Band Saw Question

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Aug 12, 2012
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I see that a lot of people like using the portaband saw to cut out blanks. My question is if a table top band saw can be used for cutting blanks? Are there metal cutting blades for your regular band saw? I think that the speed may be too fast on those for cutting metal but I'm not sure.

Thanks
 
Yep, the speed is too fast on a wood bandsaw for metal cutting. There's a caveat about friction cutting but it won't really apply to you.

The portaband is used so widely because it is the cheapest way to get into a bandsaw that cuts slow enough for steel. They have a lot of limitations though as far as allowable stock size, etc.

If it was as easy as slapping a metal blade on your wood saw, we'd all be doing that! Bigger nicer table, bigger throat, etc.

A possible option would be fabricating a jackshaft setup/slowdown pulley on your saw, that could be switched to for metal speeds. A typical 3 or 4 step pulley won't slow you blade nearly enough.

Or, you could see about retrofitting a 3 phase motor to your saw, and running that with a variable frequency drive to allow infinitely adjustable speed. That's the slickest way.

The above two options should only be considered if the saw is of heavy construction, and would hold up to metal cutting- and if you don't have the funds to allocate to a dedicated metal cutting bandsaw.

My advice is to keep an eye out on Craigslist over the long term. Even in rural areas, metal cutting bandsaws will come up for sale and sometimes quite cheap, especially if you'll drive up to an hour or two and can fix things. A horizontal metal cutting bandsaw can often be made to work as a vertical saw with slight modifications. I got a 7x12 Rockwell horizontal bandsaw for $45 and a 2 hour drive in my area. It took a whole day to fix up and convert to vertical ability, but now I have a saw that would cost upwards of $1500 new and I know my way around it very well.

Of course, there are a lot of different ways to cut stuff. I have four bandsaws, a power hacksaw, a chopsaw, and three cutting torches in my shop and I'm always on the lookout for something different...
 
What about a table saw with a steel cutting blade? Thoughts?


If you try that you better make sure to get all the saw dust out of the saw, or you might be getting a visit from the guys that drive the big red trucks ;0)

A vice ,hacksaw, and a coarse wheel on a bench grinder and you should have a profile finished in about an hour
 
The table saw would use a large circular blade. It might be ok for straight cuts but then why not just use a chop saw? I'm not sure I'd want my hands near that operation personally. The advantage of a bandsaw is the curved cuts it can make which is obviously what you want when profiling blades. Unless you have the scratch for a proper vertical metal bandsaw, the best way many have found is the (red) vertical/horizontal Harbor Freight bandsaw. It's fairly inexpensive. Just get a good bimetal blade from Lennox or similar and off you go. I have mine set up in the vertical position with the work table mounted. It can be finicky but once set up properly it is quite a good value.
 
What about a table saw with a steel cutting blade? Thoughts?

I would not believe this a very good idea. Not only will the dust and sparks pose a potential threat, I would think the extra drag would cause the motor to build up excess heat.

I would wager even the dreaded angle grinder be a more viable option than a table saw with a metal blade.

Chris
 
In regards to the stock thickness that a portaband can cut, can you cut something as thick as .250"? How thick of a steel stock can you cut.
 
In regards to the stock thickness that a portaband can cut, can you cut something as thick as .250"? How thick of a steel stock can you cut.

I have cut solid 1.5" hot rolled. I use lennox m42 blades and am very happy. I beeline they are called diemaster blades in Lennox lingo.
 
As long as they are properly annealed, high carbon steels, CPM cutlery steels, and titanium are all absolutely doable in a 1/4" thickness with the right blade.

I have found that woodworking tools, particularly those with brushed motors, don't have what it takes for metalworking and will often burn up fairly quick.

An angle grinder with cutoff wheels, and some sommon sense in using it, are your best options for cutting steel to profile on the cheap.
 
An angle grinder with cutoff wheels, and some sommon sense in using it, are your best options for cutting steel to profile on the cheap.

An angle grinder was one of the first things that I purchased when setting up my knife shop ....in the bedroom of my apartment. However, the one time I used it, it sent sparks to the ceiling and set the smoke detector off twice before even making a dent in the material. For now I just take my steel into work to be cut on the band saw, but I don't like having to do that.

Has anyone ever came up with a cheaper alternative to the swag table for vertical conversion / table of the porta band. That table costs just too much for what it is!
 
I thought about cutting steel on my woodworking Delta bandsaw, for about two seconds. As the steel cutting I do is rough, a Harbor Freight metal bandsaw is more than sufficient at around $200. My Delta thanks me!
 
