First order of business: inspect, rehabilitate the paint, cutterhead, and babitt inspection and or overhaul/replacement. . These original cutterheads were designed as safety heads… but over time centrifugal force and perhaps over tightening the knife holding screws stretched the screws and the knife may not be locked in. . A knife can be thrown from the spinning head. A 16” piece of sharpened HSS thrown from a 4200 RPM spinning head can make for a bad day.
Prior to the safety heads? The knives spun on square heads rather than round heads. See photo below.
Next up - oak timber frame braces . The kid operating a low buck bandmill did a terrible job. They need truing. I found the 8” jointer limiting and was looking for a 12” jointer. But this 16” came up on CL. Jointer creep is a terrible nasty and godforbidden disease that I can only wish on my best friends.
A friend from the Vintage Machine site drove over and gave a full report. He said it was well taken care of and in great condition . The motor, as John alludes to may not be designed for this machine but a replacement for perhaps belts or a long gone 3phase motor. It is single phase…that saved me some money. If the pulleys are original then an3 phase electric motor graced this old machine.
Need to buy a narrow fork pallet jack to move it. Perhaps have a modern helix cutter head machined for it. Won’t be cheap.
This is going in a 24x24 room I am working on just for the large bandsaw, a smaller 14 bandsaw, two jointers, and the dust collection unit. Perhaps the planer too. The main shop will be for quieter work on the bench with hand tools, fitting, assembly, glue-ups, and depending on my mood 6 speakers of stereo surround sound.
I enjoy the machines, building and organizing a shop as much as making sawdust. I really enjoy milling logs and harvesting a tree for the bandmill. It’s exciting to see a new specie, color, grain, and defects that really can add outstanding character. The entire process from growing trees and forestry (my career and education) to producing a fine piece of furniture or historical reproduction keeps my pencil sharpened and fascinates me.
