[TheForge] OT bandsaw question

[Bob Smolen]

I bought an older Kalamazoo horizontal band saw. The prior owner replaced
the copper tubing on the cylinder with a long length of plastic hose which
has a needle valve between top and bottom ports to control the speed at
which the saw lowers itself onto the stock. I nicked the hose when I was
moving the saw so I had to splice the hose and add fluid. I just removed the
cylinder end cap and refilled. Is there a proper way to bleed the system?
A few turns of the needle valve stops the saw from coming down and will hold
the saw in suspeension indefinitely.The problem is that if I want to lower
the saw to the work, I have to open and then close the valve to control
descent the last few inches. This is real touchy.Just when I think I have
the right balance, I raise and lower the saw a couple times and the saw
wants to just stop its descent the last several inches. To allow it to drop,
I open the valve. Invariably, by reopening the valve, it goes down too fast,
hence repeat the process. It does not want to maintain a constant rate of
descent  I s there a proceure to do this. What is reasonable to expect. As I
have it now, there is too much fiddling  and easier to go to cutoff for
smaller work. That is not what I envisioned.
Also, what is the brass lever near the clamp wheel for. Some sort of lock
for the vise jaws?
Thanks,
Bob.