Band saw tire brush, aftermarket

[akaalan225]

I'm fortunate to own a General Manufacturing band saw, purchased in the mid-80's, it's a shame they're no longer made. It came without a lower wheel brush. I recently bought a little Craftsman band saw for more detailed work that has a very effective tire brush; IMHO it's a necessary add-on. After replacing my General's tires with new urethane tires I decided to make a tire brush from scratch, using the same brush head from Sears parts and the same basic attachment. The part number for these brush heads is S21400-150, I think they were about $8.00 each. I bought a couple plus an extra drive belt as the shipping was more than the parts!

I traced the profile of the brush holder onto a 1-1/4" poplar dowel, predrilled through with a 1/4" hole and hogged out the inside as well as I could to the appropriate depth, lacking a mortising attachment for my drill press. Sloppy, but it worked to securely hold the rectangular shaft in place.

I eyeballed where I wanted the brush to sit, drilled a 1/4" hole through the lower cast iron frame. Using a 4-1/2" carriage bolt I secured it to the frame with fender and lock washers and a nut. It's the same basic attachment for my Craftsman and it works great. Project took about two hours to do and i think it would probably work for just about any band saw that didn't feature a lower wheel brush as OEM.

Photos show 1) the Sears brush in place. 2, 3) Brush head with hollowed out dowel. 4) 1/4" hole drilled in lower frame. 5, 6) installed brush.