1930 Crescent Machine Co. 32" bandsaw

You can buy 100' coils of Laguna Shear Force
blade stock on ebay and solder up your own.
It's not hard to do. A single carbide tipped
blade might run you even more than a coil and
you'd have to send it out for resharpening. With
the steel resaw blades they can be inverted on the
saw and the gullets reground with a moto-tool
in a cradle.

I'd leave the motor alone and get a VFD for it. Usually cheaper and easier than trying to swap out a motor, plus you get lots of extra benefits you wouldn't otherwise.

Cheers,
Brad

Great saw. I used to have a 36" Crescent. I had five Hp. on it and I think it needed it. I had three phase in my shipyard but when I moved I went with a phase converter and kept the motor. I would agree with Brad that is the way to go.

Loren, thank you.
Brad, what do you mean by extra benefits? I was told that this motor is only about 1¼hp. This saw has a 13" resaw capacity that I intend to use. Also, I'm a welder/fabricator and blacksmith, so any type of brackets i may need isn't going to be an issue. I don't see it being all that difficult to swap motors. I've done it on a car. I feel like I can handle this. I've put aside about $1000 to restore this saw and i really don't want an underpowered saw when I'm finished.

Brad, what do you mean by extra benefits?
- Campeasy

Click to expand...

Ignoring the fact that a three phase motor is more robust (no start circuitry, capacitors, etc..) and more efficient - a less than $200 VFD will get you soft start, controlled breaking, trivial wiring, constant speed/torque/over-torquing, over/under voltage and overload protection and a lot more (you can look up all the features a VFD will provide elsewhere). But for a bandsaw, one of the biggest benefits is the variable speed capability - something that most other wood/metal cutting saws require multiple pulleys to accomplish.

Cheers,
Brad

Brad, thank you. That's definitely worth looking into.