Home
- What's New: home page and list of updates to this site.
- Site Index: a list of all of the page on this site.

Vim Scripts
- TagHighlight: highlighting of typedefs, #defines, enumerated names etc in Vim.
- EasyColour: colour schemes made easy!
- Bandit Colour Scheme: a colour scheme for Vim.

Metalwork
- Introduction: an introduction to the metalworking pages on my website.
- My Workshop: some information about my metalworking workshop.
- Mini-Lathe: improvements and tooling for my mini-lathe.
- SX3 Milling Machine: improvements and tooling for my milling machine.
- Harrison M250: improvements and tooling for my Harrison M250.
- Grinder: improvements and tooling for my bench grinder.
- Bandsaw: improvements and tooling for my bandsaw.
- Welding: projects related to welding.
- Miscellaneous: metalworking-related stuff that doesn't fit elsewhere.
- Metalwork Calculators: a selection of on-line calculators related to metalworking.
- Metalwork Data: some useful data for metalworking projects.

Woodwork
- Introduction: an introduction to the woodworking pages on my website.
- My Workshop: some information about my woodworking workshop.
- Hand Tools: hand tools and accessories that I've made.
- Power Tools & Accessories: power tool accessories that I've made.
- Benches: benches that I've made.
- Furniture: furniture that I've made.
- Boxes: boxes that I've made.
- Outdoor Projects: outdoor projects I've done.
- Other Projects: woodwork projects that don't fit into the other categories.
- Woodwork Calculators: a selection of on-line calculators related to woodwork.

3D Printing

Software
- ARPCalc: a powerful reverse polish calculator.
- Digraph: a simple tool to make symbol entry easier when typing.

Useful Tools and Notes
- Google Maps to GPX: a tool to create route plans for your GPS with Google Maps.
- GEMF Format: a format for efficiently storing map tiles for use off-line on smart phones with FAT32 or similar file systems.
- Ebay Seller Blacklist: a browser plug-in to allow you to blacklist bad ebay sellers.

Bandsaw Restoration: Before Restoration

I bought the bandsaw on ebay about 8 years ago. It was already fairly old (I'm not sure how old) and showed signs of a hard life. The photo on the left above was taken not that long after I bought it.

The switch housing was broken into two pieces and held together with electrical insulation tape; the motor made a horrendous noise when it went round; the stand wobbled like crazy and the seal around the gearbox didn't, well, seal.

Here's a close-up of the fan cover on the motor:

That somewhat battered shape is a sign of what it had been through. When I got it, the cover was badly misshapen and the fan was hitting the cover as it went round. I took the cover off and beat it back into somewhere near the original shape, but haven't done much more with it since.

As for all the other problems, I've pretty much lived with them for the last 8 years but my experience in metalworking and the equipment I have available have both come on a long way since then (back then I had a mini-lathe and a bench grinder and that was about it; my first experience of metalwork was the mini-lathe).

These photos show the inside of the switch housing and the (now removed) stand. You can see that they've both had a very hard life.

Next: Disassembly

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