Help With Startrite 18V10 Tension Indicator

[awemawson]

My Startrite 18V10 has a little circular window that should show figures on a quadrant plate that moves as you tension the blade. It's calibrated in blade widths 1/4" 1/2" etc.

Mine has vanished ! I have to set tension by plucking the blade and hearing the resultant note. It was there and sometimes got stuck but I suspect now it's fallen off !

Now it's a very simple mechanism and if I could get at it I'm sure that I can fix it BUT I can find no way to access the darn thing. all the panels are factory welded together and I can only just see bits of the top slide assembly with a mirror and torch looking upwards where the tensioning knob (#70 on the diagram) pokes though.

So the question - has anyone any idea how the heck you get at this beast ?

 

[awemawson]

Well I never did find any way into the relevant bit of the band saw, however a member of another forum tipped me off that is a blade breaks (which it had) the indicating triangle thing can swing up too far and jam, sometimes cleared by thumping the side of the housing. Well all manner of tapping with a big rubber hammer did nothing. So I poked an endoscope camera up next to the tensioning knob and sure enough there it was standing upright at 90 degrees to where i t should be. Poking about with a bit of 1.6 mm gas welding rod bent into a hook eventually got it back in place.

It is amazingly hard coordinating an endoscope camera and a bit of wire when even knowing which way is 'up' is difficult.

I have no idea how they put these saws together originally - I was close to opening up an access hatch with a grinder !