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How to mount a new motor in my bandsaw

R

Raif Harik

Joined
Jan 14, 2020
Messages
279
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100
Location
Austin, TX
Hi, I have an old, very old rockwell 14" bandsaw 28-200. I has the original motor in it which is 1/2 hp. I picked up a used baldor 1.5 hp motor for $80 ( almost as much as I paid for the whole saw :) ). The problem is, the motor has no mount. It's just straight up round. I see on what I suspect to be the bottom two screw holes, pretty small maybe 1/8 one in front and one in back. It also has four large bolts going into the face on the outside of the thing. I thought I'd be able to find something that I could retrofit on there but I must not be using the correct keywords.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I might mount this thing? Unfortunately I don't have a welder, or any welding skills, although I might be convinced to pick one up if it's not too hard to do. Also 2 of the hardened steel set screws on that weird shaft thing are stripped and stuck. I can't drill them out. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated too.
thanks
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Looks like a face mount motor that uses those four bolt holes to clamp to the frame it attaches to. if your saw has a frame mount then You would need to crate a bracket or fabricate something to attach to the face of your motor and the holes of the bracket.
 
You need something similar to this. The one shown is for very small motors. Look on your new motor to check frame size, probably 56 frame. I didn't immediately find any like you need in a Google search. Unfortunately as simple as it is this would probably be a couple hundred bucks to have fab shop custom make one. You might be better off to look for a base mount motor.

Also face mount motors like yours often have odd shafts to connect to a pump so your motor may not have a conventional shaft to mount the saw's original pulley.



face to foot mount.JPG
 
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What about something like this mad man made. I would use something stronger than white pine and I'd use those worm drive pipe clamps but it looks l like to could work.
As for the shaft, as long as I could get some kind of pully for it. The motor is 3450 rpm and by my expert google calculations for a 14" band saw I should probably go 2" -> 8" so I'll need new pullies anyway.
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and here's the full video.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4gOs_S-dPg
 
Sure, that would work. You may have to drill new mounting holes in the stand for the wooden motor mount.

As to the new pulley on the bandsaw, verify the shaft diameter. On some Delta equipment they used odd shaft diameters. Like the small Delta jointers used a 9/16" cutter head shaft. 9/16" is not a commonly available bore size for a v belt pulley.

There are usually work arounds for most problems. Depends on how much work you want to do as opposed to spending money to do it the simple way.

New pulleys are not cheap plus a new v belt, that could be 60 bucks right there for those 3 items.
 
Raif Harik said:
It also has four large bolts going into the face on the outside of the thing. I thought I'd be able to find something that I could retrofit on there but I must not be using the correct keywords.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I might mount this thing? Unfortunately I don't have a welder, or any welding skills, although I might be convinced to pick one up if it's not too hard to do. Also 2 of the hardened steel set screws on that weird shaft thing are stripped and stuck. I can't drill them out. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated too.
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The machined face with the four bolts is called a C-face mount so that would be the search term. C-face mounts are often used for interfacing with a gearbox or a pump. From the look of the motor, it could likely be a washdown motor driving a pump. C-face motors are typically intended to drive axial loads rather than overhung loads. However, if you install a pulley as close as possible to the motor face and don't over-tension the belt, you should be good to go.

That motor really looks like crap, but if it runs looks aren't everything.
 
Yea, it looks a little better in person, but it is a Baldor motor so it's pretty hard core. It was for a pump in an AC system I think? The guy said that the water in the pipes all froze and burst and the whole system had to be scrapped. I'm pretty sure it'll handle whatever I throw at it. There do not seem to be any L shaped C-face motor mounts for a motor of this size, so I think I'll go with the wooden mount using duct pipe clamps.
 
So I have been searching for c-face 56 and there is precious little out there. Your second link looks like it would do it but I would still need some kind of base for it. The motor kind of hangs vertically. I've included a pic I found on the internet, not great but you can see that it's kind of hanging. There's a plate that hangs down at an angle and the motor bolts onto that. I'll get some real pics here in a bit.
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Raif, I had the same Delta bandsaw at one time or at least one with same type motor mount. That motor mounting situation was awful, constant vibration. I put a rigid bracket from the swinging motor mount over to the saw's cabinet. That solved the vibration problem.
 
Are you near any motor rebuilding services? Renewing you old one might be the most cost-effective path. Motor shops are no longer plentiful, but can work wonders...
 
The picture of the bracket that Doug and Stu show, would not be hard to make. Could make with a few tools and if one does not own a welder.......I would bet someone in your local club has one and could weld it up.
The hole in the center would be the hardest part.....and I think one could mount a piece of steel on the wood lathe and using a metal cutting bit (like what we use for hollowing tools), could cut out the large hole. Or, I bet one could find a hole saw that would work. Maybe find a kid in the High School metal shop and get them to make one for you.
 
Victory!!
I have a 1-3/4 in pulley and a 6 in pulley and according to my calculations that puts blade speed an ~3600 ft. A bit fast I guess but I don't have to buy another pulley.
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The problem with your solution is the belt wrap on that small motor pulley is not capable of transferring all the motor power. If it is a problem you can improve it by going to a AX or BX (cog) belt.

3,600 sfpm is not all that fast for a general purpose 14" bandsaw and should be fine. My 20" Delta runs at 4,500 sfpm and some bigger bandsaws are way faster.
 
Raif Harik said:
Larry, you lost me at BX. Run that by me in layman terms :)
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Cogged V-belts that look like automotive fan belts (old style from your 1970's GMC) if you held a belt flat on it's flat side and looked at the profile it would look like a row of inverted V's That sort of cogged belt is used to transfer more of the motor power over a smaller diameter pulley an ordinary FHP or sectional belt like a 4L or 5L will have trouble with the radius bend in the smaller pulley grooves thus a cogged belt will be more efficient.
 
This what a cogged v belt looks like. They have a higher coefficient of friction and able to transmit more power than a conventional v belt. The need should be evident if your higher hp motor doesn't show significant increase in cutting ability.

Also from my experience they don't seem to take a "set" (sort of a lump in the v belt from long time non usage) which can cause vibration.

cogged v belt.JPG
 
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I had to use a cogged belt when I upgraded the motor in my bandsaw from a 1/2 to 1-1/2 HP. The original belt kept slipping.
 
Ah ok. Well how about those fancy pants sort of linked belts you can get? Would one of those work? Do people find that are worth the money?
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That's a good question. Those belts have their place, for instance in machines like some metal lathes where you have to take the spindle out to replace a belt. Or just to adjust to the length needed.

Without going out to the shop and looking, my guess is those belts don't have as much contact area on the sides of the pulley groove as a cogged belt. The contact area is what counts in transmitting power.

You'll see a lot of "tuning" hints for power tools and those type belts are often recommended to limit vibration. The cogged belt should be fine, if not better.
 
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