HF Bandsaw Part II (Grizzly Blade)

[Burchtree]

I just wanted to start a new thread because I had a question and wanted the masses to see it. Have any of you guys had experience with Grizzly's Bi-Metal bandsaw blades? They have them for about 30 bucks, and I wanted to make sure they worked well before picking one up today.

Also, this may sound like a stupid question, but do you guys use a little cutting fluid on your bandsaws? (ah, my first bandsaw. )

BTW -- I picked up a HF Bandsaw last night and they had it on sale again at their 150 price.

 

[jhiggins]

Hi Mike, hey you really should check out these links:

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Bandsaw/Bandsaw.htm

~and~

http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/projects/sawstand/sawstand.html

~and~

http://www.tinyisland.com/4x6bsFAQ.html

The second link looks like a nice mod, and I plan to make something similar as soon as I get time. Will probably be a winter project for me.

 

[jhiggins]

Oh, and I don't use cutting fluid. I run the saw as slow as it can go, and I use a wicked-good Starrett 14tpi blade. Once in a great while, when cutting something tough or something funky, like bronze or S30V, I'll use some Drill Chill (from ZEP) on it. In my years as a machinist, I'll have to say that coolant will make your parts come out with a better finish, and will prolong the life of your tooling - but with a price. The price you pay is in time lost in cleanup and maintenance of the coolant tank, pumps, and associated hardware. Coolant is essential in some operations, but not needed for most simple, short operations and becomes a hinderance for most things in knifemaking, I find. I hate it when anything slows me down! Woohoo!

 

[blgoode]

for my stand I used 3/4" plywood. I cut it to resemble a saw buck(horse).

Then I simply screwed down a top fot the saw to sit on. I cut 1/8" steel at 1.5" x 1.5" with 2 holes.....

One for my saw to bolt onto and one to screw the saw into the sides of blocks that are screwed to the 3/4" ply saw horse top.

(Sort of hard to describe)

Added wheels to the back and used the handle fom the original and wha la....

there may be a better table you can come up with but this was a quick fix in just under 3 hrs total so I went with it.

 

[blgoode]

now about the fluid....

We have a saw here at work and it never gets fluid used with it. In fact theres a sign that says.....no cutting fluid dumb ****ers.......