I have an 18" Parks bandsaw that I bought a few years ago at a school auction and have been using since. It began making a horrible sound today, and I found the sound was coming from the main shaft that connects the driven pulley to the lower wheel. I finally got it apart tonight and found two things that I am wondering about.
The bearing right behind the lower wheel has worn into the shaft. The shaft is supposed to be 20mm, and is 19.5mm in the spot where the bearing sits. The original diameter is visible as a raised area between where the bearing was and the end where the wheel was, which I cleaned up a bit. I clearly need to do something to repair this. I need to add 1/4mm all the way around. It seems that Loctite 638 or maybe 660 would be one way to do this, or I could try to find a suitable piece of shim stock or a speedi sleeve type ring, or I could use the stick welder to build the shaft up a bit and then grind it back down to size. None of these seems like a great idea, but I am hoping one may be better than the others, or that there is another method. I could ship the shaft somewhere to be welded and turned back to size, if there is anyone who does that by mail, but I think this would probably take a while.
The other question is about the little hole with a spring loaded ball in it, on the top of the shaft housing. I am guessing that some kind of oil or grease is supposed to be pumped in through this hole since the old bearings were 6204Z, with a metal shield on the outside and open on the inside. The inside of the housing looks oily at one end, but I don't know if that could just be from the bearing failing. It would be hard to get at that spot to add anything, though, as there is not too much clearance above it once the shaft housing is back in the saw.
I will be grateful for any advice about how to deal with these problems. In the long run I would like to look at a newer or better saw, but for now this is what I have and I will need to fix it to use in at least the short term.
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