I do have a portaband set up for bench mode. All I did was take the handles off, and run a vertical angle iron up past the handle bolt holes and drill it to fit them. Then I welded that angle iron to a steel base plate that the whole setup sits on. Very easy. It could have been done easy enough with just bolts, no welding. I think if you get that portaband,a little imagining and a few minutes with a drill press and some scrap metal will yield a good benchtop stand. Or, you can rig it to clamp in a bench vise. There are pics of that sort of thing around the forum somewhere...
 
I have the Swag and for what it is, it does seem a little spendy. But it's like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going and going. Probably the best $100 or so bucks I've spent in the shop. If you are handy build yourself something similar. If not and I'm not, buy the Swag. Absolutely worth every last penny.
 
Here is my 2 cents: I have a steel table made by "Swag Off road" to fit a Milwaukee Porataband saw. It works great for cutting bar stock like nickel silver and brass but is way too slow to profile knife blanks so I use a Dewalt angle grinder to cut out my knife blanks and grind the rst off. A lot of knife makers are afraid of the angle grinder and say do not use them. I wear a leather apron and a face shield and ear muffs and I am not afraid to cut some steel. I am not the most experienced knife maker on this forum only having made and sold over 3 hundred one of a kind knives but I like the angle grinder to get me started. Larry from Bakersfield,Ca.
 
I use a large 7 inch angle grinder at work almost every day, and even went through a Kevlar glove into my knuckle at one point, not fun. However I received a similar injury on my belt sander with a 36 grit belt. Taking extra care goes a long way with any machine. Almost any injury I've received on a machine was my fault as far as I remember. Takes a lot for people to blame themselves and not the machine.

Given that info I use a 4 1/2 inch grinder to cut my blanks out. I can get about 2 eight inch blanks out of one disc. My only concern is after cutting out many blanks is that I probably have more invested in the cut off discs as I would a porta band with a couple quality blades. I'm now in the market for a porta band, not only for cost effectiveness, but also for the cleanliness of not having sparks flying around making a mess (and a fire hazard).

Ultimately, don't be afraid of an angle grinder being overly dangerous, most times it's operator error when it fails. People use them for their careers every day. Proper safety practices are a virtue. Always check your discs for cracks and don't try to make curved cuts that put tension on a disc. As I said before, it's a cheap way to get into cutting blanks reasonably quickly, but the investment adds up because discs can be quite costly.

My .05(inflation)
Justin
 
LARRYZ10 said:
I have a steel table made by "Swag Off road" to fit a Milwaukee Porataband saw. It works great for cutting bar stock like nickel silver and brass but is way too slow to profile knife blanks so I use a Dewalt angle grinder

Hmmmm. Takes me less than 10 minutes to profile a blank with my portaband/swag table. You must be a whiz with an an angle grinder Larry! Let the sparks fly man!
 
I use a large 7 inch angle grinder at work almost every day, and even went through a Kevlar glove into my knuckle at one point, not fun. However I received a similar injury on my belt sander with a 36 grit belt. Taking extra care goes a long way with any machine. Almost any injury I've received on a machine was my fault as far as I remember. Takes a lot for people to blame themselves and not the machine.

Given that info I use a 4 1/2 inch grinder to cut my blanks out. I can get about 2 eight inch blanks out of one disc. My only concern is after cutting out many blanks is that I probably have more invested in the cut off discs as I would a porta band with a couple quality blades. I'm now in the market for a porta band, not only for cost effectiveness, but also for the cleanliness of not having sparks flying around making a mess (and a fire hazard).

Ultimately, don't be afraid of an angle grinder being overly dangerous, most times it's operator error when it fails. People use them for their careers every day. Proper safety practices are a virtue. Always check your discs for cracks and don't try to make curved cuts that put tension on a disc. As I said before, it's a cheap way to get into cutting blanks reasonably quickly, but the investment adds up because discs can be quite costly.

My .05(inflation)
Justin

Posts like this one always set my teeth on edge. I refer to them as "contrarian posts." Essentially, the message in a contrarian post is, "ignore all the naysayers... what they warned you about isn't as bad as they say."

The subject of using angle grinders to cut blanks has been dealt with many times. The simple statement is it is not the best approach, and that there are safety concerns (yes, largely caused by operator error). Frankly, one of the reasons it is so often stated that people should not use an angle grinder is because it is most often sought as a cutting tool by inexperienced users... the very sort that are prone to operator error... the very sort who should NOT be encouraged to use the tool for cutting blanks.
 
I use a jigsaw with metal cutting blades. It's cheap, doesn't send sparks everywhere and is fairly fast. Granted I already own a jigsaw.

Otherwise you can get an angle grinder at lowes for $30 if you have the space to do it.

Those are your best options until you get a metal bandsaw.
 
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