Thiel Nassovia vertical metal saw

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Hi,

For a long time I wanted to have a vertical saw to cut metal. I think I finally found a nice one:

Tomorrow morning I’m going to see it. It is supposed to be in good working order. What I have to check on such a machine? Besides obvious things like bearings, blade stability, signs o wear … I was never close to a band saw before 🙂

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

That looks a nice saw.

Don’t forget to look underneath the table to check the lower guide assembly and tilt / lock mechanism.

Be sure to ask the seller whether there are any ‘loose’ spares / attachments / paperwork that are not attached to the machine or have become separated from it..

..envy..

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

But why the grooves on the table are not parallel with the cutting direction? I can’t imagine a reason why they are not straight.
I found a video with a similar machine. It has a blade welding device on the left. It has even a small grinder! I start to like it even more.

 

 

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Not sure about the Thiel, but some of the bigger Startrites etc., were intended to be flexible ‘machining solutions’ in their own right, say for production & processing of things like die-blanks, housings, cast components.

Tables may tilt all ways, blades may be aligned to provide access to large components, or to be used with ‘band files’ or circle cutters etc.

It will be interesting to see what it can do, it might have capabilities beyond simply slicing up bits of stock..

[Sonic Escape]

On Sonic Escape Said:

But why the grooves on the table are not parallel with the cutting direction?

Why should the grooves on the table be parallel with the cutting direction?

What function do the grooves provide? Maybe lessening friction, maybe managing the swarf/sawdust that is produced.

You could think of a way that having parallel grooves might not be helpful – on narrow stock, the workpiece support would be less.

Have a look here at the Thiel die filers and note the tables thereof:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/thiel-produro/

What I cannot see on the picture is any fence or provision for fitting one. That is handy if you need a long parallel cut.

Some useful info. here (including English instructions for the welder in case yours are illegible or missing):

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/threads/thiel-nassovia-bandsaw.400812/

Elsewhere, it may be known as a Thiel 18 (there is a model 17 that comes up and it not that one), so that might find additional information:

https://industry-pilot.com/en/wood-bandsaw-machine-nassovia-thiel-18/p103783

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Yes, that sound like a good reason for not having parallel grooves. Thank you for the links.

This morning I bought the saw! It is already at my house. I didn’t had much time to check it but it is more complex that I imagined. Because there is a pedal that can stop the blade without turning off the motor. There is even an oil bath! Mine doesn’t have that mini grinder like in the video above. In that place there is a small drawer that looks like an ash tray. I have no clue yet what is it’s purpose. It’s bottom can be removed so maybe its use is collect some swarf? Because it is placed exactly bellow the blade welding terminals.
The rubber on the wheels looks fine, just small cracks. It’s original color was green. I’ll remove the paint with a chemical paint stripper. And I’ll finally have an excuse to buy a spay gun and an air compressor. The saw it made from cast iron except the doors. They are made from thick aluminum. The blade is completely useless but nearby there is a company that makes custom size bimetal blades. I already saw that some repairs were performed inside. But nothing outrageous was noticed yet.

But big surprise! The seller had also a FUS250 milling machine. This is exactly the model I just started to restore! He wanted to sell it also. But I didn’t liked how it was looking. It is in working condition but in my opinion it was abused a lot. He even switched the gears once without stopping the motor while I was watching!!! Now I’m appreciating more my machine. So I didn’t want to buy it. But before leaving he made a very good offer. The same price like the saw. And he added also a slotting head and a dividing head. These were the only accessories that were missing from my mill. And a box with HSS milling cutters that I can barely lift. Since I had the truck there I decided to buy it. It might be of some use for my restoration project. Anyway, this is going to be a busy weekend!

 

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

That looks a great buy !!

… I envy your available space.

MichaelG.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

Space is not the biggest issue. I’m more concerned about the weight. I don’t know how well the garage was built. If I keep adding heavy machines I might crack the floor or worst.

I made a few calls to sand blasting companies and to my surprise the prices are not so high. And they can come to my place. Tomorrow a guy will come to have a look. Sand blasting might be a better choice than paint stripper for such a large area.

I think that small drawer is meant to store some kind of flux for blade welding.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Look after that drive belt, they are quite expensive

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

It is something special? It looks like an ordinary trapezoidal belt.

[Sonic EscapeParticipant @sonicescape38234]

A glorious new restoration project began today! I want to clean the band saw and to apply at least a primer before the winter comes. So I can move it in the garage to finish the rest.

I tried to remove the table but is too heavy to lift it alone. So I had to be creative to lower it into the wheelbarrow.

The table is not just a cast iron plate. It can be tilted and it has some kind of crude power feed.

I cleaned the red paint with the angle grinder and a wire brush. Unfortunately I can’t remove the upper wheel. The bearing does not come off the shaft. So I will have to remove the wheel together with the front/back tilting mechanism from behind the wheel. But I can’t hold everything with one hand and use the Allen key with the other. Is too heavy. This was a good excuse to invited a friend next week.

I’m not sure what to do with the bottom part. There is a lot of stuff inside and I would like to clean there. In my amateur opinion, this machine is severely overengineered. The motor has a few gears then some kind of continuous speed adjusting mechanism with a belt. Then a chain that goes to an oil bath and who knows what else. It has also a clutch and a brake I think.

But what bothers me most is that I don’t have good access there. I can’t remove the back cover because most of the stuff you can see above are attached to it! I’m still looking with a flashlight for a solution.

I removed the motor. After more than 70 years it deserves new bearings. But unfortunately when I measured it I found that one phase is dead. It has >40kΩ. The other two have 9Ω. Unlike the new motors this one has some kind of open structure. The fan is inside. The saw was used to cut also wood. There is a lot of wood swarf and the fan sucked it into the motor. And clogged completely the air intake. So maybe the motor cooked itself. When I tested the bad saw at the seller workshop it was working. But maybe it can run also with only two phases.

That is no big deal. I have a few suitable spare motors. I found that the cast iron body is actually made from two pieces. But I can’t tell how are they assembled together. They are not welded. And there are no screws.

This time I used a lot of labeled large zip bags for all small parts. After I finished the other milling machine restoration project I was left with some 2-3kg of screws, nuts and other small parts. I can’t remember from where I removed them 🙂

 

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