Craftsman 103.0103

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

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Sweet discovery, and great wife for making the score !
Good luck on the "reconstruction"

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

Click to expand...

and it is from when craftsman made good tools real nice find

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

Click to expand...

Congrats and very solid machine

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

Click to expand...

I was able to find almost all of the missing pieces from a OWWM member. Instead of getting just the missing knobs I will be receiving the tension and tracking assembly. It's in the mail and heading my way. All I need now is the lower guide thrust bearing but I think I am going to make my own similar to the picture. Any thoughts on that?

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

Click to expand...

I got the saw cleaned up and all back together. I ended up making a thrust bearing for the lower guide and I am pleased with the results. I may even make another to replace the upper guide. All that is left to do is make a stand for it.

jlabos said:

Craftsman 103.0103

My newest addition is a 12" Craftsman band saw model 103.0103 that my wife actually found in he side of the road while driving home. It is missing the upper guide assembly and all the knobs but everything that is there is in great shape. It didn't belong out on the curb for trash. I am hunting for the missing parts and I hope to bring the machine back to life. I will post any progress.

Click to expand...

Old thread but I just got one of these saws and both thrust bearings were missing. It had some other issues and I am fairly unfamiliar with the workings of a bandsaw (I've worked on one but never owned /repaired one) so I didn't want to buy a bunch of replacement parts and then find out there was some fatal flaw that made it a parts machine. I only payed $20 for it so…

Any way if you know a hobby machinist (or a real one) they are pretty easy to make. The disk is around 3/4" (going by pictures since I didn't have one to copy) and the shaft is 1/4". I took drill stock of those sizes drilled out a 1/4" hole in the center of the 3/4 cut the front profile, counter sunk the hole and parted off a disk. Polished up a bit of the 1/4" and dimpled one end with a center drill. There is a bump in the center of the bronze holder so I figured it had a mating dimple. I cut the 1/4" so that it was just in the counter sync with the right length of shaft (on mine it was about .85") and hit the 1/4" rod with a TIG torch to fusion weld it to the 3/4". I then did a truing pass in the lathe and rounded the edges a bit with a file.

Sounds complicated but the whole thing took maybe 20 min each though I could probably do it in 1/2 the time now that I have done it.

The first one I made was closer to 1" and that is probably going to be too big. Ill try it in the upper blade guide where I can see how it works, but I'm pretty sure I will be replacing it with a smaller version. I did one at 1/2" that might work depending on where the blade ends up but I thought it looked to small and is certainly smaller than the photos of the real one.

I didn't harden it figuring that it should not be harder or as hard as the blade, but then as long as it's spinning… It is drill rod so it can be hardened.

Anyway an option for those who are looking for parts, make a friend of a machinist!

The 103.0103 came with an 80-inch by 1/4-inch blade.

A scan of the original manual is available on VintageMachinery.org and there are a number of threads about the saw on OWWM.

Some of the threads suggest it can take a blade as wide as 1/2-inch. I've recently refurbished mine but haven't tried a wider blade yet.

Appropos of the beginning of this thread, mine had badly worn guide blocks and one badly worn thrust bearing. I made new ones:



Per the manual, the guide blocks are "oil impregnated adjustable bronze blocks". They're cylindrical, 0.313 inches in diameter and about 0.625 long.

The good thrust bearing I had measured 1-3/32 inches in diameter by 3/8 inches thick. There's a 3/16-inch through hole for the shaft. A 0.650 diameter by 0.190 recess on the front allows the shaft end and retaining nut to stay below the back of the blade. There's also a 0.250 diameter by 0.050 deep recess on the back that accepts the unthreaded shoulder of the shaft. The shaft is 1/4-inch by 7/8 inch long.

My worn thrust bearing had clearly been case hardened. I made the new ones out of O1 steel, which I then hardened and tempered.