I am almost out of .030" welding wire so I didn't even try. Might have enough to tack the parts together and that's about it. Instead I just cut the legs and a side brace so everything is ready to go when I get the wire.
I ran into a little problem with my band saw though. It's pictured above. It was built in 1987 and I bought it used, I don't remember when, but probably 15 years ago. I think I only paid about $75 for it. I've spent more this week on blades for it. No manual with it. There is nothing on the saw to indicate it needs lubrication anywhere. But on the last leg cut it starts squealing. It would squeal once in a while before but not like this. Something was wrong.
There's a cover on what appears to be a gearbox. Before now I really never gave it much thought. I never ran it long enough for anything to get hot before. Sure enough, open the cover and smoke is wisping out and I see a hot worm gear drive. This is after I added oil to cool it down.
I start squirting oil on them to cool them off. I run it a little and it's better.
At this point I'm peeved. At the manufacturer for not at least putting a sticker on the thing but mostly at myself for not paying more attention to it. I've seen the harbor freight saws and know this one is basically the same design. So I look up their saw on my phone, almost identical. I download the manual for it and towards the end I find what I'm looking for. Maintenance and lubrication. There it says, remove the cover and change the oil annually.
There wasn't a drop of oil in this. I'm not sure there ever was. The worm gear looks like it's brass and it's pretty worn but usable yet. I cleaned out the shavings and the half teaspoon of pasty gunk that was in there and add some gear oil. It's not as heavy as they recommend but the heaviest differential oil I have.
Closed it up, sawed up a couple more pieces of steel and it's working great. So I've learned a bunch in the past few days about the saw I've owned for over a decade. I'm thinking that some replacement parts from the current model HF saw will probably bolt right on. It could use a couple thrust rollers and a new worm gear.
Sorry it's not jimmy progress but I hope it helps out someone else with one of these saws. I wish I had known more before now. Time to go buy some welding wire. Later