Improving Import Band-Saw Switch

Improving Import Band-Saw On/Off Switch Location / Light

We home shop wood and metal work enthusiasts are now pretty much confined to purchasing machinery made in either Taiwan or China. And you are pretty well limited to their modern manufacturing shortcuts. Here, I see the desire to make parts that can be somewhat universal, creating families of machine tools, to save money from not having to make somewhat duplicate parts (and in this case the bases where the on-off switch is located). BUT for me, with the on/off switch on the base, where you have to lean over to turn it ON or OFF is a safety issue. I want the switch up near arm level where it is easy to operate without hesitation.

The saw I am working on here is a 3/4 HP 14" Grizzly # G 1019. I recently traded my larger old Walker Turner to my son, who purchased this one new in 1996.

I had an experience with the same switch location on a import tool and cutter grinder a number of years ago. On this new machine, on my first power up, I had to lean over (with my head down in line with the grinder stone), and when I hit the "ON" button, before I could raise my head, the motor started AND upon acceleration, the grinding stone disintrigated, with major parts of it hitting me in the head above my only eye, breaking my safety glasses. That happened with me at the age of about 45 and caused major floaters that the optometrist explained was because at that age at that time, (and that hard a hit) that it broke loose some material inside my eye. LESSON LEARNED.

Here we see the old switch location on the base of this bandsaw.

Reposition the Switch : My plan was to move this existing switch up and onto the LH side of the overarm bracket at a height more convenient to operating it. But the existing switch box was made of plastic mounted behind the front panel and not usable as a front mount in the location I wanted it to be. The plan was to use a new conduit outlet box to be used to mount the switch into.

Basically, what was involved was to disconnect the power cord, pull the existing push button switch out, code the wires and add a new wiring from the inlet terminal block, and run these wires from the base up to the new outlet box. The new outlet box was to be a duplex conduit box. However on my initial measurements, the US cover hole spacing of the box was narrower that the Taiwan switch by about one hole, so I welded the old holes in the "new" outlet box, and drilled/tapped to match the Taiwan spacing.

After I got the switch off, I then discovered this new US made conduit box was considerably narrower and shallower than the original Taiwan plastic box that was mounted behind the base material. This proved to be just too small, so I had to fabricate a new metal box about 2 5/8" wide by 4 3/8" long and 2 1/2" deep. This depth gave me enough room for the wiring to not be cramped. I then welded internal lips on each outer end which were drilled and tap #8-32 holes to the spacing matching of the old Taiwan cover plate holes. A 7/8" hole was drilled in the bottom of the box for installation of a 1/2" Romex wire clamp for the wiring to be pulled through.

     On this switch, the cover contained the actual push buttons separate but directly in front of the actual switch buttons.

    To mount this new outlet box, I used one existing threaded hole in the overarm casting where one of the two screws went to attach a plastic blade cover, then a second 10-24 screw and nut behind (to keep it from rotating) in the rear of this new box. Then drill a 5/8" hole just below the metal box on the plastic cover for the new wiring to go out and up into the box.

    To run the wiring from the base up to the new switch location, there also had to be a 5/8" hole drilled in the top of the sheet metal base, another in the outside of the casting, and a notch ground in the cast iron above to allow wiring to be run up behind the plastic cover and up, then out into the new switch box.

Here we see the newly located power switch illuminated by the light.

Then a plain sheet aluminum new cover plate was added to cover the now existing old low switch location hole.

      Add a Table Light at the Same Time: While doing the above and changing the wiring, why no add a light over this saw? Here I had a unused old swing arm light that was collecting dust, so I cut part of the arm off, welding it to a steel plate and mounted it behind, but near the new switch. This weld was so that the arm is now ridgid, but placed where the light hood could be twisted to illuminate the saw blade better.

    For the mounting this duplex outlet receptacle, I used the center knock out plug in the rear of a this box and drilled a 13/16" hole in the cast iron overarm, fastening this box and light bracket using a 1/2" close pipe coupler and two 1/2 conduit nuts. This provides a sturdy mount along with a conduit for the wires to the switch duplex box. This light already had it's own twist knob switch, so I just used a duplex outlet and plugged the shortened cord plug into it.

    For power to this outlet, just trace down the incoming power cord connections and run wires up to this outlet box.

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