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Old horizontal band saws

M.B. Naegle

Diamond
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Location
Conroe, TX USA
Who has them?

You see old vertical saws from time-to-time, but there doesn't seem to be many horizontals left. "Old" is subjective, but in general I'm talking turn of the century, overhead shaft driven, open wheels, and heavy iron.
....
Ok, so yes, I just bought one(:D:smoking::D:drink:).... pics incoming.
 
So I found this on Facebook last night. It was one of those "machine shop $1" posts with a lot of scrap metal. They were clearing out a machine shop in north Houston and I saw a picture of this saw in a puddle of water in a little tin building. When I got there they had moved it into the parking lot, we struck a deal, and I got it loaded in the back of the pick-up. It weighs at least as much as a Bridgeport mill, probably a little more.
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Its now on the floor and I'm sorting out the results of Old-Iron sickness. I've been wanting to replace our old MSC horizontal band saw and upgrade to a better made, higher capacity saw, but wasn't planning on doing anything for awhile, but you take your opportunities when they come.

It's a Napier. Still researching the name but vintage machinery has pics of an original one (Photo Index - Napier Saw Works Inc. - Napier Horizontal | VintageMachinery.org). It appears to have been in use up until recently. I haven't found any major damage other than the jury-rigged motor drive, missing oil pump, missing front door, and missing parts from some sort of ratchet mechanism. It looks like they were using the weight of the arm balanced by big spring to slow the cut.
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Not that I needed another project, but I don't intend to rebuild it right now. I want to re-do the motor drive, get a decent coolant pump set-up, and try to assemble SOME form of guarding around it as I intend to use it.
The missing door on the front looks to have been gone for awhile, and with it probably went some makers info. I'll keep an eye out of a serial number and can make a new door out of 1/4" plate steel.

I like how the blade is off-set opposite from the vise. It's less compact than our generic Taiwan MSC saw, but the blade gets right up to the clamp and you have full access to the cutting area and clamp.
 
They also had an old Marvel hack saw there too, but said it would likely go back in the shop as a display piece if it didn't sell, so I didn't feel guilty about that one.
 
Interesting saw... on a couple levels. First, is that the arm isn't the easiest casting to mold. Would require a core. I have never seen one with such an arm. Speaks of skill and quality, also style.
Another thing, is that the arm and blade wheels are NOT over the vise and bed, but hang over where the drop occurs. Perhaps you employ a broom stick to drag the parted stock out from under the rotating wheels. Not the best design in my mind.

That said, I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at it, if such a critter ever came my way. I like it.

As far as weight, I figure it probably tips the scale at around 600 to 700 pounds. Not deflecting the springs in that pickup much.
 
I d love to see the safety police when they see that.........I reckon they d fall down frothing at the mouth and twitching ocassionally.......I love it.....but not really much different from a modern one......just got no blade enclosure......A while back I helped set up a log breaking down bench with a vertical band saw about 8 ft tall...Plenty of guards tho.
 
I like it. Interesting, especially the drive. Hope you don't anything serious wrong. It certainly looks like it is/could be a nice saw.
 
Nice acquisition. Ever since seeing the one at Greenfield Village, I wanted to find one.

If you want larger full-size images, send me a PM. Perhaps they'll help when it comes time to fabricate the parts you'll need. Jake

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So I found this on Facebook last night. It was one of those "machine shop $1" posts with a lot of scrap metal. They were clearing out a machine shop in north Houston and I saw a picture of this saw in a puddle of water in a little tin building. When I got there they had moved it into the parking lot, we struck a deal, and I got it loaded in the back of the pick-up. It weighs at least as much as a Bridgeport mill, probably a little more.
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Its now on the floor and I'm sorting out the results of Old-Iron sickness. I've been wanting to replace our old MSC horizontal band saw and upgrade to a better made, higher capacity saw, but wasn't planning on doing anything for awhile, but you take your opportunities when they come.

It's a Napier. Still researching the name but vintage machinery has pics of an original one (Photo Index - Napier Saw Works Inc. - Napier Horizontal | VintageMachinery.org). It appears to have been in use up until recently. I haven't found any major damage other than the jury-rigged motor drive, missing oil pump, missing front door, and missing parts from some sort of ratchet mechanism. It looks like they were using the weight of the arm balanced by big spring to slow the cut.
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Very Inteerestingah !

I have come across line shaft driven power hacksaws, but as you mentioned, no horizontal bandsaws.

I think this may be, as a horizontal saw is power fed by nature, the bandsaw technology of the hard back had not yet been invented.
 
Nice acquisition. Ever since seeing the one at Greenfield Village, I wanted to find one.

If you want larger full-size images, send me a PM. Perhaps they'll help when it comes time to fabricate the parts you'll need. Jake

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I had thought mine was missing a 2nd shaft support for the incoming belt drive, but it looks like they just moved it further in. They did cut the shaft down, but that's an easier fix than a missing casting.:)

Interesting that that saw is also missing the front door. I wonder how much of it's disappearance was due to it getting in the sway of clearing out chips, or getting material dropped on and breaking it (or the classic interior designer thinking it would look better hanging on a wall...).

Contrary to my nature, I don't think an overhead drive will be practical given where the saw will be located in our shop. With the way we swing bars of metal in and out of the racks and saws, I can see it causing problems. So I'm probably going to stick with the locally mounted motor, but I want to eliminate the jack-shaft and simplify the mount. We have a 1 1/2HP Dayton variable speed DC motor with a C-face mounted gear box that was almost mounted on our Brown & Sharpe #12 horizontal mill. I think it will work better for this application. At any-rate, I want to leave room for the possibility of a future generation putting it back to line-drive.
 
lol, it's definitely more than that. The truck's a 2006 Chevy 2500HD (3/4 ton?), so it has stout springs, but they did go down a bit. It's a weird sensation when you lower something into a bed and you feel your chest drop down at the same rate as the bed, waiting for the springs to stop compressing.
 
I have seen a smaller portable ,hand held version......like a motorized hacksaw for plumbers.....I recall it was a name brand too.....cant recall.....but maybe Record or Paulcall or even Wolf......Indian made stuff from the 1950 s.
 
I have a Kalamazoo from the early 1960's. It's about a 16"x30" sized machine. Hydraulic down feed and shuttle feed in manual, semi auto or full auto modes. 7.5 HP and about 5500 lbs. I bought it disassembled from a government surplus auction for less than a single blade would cost. It came with a dozen new blades. Squatted my flatbed F350 down to the stops and drove to my shop 35 MPH. Hooked all the hydraulic lines up and works beautifully. It runs backwards. I got all the manuals with it and Kalamazoo had a theory that heavy bandsaws were more efficient turning the blade away from the hinge side.
 








 
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