Judge Bob's Wellsaw Model 58B

[cutter]

Judge Bob told Old Man that he had decided it was time to buy a horizontal bandsaw and that he would like something a little better than the universal Model T HF 4x6.

So Old Man told Judge Bob that I have this secret cave that has this special tree in front of it & that sometimes when that tree glows in the dark, which it does every now & then, I can go to the mouth of the secret cave & just pull a bandsaw deal right out of the air.

So I was asked to keep my eye out for a deal. Not one of my usual fixer-uppers but something that might be a little unusual and ready to go out of the gate.

I made a couple of phone calls without any good effect.
Then I remembered Cal over at Lubbock Machine Tool. He helped me out when I set out to build the blade guides for my old Kysor Johnson. Lubbock Machine is not where you'd expect to find a small bandsaw or any other small machine tool either. They rebuild and sell shop equipment, not hobby stuff. Big sho-nuff machinery.

I called him anyway; this was last week, by the way.
His secretary said he was in Dallas and she gave me his number. I called him in Dallas & he said as a matter of fact, that he had exactly what I should buy for Judge Bob - a Wellsaw 58B that had belonged to Lubbock Public Schools who put in storage & forgot about it for years so it was almost like new. He wanted $650 for it and he would be back in the shop on Monday.

I called Cal went to the shop on Monday & took these pictures in a pretty dark warehouse secret cave-like part of Cal's shop. There wasn't enough light to allow me to really examine the saw so I wasn't satisfied but I said I would pass the pictures along & see what the Judge had to say.
Cal smiled and sweetened the pot. He held up 5 fingers and said 5 hundred dollar bills would buy it.

I already knew what Old Man would say.

Here are a few of those pictures.
(There is an error or typo in the spec sheet re: the motor horsepower; it's a 1/2hp, not 1.5hp.)

[LW Hiway]

So, has there been a change of location of the saw yet? Or is that still pending on Judge Bob's schedule?

Nice saw.

[cutter]

I got up the next morning with a boxful of emails & pmails and cold feet on the deal for some reason.
Old Man said "we want the saw." Judge Bob pretty much said it sounded like a good deal to him but "whatever you think. because he was in no hurry."

I tried to talk sense to them. I had not seen the saw run, I had not seen the saw cut. I wanted them to understand I was not recommending or endorsing the saw and that it was not going to be "whatever I think." But that I would do whatever they said. I get this way sometimes.

I called Cal and arranged to go back to see the saw perform. He said he would have one of the guys move it over to the main shop. Be there at 2pm.
When I got there he said that the old blade broke as soon as they tried to cut with it and that he sent a hand to MidCon to have one made; be a few minutes.
Cool! Now we get a new blade too.
And he showed me a catalog price of a new 58B. I had not realized they cost that much.
Cal wandered off with another customer, I wandered around the shop until I found the Wellsaw parked and waiting for Donnie go get back with the blade.
The more I looked at it, the better I liked it. My mind was made up before Donnie returned.

1. The only real rust I found on it was this tension screw.
The vise screw has no rust.
2. The quik vise seemed to work perfectly and the adjustable jaw appears to have never been moved.
3. I noticed that this manilla tag had never been removed.
4. - 5. Donnie came back with the new 98" x 1/2" blade.
We made 3 cuts in this piece of tubing. Each one took approximately 10 seconds. Scary fast.
I figured the spring might need a little adjustment, Cal advised leaving it alone.
The cuts were not perfectly vertical; the left-hand guide needed adjusting. I could see that just looking straight down from the spine.

I hadn't brought 5 hundred dollar bills with me but it didn't take very long to remedy that situation.
Then I called Bob from the parking lot and told him he had just bought a Wellsaw.
I get that way sometimes.
I didn't tell him that it would be ok if he backed out because it certainly would take up less space than the old Johnson was occupying.

[LW Hiway]

Heck far', impressive. I like the fact that the saw, once you raise it to ready another cut, the previous drop levitates off the floor for easy picking up.

