What size motor for bandsaw?

[Chiro75]

Well, I spent a little time at lunch taking the bandsaw I found in the garbage apart. It looks like it may be a pretty nice model, but the only thing missing is the motor! I have a few questions:

1) Can I use the same bandsaw to cut metal and wood, micarta, and other handle materials?

2) If so, what type (size, HP, etc) would be best to use?

3) If not, what specs would the motor be for handle materials and what would the specs be for metal?

4) The drive belt come out of a three-sided shroud sort of thing, which is open to the bottom. Where would the motor for such a thing usually be mounted? Under the bandsaw base or something?

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[Ansoknives]

On the INCA tablesaw mentinod in the other post is a ( I think) 7 HP used motor. I dont think it matters much jsut go as strong as possible. Make sure that you can change speeds though if you want to use it on metal. You can use pulleys for that if its not included

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Jens Anso, jens@ansoknives.com
(check out my homepage)
Ansoknives.com

 

[Osbourn]

The important things on a bandsaw are blade and speed. HP is nice, but 3/4hp seems to be plenty for most non-industrial models. The Craftsman floor models, biggest that they have in my local Sears are all of 1.5hp. Sounds like you did some kickass dumpster diving. Congrats.

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Oz

"I went to one of those so-called 'All you can eat' buffets last night, and I'm on to their little game.
They stop filling up the thousand island bucket after you empty it three or four times."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/

 

[rfrink]

Way to go on the bandsaw!  I don't know what I'd do without them....(I
have 3!)   My first was a craftsman 12" but I needed to cut metal
so I fitted some "slow down" pulleys inside the legs to slow the blade
down to about 80 sfpm. It came at about 3000!


At 80sfpm it doesn't cut wood worth a darn so I made it so I could quickly
change the belts with a screw driver.  Changing belts was still a
pain but I lived with it for several years until I came across my 20" powermatic.
I still have the craftsman and still use it.


<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/beaumontmetal/shoppics/Mvc-039e.jpg" NOSAVE BORDER=3 height=320 width=240 align=LEFT> 
The photo at the left kinda shows the pulleys. I still use the little 1/2
hp 1725 motor that came with it. When you slow the speed down this slow
, you have a ton of torque and I easily cut 2" thick steel in it.

 

 

 


 

 

 

 
<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/beaumontmetal/shoppics/Mvc-040e.jpg" NOSAVE BORDER=3 height=240 width=320>
Here is a little closer view of the pulleys. It is not real pretty, I just
cobbled it up from junk laying around. Also I hand to cut it with a handsaw
or a torch because I didn't have a metal band saw yet.   After
it was up and running, I found that I needed to beef up the frame a bit
to handle the higher loads of metal cutting. I made some more braces and
plates and welded everything together.

 


<img SRC="http://www.geocities.com/beaumontmetal/shoppics/Mvc-041e.jpg" NOSAVE BORDER=3 height=240 width=320>
Here is a pic of some of the things I have cut in it.  Bronze ingots
about 2 1/2" thick, Aluminum ingots about 5" thick, 2" dia steel rounds,
all sorts of plates, angle iron, etc.


A couple of tips about the blades:  you need to have at least 3-4
teeth in the material thickness that you are cutting. If you plan to cut
1/8 steel, you need 4 teeth per 1/8 inch = 32 teeth per inch.  Use
blades as wide as possible for cutting metal.  You really have to
push the work piece into the blade and a 1/2" wide blade can take more
pushing than say an 1/8" wide blade.  When you are up running and
you figured out what blades you like the best, you can buy 100' rolls and
really save some $. You can cut them to length and braze them together
yourself. I saw through 6" thick aluminum rounds at 1000sfpm  with
hand brazed blades.

 


oops! I didn't mean to ramble on so much....I just get excited about
machinery. Especially when it comes as thrifty as your saw.


I hope this helps a bit,


Sincerely,

Rob Frink


<a href="http://www.geocities.com/beaumontmetal/index.html">Beaumont
Metal Works</a>

[This message has been edited by rfrink (edited 09-12-2000).]