How to tell if a bandsaw can handle steel?

S

slewis

Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
6
Pretty dumb question, I know, but can you put a metal cutting blade on any bandsaw? Is it a matter of motor power or cutting speed? Alot of people on this forum really like the small portable bandsaws, but those don't seem any beefer than the small woodhop kind that seem to be wood and plastic only. What am I missing hear?
 
A bandsaw designed for wood will run much too fast
for cutting metal. All you'll accomplish is to strip the teeth
off the blade.
Also...metal cutting bandsaws tend to have heavier duty
bearings.
 
Holy cow, I'm glad I read this thread before trying to cut any steel with my new Craftsman. :eek: If I'm reading the numbers right it's about ten times too fast. Guess I'll keep it for handle materials only.

Incidentally, will 2460 fpm work OK on micarta and G10, or just melt it and gunk up the blade?
 
James_Terrio said:
Holy cow, I'm glad I read this thread before trying to cut any steel with my new Craftsman. :eek: If I'm reading the numbers right it's about ten times too fast. Guess I'll keep it for handle materials only.

Incidentally, will 2460 fpm work OK on micarta and G10, or just melt it and gunk up the blade?
Click to expand...

You should have no problem cutting either of those materials with a wood cutting bandsaw.
 
You will, however, need to get a metal cutting blade to cut G10. It will dull up a wood cutting blade in about 1/2" of cutting.
 
I used to buy into the theory that the fast cutting saws wouldn't work also. That is until I became a political atheist and decided to try it myself. ;) I've cut micarta, and sheet stainless and plate steel in thinner stock with my wood cutting Delta 14" band saw since buying it new in 1988 at Woodworkers Supply in New Mexico.

I've cut G10, titanium sheet and aluminum sheet both in upwards of .160 thickness using the same saw since 1998 with no issues with bearings or anything else. In fact having cut thin aluminum with both a slow speed and my saw I prefer the high speeds more to be honest. I use my saw nearly everyday to cut out my pocket clips from .040 and .050 thickness titanium also. Stan Fujisaka mentioned this when and article appeared in a Blade Magazine about him. In that article, which I still have by the way, its showing a picture of Stan cutting thin ti sheeting with his wood cutting band saw just like mine as I recall and I figured if it worked for him it would work for me fine also. I've used fair medium priced bi metal blades in it and manage to get great life out of them. Before finding these bi metal blades I was always just buying 14 to 18 teeth per inch blades at Sears for the wood saw and using them until they would not cut any longer. They lasted longer than you may believe. Not what you'd get with a speed adjustment to slow it down I'm sure but they last a long time. I've had the same bi metal blade in my saw in a 3/8" width for over a year lets put it that way. It still zips right through sheet titanium like a hot blade going through butter.

Every knife you ever saw me do on these forums was cut out with that saw. Get the wood saw. It will do it in my experience. You'll just have to buy blades more often than if you have a speed control. No big deal if your work pays for the blades. At least thats my opinion on it.

STR
 
James_Terrio said:
Interesting post, STR. As usual, it seems there's more than one way to skin this cat.
Click to expand...

I will say that cutting out blade thickness blanks like we buy from suppliers is not recommended with a wood cutting saw. In those experiences like my trying to cut out my blade designs in D2 and ATS34 among other steels I managed it after drilling holes first so I could cut from one hole to the next but it was the long way around to reach an end and many times the steel work hardened. Especially the D2. Then slowing it down helps a lot.

But for thin titanium up to .160 I have had no issues at all and do it all the time on my wood saw. :thumbup: Aluminum starts to melt if it gets thicker than .140 and you can make it work for .160 but its sometimes noticed that it can drift some if you stay in one spot too long. Its also important to keep the ti sheet moving but it sure works if you just want to rough out a blank right quick. I do need to make a correction though. Every knife sold by me here was always cut out by my saw until the BUSSTR folder I just came up with where I used Dave at Great Lakes Waterjet for the first time. Just to be clear. :D

STR
 
Thanks again, STR. I don't think I'll mess with using my saw to cut tool-steel. So far I've used my drill-press, hacksaw and/or Dremel tool to cut out profiles. It doesn't waste hardly any steel that way, but it takes a while. I'm thinking of just getting a cheap angle grinder for the rough stuff. They don't work real pretty, but they work pretty damn fast. I haven't done all the math, but it seems the couple ounces of steel I'd grind away will be made up in shop-time. It would save me on belts, too.

Speaking of Dave, I have a set of blanks on the way from him, cut to my specs and I can't wait. I've heard nothing but good things about his service and so far it looks very cost-effective for "standard" blades.
 
I just picked up that Harbor Freight discount (Cheap) Horizontal/Verticle metal cutting bandsaw last weekend for $249 plus tax.

So far I have cut wood, bone, horn, 1/4" aluminum, and 3/16" A2 steel with no problems. The table you lay your material on when cutting is very cheap and hard to get level. I plan on making a better one out of a piece of aluminum plate.

The stand seems pretty flimsy and if you get one of these I suggest you bolt it on while the saw is laying down and then have someone help you stand it upright.

My daughter and I fooled around for 15 agonizing minutes trying to get that heavy saw on the flimsy frame!

Over all I am very happy with the saw, I just couldn't afford to go out and get a $1200+ 14" vertical bandsaw. This does the trick and is much better that hacksawing or drilling a bunch of holes...

Just my .02
 
I have three bandsaws. I have a Jet woodsaw, I found it ran too fast for cutting steel. I use it exclusively for wood and plastics. I have a large Wellsaw horizontal that will cut huge steel. I use it for a cutoff saw for breaking down stock and for fabrication. I have an old 14" wood bandsaw (all metal) that I put a speed reducer on, it now runs about 75sfpm. I absolutely love this saw for cutting shapes out of sheet steel up to 3/8", and for small cutoff.
I would reccomend slowing down a bandsaw to use in this manner. It works great for cutting shapes in steel, and the blade is always cool to the touch. I also added a brush to clean the tires as it runs. (metal cutoff saws don't use tires and have a flange that the back of the blade rides on)

Good luck, have fun.
Alden
 
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