Wellsaw bandsaw gearbox

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 11, 2018

• #1

Anyone know of a source for used parts for a Wellsaw bandsaw? Not much on flea-bay. The brass bull gear on my W-20 is stripped and the only option from Wellsaw is to replace the entire Dumore dc motor/gearbox assembly with a conversion kit at $991. That’s more than I paid for the entire saw!

 

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Dan from Oakland

Titanium

Joined

Sep 15, 2005

Location

Oakland, CA

• Dec 11, 2018

• #2

Post a picture of your gear with some dimensions and the mating gear.

 

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HuFlungDung

Diamond

Joined

Jan 19, 2005

Location

Canada

• Dec 11, 2018

• #3

What you paid for the saw has little to do with the cost of repairing it, IMO. Consider the bargain price of the saw as the means whereby it makes economic sense to spend some good coin on an upgrade. Then, you know what you've got.

I spent $6000 on an old cnc lathe and spent $60k upgrading it. I wasn't crying about it Spindle bearings alone were $4k.

 

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 11, 2018

• #4

A couple pics and a few numbers. I’ll have to go back into my long forgotten text books to speak intelligently about gear measures but here are a few numbers.
OD of the worm gear - 2.625, 59 teeth.
OD of the worm - .983, 6 starts

 

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metalmagpie

Titanium

Joined

May 22, 2006

Location

Seattle

• Dec 11, 2018

• #5

Not to say the king has no clothes, but although there is visible wear that brass gear looks serviceable to me. I rebuilt a cold saw once and its brass worm gear was way worse than that one.

metalmagpie

 

E

ewlsey

Diamond

Joined

Jul 14, 2009

Location

Peoria, IL

• Dec 11, 2018

• #6

No way. Just buy the correct parts and move on.

 

gear cutter

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 16, 2010

Location

MO, USA

• Dec 11, 2018

• #7

Leigh B said:

View attachment 244179View attachment 244180

A couple pics and a few numbers. I’ll have to go back into my long forgotten text books to speak intelligently about gear measures but here are a few numbers.
OD of the worm gear - 2.625, 59 teeth.
OD of the worm - .983, 6 starts

Click to expand...

I've made a lot of wormwheels to repair saws like this. I don't recall ever making that one in particular but any gear shop should be able to copy it way cheaper than $900.00

 

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 11, 2018

• #8

The pics don’t show the wear in the center where the contact is very well. It looses mesh and there isn’t a way to shim the axis closer together. It’s a Dumore gear motor so I called them. No parts and they don’t even have documentation for a motor made in the 70’s. I talked to thier engineering department hoping to find an old print or bill of materials that would call out the gear. No luck. So it’s looks like I’m on my own to come up with a worm drive to replace this one.

 

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Pete Deal

Titanium

Joined

Apr 10, 2007

Location

Morgantown, WV

• Dec 11, 2018

• #9

Did you look around on ebay to see if you can find a similar gearmotor that is adaptable?

I have a wellsaw model 8 I think and have bought parts from wellsaw on several occasions. Good people generally.

 

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 11, 2018

• #10

I’ve been searching eBay for parts, nothing yet. Wellsaw has a retrofit to a current model gear motor drive, but it’s $991. Which is too much when all I need is a new gear.

 

gbent

Diamond

Joined

Mar 14, 2005

Location

Kansas

• Dec 11, 2018

• #11

Rather than replace the wheel, replace the worm and make the pitch diameter larger.

Also, since the worm is cantilevered, double check the play in the quill bearings. If they are loose you will lose engagement.

 

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 11, 2018

• #12

Thanks gbent some good thoughts on the cantilever effect. The bearings are tight. I’ll have to put it all back together to check to see if the armature bearings hold the worm tight. The wheel shaft is held on both ends so it shouldn’t be moving. Maybe this pic will show the wheel wear better. The tooth tops are worn to a point where the engagement is.
Gbent, you may not recall but I stopped and picked up a couple horizontal milling cutters IIRC, on one of my trips to K State to visit my daughter. By the way you stole our (NDSU)football coach!

 

gbent

Diamond

Joined

Mar 14, 2005

Location

Kansas

• Dec 11, 2018

• #13

Thanks for the reminder, thats been a couple of years. As for the coach, when I attended the football team couldn't win a scrimmage against themselves. Hopefully the new coach will enjoy similar success but I grew up used to gridiron futility.

Often a worm wheel will still work when its so worn you can hardly see the tooth stubs as long as the worm is held solid.

 

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Leigh B

Cast Iron

Joined

Oct 30, 2007

Location

South Dakota

• Dec 13, 2018

• #14

I finally got to the right guy at Wellsaw and have a replacement gear on the way. I guess not everyone at Wellsaw knows where to find the unlisted part numbers! $283, much better than the $991.
I contacted Zahnrad Kopf, he offered to make one but i elected to buy the off the off the shelf one.
The armature bearings are a bit rough, May as well replace them while I have it apart.