Vintage Band saw blade welder

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

Can anyone help with any info on this blade welder? It's attached to what I believe is a pre doall saw. I'm not sure on anything about it. It does look like it has some sort of Australian plug. Maybe 220v?

Street · Jan 21, 2018

Sure looks like a australian 3 pin plug, but geez its old very old.

specs on aus 3 pin plug is 240v 50 hz you have 240 v 60 hz over there so unless there is something that upsets it with the cycle count it should work over where you are.
May pay to get a local electrician to check it out to see if whole unit is safe since its so old.

gbent · Jan 21, 2018

Looks like a standard American style plug from the 1950's to me. Check the wiring on the transformer to see if its brittle. Even if you get the welder working perfectly it will be limited to welding carbon steel blades, no bi-metal.

neilho · Jan 21, 2018

Looks like nema 10-20p. ('Murrican.)

http://extranet.garland-group.com/document_catalog/Document Catalog Files/nema Plug Guide.pdf.

First page, middle chart.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jan 21, 2018

gbent said:
Looks like a standard American style plug from the 1950's to me. Check the wiring on the transformer to see if its brittle. Even if you get the welder working perfectly it will be limited to welding carbon steel blades, no bi-metal.

I have a blade welder like that in my to-do pile, curious, why no bi-metal blade welding? OP, mine still has the data tag if you need a pic of it just ask, pretty sure its 220V single phase.

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

dalmatiangirl61 said:
I have a blade welder like that in my to-do pile, curious, why no bi-metal blade welding? OP, mine still has the data tag if you need a pic of it just ask, pretty sure its 220V single phase.

I wouldn't mind a picture or 2. Thanks

dalmatiangirl61 · Jan 21, 2018

Braved the cold in the shop for a few minutes, it was that or go outside and shovel snow :rolleyes5:

. Ok, mine is close, but not an exact match, its an old D0-All. Looks like maybe someone robbed the grinder off yours.

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

Not sure without seeing it up close but from the photo I don't think it's a welder at all. Again from the photo it looks like a blade brazer or silver solder. The flip down lever and the bevel grinding rest would be two clues. Also I don't see any clearance for blade movement or a lever to move the blade.

Andy

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

Here is a link to a bench top brazer on eBay.

Antique Oliver Machinery Co. Vulcan Brazer BandSaw Blade Welder Machine Vintage | eBay

Andy

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

dalmatiangirl61 said:
Braved the cold in the shop for a few minutes, it was that or go outside and shovel snow. Ok, mine is close, but not an exact match, its an old D0-All. Looks like maybe someone robbed the grinder off yours.

dalmatiangirl61

That looks like a very nice welder.

Andy

wheels17 · Jan 21, 2018

I think Andy St might be right. I've never seen a brazer before.

I have a Grob, and received the same caution about not welding bimetal blades, but never got a good answer why.

The Grob welder could be ordered with or without the grinder in the past. Mine came without a grinder, but has a nice curved holder for using a file to dress the weld area. If you properly anneal the weld, it files just fine.

The current price on the Grob is $2,300 and includes the grinder. And they now say that it will weld bimetal blades.

Grob Bandsaw Blade Welder | Grob Band Saw Direct

It doesn't look any different...

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

The grinder is at the bottom of the machine.the wheel is very enclosed hard to see

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

Here's a couple more photos

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

Andy St said:
Not sure without seeing it up close but from the photo I don't think it's a welder at all. Again from the photo it looks like a blade brazer or silver solder. The flip down lever and the bevel grinding rest would be two clues. Also I don't see any clearance for blade movement or a lever to move the blade.

Andy

I never knew there was such a thing. I honestly didn't know how a blade welder worked till I just looked up some videos and seems you are right. My unit doesn't move the blade at all it looks as if you were to clamp each side in place and pull the lever down which pinches the break sorta like a hot iron. I thought that's how welders were and they just fuse them, but a brazer would make more sense... I cant find any videos or even pictures of a brazer that look similar to this.

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

So not as fast and probably a little more expensive to use but it should work just fine. You just need to master the technique. Make sure you clean up the clamp blocks to make good electrical contact.
1 cut the blade a little long to compensate for the bevel lap.
2 use the bevel jig built into the grinder and bevel both sides of the blade for a nice clean lap joint.
3 clamp one side of the blade bevel up centered on the lever clamp.
4 add flux and a small thin piece of silver solder to the top of the bevel.
5 clamp the second end of the blade on top of the first
6 set the power switch to match blade thickness and width.
7 pull down on the clamp lever to start the heat and to force the blade ends together as the solder flows.
8 there might be a timed relay to kill the power after the solder flows.
9 hold the lever until solder sets.
10 clean up the joint on the grinder or with a file.
There looks like there is a slip gage on top of the grinder to check the clean up and joint thickness
I think that should be it but its been along time since I used one

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

A few more things. Make sure you clean the blade well before the braze to get any oils off. If you want to practice you might still need a loop of blade not just two small pieces. I seem to remember using pallet strapping to practice with. It's free.

like the saw and the filer

Andy

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

Very rad. Thanks for that. One thing I noticed, there are little oilers under the blade clamps don't know where the oil would go? Guess I should pull the face off and have a peak

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

kielbasavw said:
Very rad. Thanks for that. One thing I noticed, there are little oilers under the blade clamps don't know where the oil would go? Guess I should pull the face off and have a peak

should be for the front and rear bearings on the grinder.

kielbasavw · Jan 21, 2018

Thank you very much andy. Couple posts ddown on the forum is the post I made about me getting the band saw going. I have to steal parts from the filer. I got it running last night.

Andy St · Jan 21, 2018

Yes I saw it when you first posted it and even replied but for some reason my post never showed up. Anyway nice looking saw.

Andy

Vintage Band saw blade welder

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Aluminum

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Aluminum

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Aluminum

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