Clarke CBS45MD 6x4 Metal Cutting Bandsaw Modifications

[Bill Edwards]

Well with the bandsaw woes I can tell you that the worm pinion and wheel are NOT the same across all models.
Some gears have more teeth giving a bigger diameter, and the worm shafts are different lengths and widths. My work saw had a bearing at the pulley end of the shaft and the business end ran in a bush which was worn oval.
I got parts from Sealey, the worm and gear together cost £5!
I have had to make some adaptions to make it fit. A little tickle with a carbide burr to fit the bigger worm in, a bit of the worm shaft needed turning down and the real problem was the bigger gear meant the worm needed to be a couple of mm further away.

I ended up turning an eccentric bush with small bearings in which has offset the worm shaft by a little over 3mm and fits in place of where you'd normally have bearings on the shaft. It seems to fit (though it's a hard thing to measure and is running a little too tight, but it'll be OK) the only thing that may not last is the little bearings I used are indeed little. Still, I had to stop before powering it up but it should now work again.

 

[zx9]

I got parts from Sealey, the worm and gear together cost £5!

Wow a fiver, my worm is looking a bit chewed up, like your saw mine has too much end float and the bearings are past their best. Time to give Sealey a call me thinks.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Wow a fiver, my worm is looking a bit chewed up, like your saw mine has too much end float and the bearings are past their best. Time to give Sealey a call me thinks.

Well unless yours is a sealey it’s not certain to fit - but hey, at a fiver...
I couldn’t buy a piece of bronze to make my own gear for the £2.50 it cost, funny world.

I have just deleted the numbers earlier today but look online for the sealey parts manual for their saw then find a dealer to ring with the part numbers. Easy peasy.

 

[Turbo]

Nice modification, saves making a longer shaft. Would that be a difficult job?

(PS I expect there will be a couple of H&S comments about the blade guard!)

The shaft has a cam on it to operate the vice, not easy to make! I was going to weld an extension onto it but it's probably hardened steel so I didn't want to damage it.

The guard was removed for a reason - it fouls the top of the vice, the blade will not cut fully through the metal & hit the off switch. There was also a knob on the end of the round sliding rod which has been removed as well as it hit the idler wheel.

The bow was designed for a normal screw vice and whatever sealey boffin decided to fit the quick clamp vice obviously never tried to use the saw afterwards.

Modifying the guard to fit properly is on the 'to do' list but quite far down!

 

[Wallace]

I would be surprised if the shaft & cam is hardened or even made from a tough material, looks chrome plated in the photos.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Well my works saw is finally running again. As the clearence between worm and wheel wasn’t enough I ran some grinding paste through it with no load .

It’s now running freely, no binding and there won’t be bits in the oil to cause future trouble.
It wasn’t easy, but I’m happy now.

 

[Richard.]

Well my works saw is finally running again. As the clearence between worm and wheel wasn’t enough I ran some grinding paste through it with no load .

It’s now running freely, no binding and there won’t be bits in the oil to cause future trouble.
It wasn’t easy, but I’m happy now.

Top man. Let’s see it then.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Top man. Let’s see it then.

Nothing to see now it’s together. Picture a 33od bush where the worm bearings are with two bearings that are located off centre - ie the bore of the bush is a couple of mm to one side.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Wow a fiver, my worm is looking a bit chewed up, like your saw mine has too much end float and the bearings are past their best. Time to give Sealey a call me thinks.

Found the numbers written down, not sure which is which but the two parts are SM65.V2.76 and SM65.V2.79

 

[Turbo]

Thought I'd post some pics of the base I made to replace the wobbly tin base my saw came with.

The upper frame & legs are 40x40 shs, the base is 25x25 box & 30x30 angle. The handle is a pipe pivoting in piece of 40x40 box with one side removed.

I made it 3-legged so that it will sit without rocking on my uneven floor.

 

[Wallace]

Plenty of room underneath for a scrap bin to rummage through!

 

[500e]

Thanks for link if you remember what you had to mod I would be great-full like the blade jig don't use enough at home to bother with making my own & the big one I leave to saw doctors, will post a pick of the 550 some time

 

[Wallace]

Thread resurrection!! As part of the Covid 19 lockdown and having time to look at old projects I decided to read through this thread again and do an update. Nothing to see here just yet as it still looks like this and I'm horrified that it was over 5 years since I started this thread. Last night I dragged some material out to continue on the stand, found the plastic tray that was to be for coolant, the old Council Recycling bin for offcuts and I have an idea where the bottle jack is for the hydraulic feed so I am making a start today. Should be useable in 5-10 years.

