Major Vintage Gloat worth waiting for

[John Bailey]

I took a few years looking for this model bandsaw. I posted when I first got it a few weeks ago. I'd like to say I restored this bandsaw. The truth is that when I got it all apart, all I had to do was clean it all up and repaint it. It's an Oliver 192 Heavy Duty model. Oliver called it a portable bandsaw. At over 600#'s, I don't think we would call it portable these days.

I had to take it all apart to get it in the truck and transport it. This is it as it was when I got it in my shop.

This is the finished machine, front view.



And back



And finally open.

It's Sunday, 5:00 P.M. and I'm done for the day. It's got a 1/2 hp. 875 rpm direct drive, 3 phase motor. I've got a 2 hp. VFD that I'll be figuring out how to set up this week. I'm going to post a thread in the Workshop Forum to get help with that. Until then, I'll not be able to crank 'er up. Can't wait.

John

[glenn bradley]

That is a beautiful beast and I love the fact that the blade exits straight towards the operator. When did we decide it was safer for the blade to have to be contorted for us to change them?

[Bill Houghton]

That is a beautiful beast and I love the fact that the blade exits straight towards the operator. When did we decide it was safer for the blade to have to be contorted for us to change them?

The advantage to having the blade removable through the side is that your trunnions can be on both sides of the cutting area (in front of and behind). I've got a 1950's bandsaw on which the table is cantilevered over the point of greatest stress because the blade exits out the front, and I've always worried about having those parts break.

Not so sure that's a big issue on an Oliver - it's my impression that most of them could probably handle nuclear attacks without breaking.

[John Bailey]

Thanks Glen,

Don't know about when the slot went the other way, but I would guess it has to do with cost more that safety. The slot on this one has to be cast into the machine to get the blade by the cast ledge that is the attachment point for the rip fence. Modern machines have a bolt on arrangement that would get in the way of taking the blades off that way.

Just a guess on my point.

John

[John Bailey]

The advantage to having the blade removable through the side is that your trunnions can be on both sides of the cutting area (in front of and behind). I've got a 1950's bandsaw on which the table is cantilevered over the point of greatest stress because the blade exits out the front, and I've always worried about having those parts break.

Not so sure that's a big issue on an Oliver - it's my impression that most of them could probably handle nuclear attacks without breaking.

There is only one trunnion on this table - heavy duty for sure - but just one.

John

[David G Baker]

John,
You sure do a beautiful job!

[Matt Ocel]

John -

Well done!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Nice job John! It's good to see another great old Oliver get a good home.

[Bob Noles]

Oh boy John! This one wins a blue ribbon for sure. It looks as good if not better than the day it rolled off the assembly line. What a great job you did. You are going to enjoy that one the rest of your life. Oh to have something like that sitting in my shop

Fantastic work ole friend!

[Matt Meiser]

I love the new look!

[Jim Becker]

Wow, John...you did a dynamite job on that restoration!!!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Fantastic restoration John!

[Brian Clevenger]

Nice work John.

I think a man would be hard pressed to find a tool of that quality today.

That table is huge!

[Rick Fisher]

Beautiful job.

Is that correct that it has a 1/2hp motor?

Its nice to see that saw in such good condition.

[John Bailey]

Beautiful job.

Is that correct that it has a 1/2hp motor?

Its nice to see that saw in such good condition.

That's right Rick, it's only a 1/2 hp. motor. However, and this is something I wasn't aware of until I did some research, because it's a 875 RPM motor, it produces a lot of torque. If you look at many of the vintage machines, most were low hp compared to what we have today. If you look at what a modern day 900 RPM motor costs today, you'll see they are close to double that of the typical 1725. The Oliver has direct drive also, which means there is no loss of hp associated with the belt and pulley system.

The surface feet per minute (sfpm) is about 4,100 with a 875 RPM motor. Any thing over 5,000, or so, on this machine, could cause blade fatigue. I could get by with a 1,200 RPM motor, but I would have to dial the variable frequency drive (VFD) down. A 1725 RPM motor would just create too much sfpm.

I'm going to leave the original motor for the time being. I did buy a 2 hp. VFD just in case I want to move up later.

John