void your warrenty (band saws)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Beam
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Beam

How many of you have tried running a metal cutting blade on a wood designed band saw??
does it work>?
how much should i expect to pay for a decent metal cuttin bandsaw?
what horsepower is a minimum for that type of band saw?
thanks
 
Jim,
I use a JET horizontal/vertical bandsaw.
I paid under $300 for it. 1 HP motor and it cuts all of the blade steel I want. The big thing is to get quality blades.
 
Jim-

I know a guy with a wood cutting band saw (Grizzly) that rigged it to but metal.

All he did was mount another motor with a speed reducing gear box on a hinged blade on the saw's stand.

He can take the belt off of the original motor's pulley, slap it on the slower motor and he has a metal cutting saw!

I, like Barry, own a Jet saw. If you do buy one I would definetly recommend making a new table for it. The stock table on all those hor/ver saws are meant to be taken off for horizontal cutting and they are FLIMSEY!!!

FYI- I bought mine for $250 on sale, but I have seen them standard price for $230 lately. And Harbor Freight sells them their brand (Central Machinery) for $190 on sale.

Normally Central Machinery I would not recommend, but I know two guys with that saw and it works just dandy.

Good luck.

Nick
Always learning and growing...
 
i bought a woodworking bandsaw, put a box gear reducer on the motor, and brought the speed down to 67fpm, i can raise it or lower it withing metal working speeds now, and i have a separate motor underneath for woodworking.
 
If you do it with a wood bandsaw, don't use one with rubber tires.You may want to look into replacing the guides with something a little more substantial to if your going to do anything more than straight cuts.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
what should i replace the rubber tires with, it has guides that work pretty nicely, what type should i look into?
 
The thing with the tires is I don't think they'd handle the heat, and if the blade carried a burr into the saw which happens alot it could gouge them up.I ripped some cherry into thin strips to laminate into a handle material and the wheels got a little brown on top from that. I don't think it would matter except that the blade wouldn't track properly if the wheels weren't true or if they developed humps.You might try finding replacement wheels of the same size off of a metal cutting bandsaw.Or make sure you use a lot of coolant on the blade while its running and make sure the inside doesn't fill with grit.Hope that helps.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Magnum,
I guess what I should say is that I wouldn't try to convert a wood cuttting saw into a metal cuting saw without doing something about the tires. I have a Delta benchtop bandsaw with rubber tires on the wheels that I use a lot for wood only. I just noticed that after ripping some really hard stuff, cherry in particular, the wheels were a little discolored along the sides of the blade. I think this was caused by heat build up, and I assume that a metal cutting saw would run hotter due to what its cutting even though it operates so much slower.I also remembered seeing that metal blades are a little thicker and more rigid from teeth to spine so they twist less. At least on my saw the wheels seem to have a lot of crown and I don't know how well a stiffer wider blade would track on them. If you have already used the one you made and it works, then completely ignore me I don't know what I'm talking about. Sorry for any confusion.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
no problem, see my my bandsaw, it can withstand alot of heat, like a contact wheel, so i'm not worried about them. i'm fixing the tracking as soon as possible, probably start sometime after christmas, when all the blades are done. i'm going to make it from a block of o-1, with more bearings, and more steel on the blade at a different angle for tracking. at least on the bottom, i'll probably replace the top one sometime too. i'm gonna weld up some 3/4" wide blades, that should also help the tracking, but those are wood blades. i have a 1/2" wide lenox bi-metal for blade steel. my blades are 92.5" long.
 
Magnum,
I know oyu guys are probably sick of the name woodcraft since I've saifd to try them fdor about everything.For the bandsaw blades you want to make, they sell blade stock in 100 ft coils with various sizes, teeth per inch, and types of teeth.They also have a special kit for welding blades(wood or bi-metal)that includes a jug for grinding the mating bevels to the proper angles.Hope that helps.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
thanks, i 'm gonna try this out with the mig welder, but i probably will buy a blade welder.

[This message has been edited by magnum .44 (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
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