screaming fast as the Tannewitz DD "G" series?

Thanks,
Rob

[Bill Simmeth]

They had solid disc wheels. You can see them quite well in the first pic on this page... http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/detail.asp?id=740

I believe the standard motor was 900 rpm, just like Tannewitz. Of course on a 30" saw that would net out to about 7,000 sfpm vs. the 8,500 sfpm on a 36".

[Dev Emch]

Mine came with solid wheels but some had carter wheels and yet others have round holes in a solid disc. I am not a fan of the carter wheels as they are made from two pressings rivoted together to make a wheel. They tend to have concentricity issues in comparison to these solid wheels. Concentricity issues causes the blade to wonder left and right resulting in a nasty saw kerf pattern on a resaw. You will certainly need the timesaver sander after seeing one of these off wheel's results! So solid wheels for me. Also, there is virtually no spoke windage so they run much quieter than a spoke wheel does. I personally know of THREE Oliver 416 bandsaws, at least a dozen assorted Yates snowflakes ranging from 20 inches to 42 inches, several tannewitz bandsaws, etc. In each case, the owner is happy as a clam. This is esp. true of the oliver 416s which often came out of pattern shops. In pattern shops, you often found both the oliver 416 and the oliver 273 which is a massive 1500 poundish jig saw on growth hormones and steriods. These were used to make patterns for extremely large globe valves, etc. The higher speed was never an issue. And when it comes to snowflake owners, well, that is a cult in themselves. You have not lived until you lay your hands on a Y-36 Snowflake. This thing is just simply massive! The entire lower wheel is encased in the single cast iron body casting which is why this thing weighs around 4000 pounds. And as massive as this beastie is, it can run a 1/4 inch blade with surgical precision. A buddy of mine uses a 36 inch Oliver 416 to cut out tiny furniture parts as well as resaw and rip on this thing. The furniture industry was tannewitz crazy and you often see 36 and 42 inch tannys in these old furniture factories. They seem to have been quite happy with them as well. Personally I am not that giddy about the tanny because I dont like those round tuna fish guards on the wheels. I think the guards and lower doors on the snowflake simply looks better. But this is stricly an asethic observation and in way should detract from the tanny as a viable candidate.