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Enterprise Band Saw Restoration ... Updated with Video on pg. 4
Shane Whitlock posted a topic in Old Woodworking Machinery
"Back From The Archives " I wasn't looking for another project, I already have to many machines in que for restoration, but I received a phone call from my friend Andy the other night. He told me that someone had just listed a huge band saw for a hundred bucks on the classifieds, so I called the owner right away and told him I'd take it and I would be there Saturday to pick it up. I figured if it was in rough shape I could scrap it for that much. The saw is a 36 incher, in rough but mostly complete shape. It's made by Enterprise MFG. Co. Here is a picture of the badge. Strange that no serial number was ever stamped on it. I did a little research and didn't find much info on them. The Vintage Machinery site states that Enterprise Manufacturing Company was established in 1878 and was later changed to The Enterprise Company in 1913. They made sawmills and engines, but I could find no info about them ever making band saws. I thought maybe they just rebadged the machine, which was common practice back in the day, but I looked at every single 36 inch band saw on the Vintage Machinery site and couldn't find another one, nothing even similar to this one. The saw is heavy duty and very well made. I'm guess the weight around 1400 lbs. The bottom wheel is solid cast iron and weighs about 200 pounds, the table top just a little less but not much. The blade guard, small table, and weight for the blade tension can be seen leaning against the saw at the bottom of this pic It's hard to judge the size of the machine from the pics but the guide column is 1 1/2 inch solid steel and the cast iron wheel to adjust the column up and down is 8 inches. One thing that I found to be cool is they used a lot of cast bronze or brass in the machine. It will look great all cleaned up and polished. The long handle you can see in front of the wheel to adjust the blade tension is solid brass and is used to adjust the tilt of the upper wheel. A shot from below shows the trunnions, which are in great shape, and the hand wheel to adjust the table tilt. The tilt scale is also brass and a 1/4 inch thick. It took about 2 hours to get the machine stripped down to a manageable weight so I could get it off the trailer. No access to a fork lift this time so it was unloaded using a cherry picker and a pallet jack. The next pics were taken by my daughter,who picked up the photography bug from me … she does a great job. My wife and I getting the saw up in the air. Getting the saw down the steep slope into my shop with the help of my step dad and my wife, who is always willing to help me out when restoring a machine. Working hands The babbitt bearings are in descent shape but I think I will repour them. The lower blade guard is missing, along with the levers to move the flat belt from the idler pulley to the drive pulley. The worse thing is the upper wheel has a crack in it across the rim, thank god it wasn't on the hub, but I think I've come up with a way to fix it. If not, I will be looking for a replacement. Oh, I also picked up a nice 5 hp 3 phase Westinghouse motor to power it Thanks for looking. I will post the restoration pics when I get it done. Shane