 

[DAPPH]

The Covid19 may just be about at the end of it's life cycle by then .

I made a new frame holder upper just above the rh leg in the picture . out of 50x 50 equal angle , to give it three steps so I can position it at different heights to allow me greater accuracy in aligning the pencil /scribe lines on the steel to be cut with the edge of the blade teeth .(
I've found still have to cut on the waste side of the line by a mm or so once I've done a test cut to see how the metal cuts and finish the precision face requirement with angle grinder as almost all the cuts seem to end up spot onto start with then wander a few mm one way or another to one side. the bigger the metal the more it seems to wander 100 mm 5 mm walled hollow box can be up to 3 mm out of true .

I also cut a bit more off the corner of the tray ( as seen LH of picture ) to allow me to brush all bits of metal & spray drips etc off the tray when I'm finished cutting .

 

[Fintray]

I've got some similar length projects that I'm hoping to get on with come Friday when I'm furloughed for an indefinite period, must be plenty of us in the same situation.

 

[Wallace]

I made a start, fitted an old blade as the saw has not been used in a while and cut some material after giving the frame a good coat of looking at. Long story as to why the existing frame is the shape it is but mainly due to using what's available, freebie offcuts, wheels and castors etc.

The scrap/offcut bin to incorporate.

Seed tray I bought as a coolant tray.

A lovely hole punched by something falling on the seed tray.

This has been used for other purposes with a light, clamp, laser etc and works well with light materials.

Another scrap build with a couple of bearings pushed in each end, needs a decent collapsible stand for weight.

Doesn't look much but there is a wee bit of end float on the bow pivot causing blade wander on the down stroke.

The blade wander was improved by undoing the bow pivot arm bracket grub screw, clamping the bracket against the base pivot and tapping the spindle through to take out end float and re-tightening the grub screw.

I replaced the M8 grub screw as a matter of course as they are a pet hate for me on Chinese kit, they round off just by looking at them as the hex is oversize and about 3mm deep.

After all that I finally made some swarf and cut the length of 25mm x 3mm wall box I have been saving for a rainy day. The offcut sat on the vice is all that's left.

Edit: I need to take my camera out to the workshop, the iPhone 5S is ok but useless for details and bloody awful to get the photos off.

 

[zx9]

bloody awful to get the photos off.

I just email them all to myself, costs nothing if you are on wifi.

I sort of remembered that your band saw was wall mounted on a clever pull out bracket, must be the Jenson blurring my memory.

 

[Wallace]

I just email them all to myself, costs nothing if you are on wifi.

I sort of remembered that your band saw was wall mounted on a clever pull out bracket, must be the Jenson blurring my memory.

I have thought about that, looked at it last night and measured up under the fly press bench to see if I could hinge it under the bench somehow! Too long to slide in & out too, but this frames wheels can be backed against the wall and long stock will go out the front door. if I need space it can be moved easily and all self contained.

 

[Wallace]

I managed a bit more today, unfortunately my missus needed some printing done for work which meant refilling the 7 ink cartridges on the printer and coaxing it back to life. That’s my bit for the good of the country today.

The uprights and upper frame are on.

The recycling scrap offcut bin looks lost on there.

Coolant seed tray fits within the base footprint nicely.

Sat on wood for a trial fit, cutting bed sits 800mm off the floor.

Plenty of coolant tray at the rear to catch coolant with the bow up fully and no tipping as the wheels are behind the weight.

That’s just the frame and wheels!

I forgot about the original stand bolts, M8 bolts with a 12mm a/f head and 14mm a/f nut.

 

[Wallace]

I thought through many different ways to mount the saw on the frame and the strip of 5mm x 25mm won the battle as it was staring at me. The saw needed to sit on stands so it can bolt to the frame through the coolant tray. Once all the uprights were cut, threaded and bolted to the saw it became apparent the six mounting holes on the saw base were not all at the same height so I had to adjust their length on the bench to level them up and it was a ballache. I started to lose interest hence a couple of the welds need revisiting, I had the door open and the gas flow at a minimum so the wind played its part in adding to my lack of interest.