Steel cutting bandsaw blade.

trentu

trentu

Joined
Mar 2, 2006
Messages
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I have a 14" Jet bandsaw. It has a 3/4 horse motor. I would like to use it to profile my blades but cannot find any quality blades. 1080 seems to cut about an inch before the blade gets ruined. Any suggestions? Thank you.
 
Your bandsaw must be set to run at about 60 feet per minute or else the bandsaw blade teeth will crumble and be dull before you know it.

I will also vote for bimetal blades. The are more money, but will last much longer and will be cheaper in the long run.
 
Is the bandsaw a metal or a wood bandsaw? If it is a wood saw it will run way way to fast for metal. I have a Sears 16" wood bandsaw and I have some high quality bi metal blades for metal that fit it. I was given them from work as the metal saw they were for is now gone. They don't last very long on my wood saw cutting steel before they are toast. I have a small metal band saw and I cut all kinds of steel on it. By the way when I run the metal blades on my wood saw it cuts aluminum and brass great. I have thought of putting a variable speed motor on the wood saw, but, then I would spend a lot of time changing blades form wood to metal. Would be fine if I just ran metal, but metal blades are way to fine for wood. I think some people have also converted wood saws by adding a shaft with a 2 groove idler pulley (one big one small)then with a small pulley on the motor running the big pulley on the idler and then a small pulley on the idler runs a big pulley on the saw drive. In other words it takes a lot of step down in speed.
 
Thanks guys. Looks like I need to buy a new saw because this one is for wood. Way too fast.
 
have you ever thought of friction cutting?? This is a way to use a wood band saw to cut steel. They actually sell blades specifically designed for friction cutting. Basically you put on a dull bimetal blade (some run the blades backwards), turn the saw up a fast as it will go then go for it. I have successfully cut up to 3/4" material in this manner. I had a real problem cutting .062 ti sheet. My machine shop instructor told me to try the friction and it worked great. The only thing is make sure the saw is cleaned of all wood saw dust. It can have a tendency to spark a little.
 
I don't think a normal 14" bandsaw goes fast enough to friction cut. I have a 14" ridgid bandsaw and it goes 2700 sfpm , which I think is fairly typical for saws is that size, isn't that too slow? How fast do you friction cut?
 
I did it on a metal cutting band saw. It went up to around 2200sfm. I no longer do any friction cutting since I no longer have access to the saw. I also forge to do the majority of my profiling. For cutting I use a 7x12 horiz/vertical metal cutting bandsaw. But I read an article in blade i think a few years ago about someone who used a wood cutting bandsaw to friction cut blade steel. I would not use a standard 1/4 inch wide wood cutting blade though. Go at least 1/2 wide for friction cutting.
 
Don Hanson III said:
You need Bimetal blades.

I like the Lennox Diemaster blades, 18 to 24 TPI.
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Seconded! Also, when you first put on a new bandsaw blade, turn down your speed to about 1/2 what you normally run, the Lenox blades (others too no doubt) will benefit from this break in period, make a few cuts at this lower speed, then move to your regular speed.
 
Friction saws work well alright, but man that blade is moving. We have a couple at work. Never thought to try it on my wood saw. But, then I had a small metal saw and a Porta Band so the wood saw thing never bothered me much. Jim
 
J-siah said:
I don't think a normal 14" bandsaw goes fast enough to friction cut. I have a 14" ridgid bandsaw and it goes 2700 sfpm , which I think is fairly typical for saws is that size, isn't that too slow? How fast do you friction cut?
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I was talking with DoAll about using my wood bandsaw for metal. To slow cut with a bi-metallic blade, they wanted 80 fpm. To friction cut, I think he said about 4000 fpm.

Balin
 
You might be able to get 4000fps that with a smaller drive pulley and/or a bigger driven pulley. Also if your motor was a 1700 rpm you could go to a 3400rpm Friction saws cut pretty good, but are noisy, and really throw the sparks and metal chips. My little vertical/horizontal saw works fine for my knife steel work.You can often find them chep. Cruise Craig's list and Ebay. On Ebay set the search for those close to your location and save on shipping and those farther away will not bid as high because they will have to pay shipping.
 
Good info,,,thanks fella's,,, I have another to add. I think I've read that some people "break in" their blades bly cutting some softer metal such as brass or something? Yes? I just picked up a Starrett bi-metal 18 tpi. $24,,, dang, so want to make it last.
Thanks again,,,,,


jm
 
While we are talking about metal cutting bandsaws, any suggestions on brands and models? I am in the market because my Grizzly metal band saw is a piece of c***. Price is of course important, but any ideas on value metal band saws appreciated.
 
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