WIP Converting Meber SR 500 bandsaw for home workshop

[sleake]

Hi everyone,
just thought I would share the trials and tribulations of my current bandsaw journey, as I have found very little information online about converting industrial bandsaws to single phase, yet hope it to be a straightforward process, as I recently bought a used, approximately 30 year old Italian Meber SR500 Bandsaw .

I have had a growing interest in typically European industrial style machines due to their impressive performance, however have been scared off based on their sheer size, potential lack of spare parts and 3 phase power requirements. However, the robustness of these machinery simply blows the typical 'hobby' brands away, in my view particularly when it comes to bandsaws.

Although I expect a fair share of headaches etc, the goal is to eventually end up with an 'industrial' saw for less than 2 grand total expenditure that can run on standard 240 volt wiring. Fingers crossed!

Cheers, Steve

[sleake]

First job was moving it!

Huge thanks to the last owner John who had an engine crane and plenty of time and patience to assist me haul it onto a pallet inside a trailer. I the strapped it down every possible way and drove it up from the sth coast of NSW.

Long slow trip home and finish the day with a rainy night unloading it, with the help of a hastily built ramp, pallet jack and gravity.

It squeezed under the roller door by a hair and I called it a day!

Very happy to have moved 300kg of steel with no disasters!

[sleake]

Removed the old 3 phase motor last night, I strongly suspect it is not original, it has an Australian motor stamp, and an Ozzie Stenco pulley, plus the wiring is........... agricultural.

Very simple process to unbolt, cut leads and pull off, leaving a nice clean slate for a single phase motor

So far so good, total cost including transport is $1350, hopefully on track to stay under budget

Cheers, Steve

[sleake]

With the old motor removed, I turned to a single phase replacement.

A quick google found a range 2.2 Kw singlephase motors in the 250 - 300 dollar range, so with a few phone calls to check availability I found a suitable frame mount motor, with taper lock pulley, belt and 15 amp lead for $340.

The pulley size calculation brought me back to yr 9 maths, but showed the previous 80mm pulley was far too small and was running a slow blade speed (recommended somewhere between 3500 and 4000 feet per minute)

Finding the original spec sheet of the saw showed a wheel rpm of 720, which showed I needed to reduce my 1410rpm motor by half.

The large pulley on the bandsaw wheel was 280mm /2 gave me a 140mm motor pulley and a final rpm of 705. Close enough! (Actual calculation needed 144mm pulley but that would obviously be hard to find!)

[sleake]

Fitting the new motor was a fiddly but straightforward process, needed to extend some of the existing slots and drill 2 new mounting holes but nothing complex.

Fired it up and it came to life! A few test cuts shows it has serious grunt, but I think the bearings might be due for replacement, will have a closer look after the Easter weekend.

Cheers, Steve

[kiwigeo]

Looks like a good score there Steve. There's something special about some of the old machinery.

[sleake]

Thanks Martin,

I've just done a basic set-up and am just blown away by the smoothness of the saw, even with a little bearing play in the bottom wheel it runs very quietly and vibration free. Looking forwards to new bearings and a 30mm carbide resaw blade!

I know this thread is a little left of field for the forum, but it might be the only way I can contribute something for the many expert builders here who might be unaware of how simple it is to make an industrial, normally 3 phase machine work in a 'normal' shed. Similar machines seem to pop up very regularly on scumtree or Facebook marketplace for a grand or so, with a bit of mucking about and moderate expenditure you can have a machine that kicks the a$$ of any carbatec.

The ability to get reliable and accurate resaw of guitar sized billets is something I am very much looking forwards to, though at my rate I'll be re sawing much faster than I'll be building!

Cheers, Steve