Working on a percentage these days Cutter?

[getatorch]

Working on a percentage these days Cutter?[/QUOTE]


I think he may have some outstanding warrants in the upper panhandle area he's trying to smooth out.

[cutter]

1. I left it there until Friday for a variety of reasons.
But it did get strapped into my little trailer & parked in the shop drive, all locked up behind the bullet proof gate and under Jake's 24 hour supervison.

Bob got here about 1:30pm today; getatorch showed up right behind him. We looked it over sitting in the trailer then broke for lunch.

2. When we got back it was time for the Whiteboy to do his thing. Just ever so barely. If the trailer had been 1/8" higher we would have had to use blocks on the forks as we did to load it into Bob's truck.

3. Easing it into the shop for a good going over.

4. I mean a thorough going over too! Sorry, just couldn't resist.

We made a few cuts in some rusty 2x2 angle and adjusted that left hand guide. Getatorch spotted the clean spot in the paint where the guideplate had formerly sat.
That trued up the cut almost perfectly.

5. The downforce on the blade could be adjusted by increasing the tension on this spring; We decided Judge Bob should use it a while before screwing with it.
Notice there is a stop in that yellow bar that prevents accidentally lifting to vertical; at that same point the bow will hold position. Or if you want lower it part way, the catch will hold in any of the teeth. Lifting the bow slightly will drop the catch out of the way, ready to cut.

Over all the little saw is designed stout and simple as any small saw I've ever seen. It cuts with deadly determination. You do want to ease into the starting cut, then just get out of it's way.

I made this video for you to see it in action under the watchful care of it's new owner.
Wellsaw 58B .wmv about 5mb

[cutter]

A few more pictures & 1 more video and I'm done with this for now.
1. We found these scars on the bridge where someone managed to miss some cuts badly so we do know the old fellow has suffered through some use & abuse. I don't know how anyone could mis-adjust the blade guides that badly. Still the saw is excellent condition, ready to go right out of the chute just like Cal promised.

2. In case you didn't notice, this little saw does not sit on a flimsy sheet metal stand. It has real legs. The advertised shipping weight is 350 pounds.

There is a thread on homeshopmachinist that rips the 58B for the legs not being splayed enough to keep it from being tippy in the vertical position. Seems the guy knocked his over a couple of times, broke a pulley. Then from his flaming hot narrative I get the impression that it leviated or something & threw itself over on the floor.
I dunno. This one pulled none of those shenanigans.

We judged that the solution that would be a roller base that added some length on the motor end. Afaiac, this is not a vertical bandsaw & shouldn't be used as though it were without some thoughtful modifications.

3. The quick adjust features seems very well made & latches with a confident feel. The vise is stoutly built all the way through.

4. So the money did change hands & the bandsaw wound up strapped down to Judge Bob's truck. Drove away about 4pm. I hope he comes up with a name for it soon; it's pretty rare for a machine to leave her without one.
He pmailed me safely home at about 9pm. He had a big, long day and a long drive too. About 10 hours on the road.
I think he got a good machine. I also think he earned it.
For the record, Judge Bob is a happy & gracious spirit and I enjoy his visits to cutter's corner very much. So does Jake.

The Whiteboy earned his keep today for sure.
I let my camera shoot video throughout our comedy team loading exercise and edited it down to a fraction of the trial and error lifts.
Instead of using a tape measure to figure out how many blocks to add to the Forksnatch's known 36" lift we elected the alternate path of proving that one block was not enough, nor two - "Hey! maybe third time's charm."
But we got it done eventually and Jake had a good time too.

Block & Load. .wmv about 9mb (for the strong at heart)

[OLD MAN]

I think I feel the envy kicking in again.

I think it could be MOLLY bandsaw or it could be RALPH bandsaw.

[1911man]

I don't think that crew could have accomplished a damn thing without Jake's able supervision!

[cutter]

Neither does Jake. He had a big day.