Wood Bandsaw Question

Burchtree

Burchtree

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I searched through the archives, but couldn't find anything. Can a wood bansaw be slowed down enough(with a bi-metal blade) to be used with metal? Ace Hardware has the variable-diameter pulleys and was wondering if it would work.
 
or on another note -- could I just exchange the motor (older model with exposed motor and pulley) with a slower one?
 
That really depends on how the saw is made. If its belt driven you might give it a go. My little benchtop saw has a driect drive from the motor to the lower wheel, so there's no hope for slowing it down.

Your going to need quite a difference in pulley size though. I think most wood cutting saws run in the range of 2000-2500 surface feet a minute, and metal cutting is generally done at less than 200.
 
don't quote me on this, but i vaguely recall weyger's "complete modern blacksmith" having something (maybe it was just an illustration?) on converting a wood band saw to metal...i think it was just a pulley system of some sort but if you have the book, it might help generate some ideas...
 
I tried it and used the biggest pulley I could find 14" it seems like it was, and the blade still ran way too fast.
Only way to do it right imo would be to rig it up with a geared motor, which shouldn't be too expensive or difficult to do. There's tons of em on Ebay and be sure to get an ac motor, not a dc one like me. Don't know why I didn't think about that.
Another thing to consider is that most wood cutting bandsaws have aluminum wheels where the metal cutting ones use steel wheels to turn the blade.
 
I have a Harbor Freight variable speed band saw, the slow speed is quite a bit faster than a metal cutting saw. It works good on wood and while it is way to fast for metal. Now some one will say that I am full of it but I use it all the time for some metal cutting. I cut thin brass and nickel silver all the time with bi-metal wood cutting blades 6 thread per inch. Last week my metal saw burned it's motor out and I needed to cut some 1/2" nickel silver, the cut was 6" long, a lot to do with a hand saw, I trued the wood band saw and it worked real good just use a very fine feed. And yes there are no teeth out of the blade. Try it you will like it. Gib
 
It's a good 12-inch bandsaw, so I wouldn't want to ruin it's woodcutting abilities. It does have a pulley and motor system, so i might see if I can find variable speed motor for it. Any suggestions?
 
Originally posted by markmarkmark
don't quote me on this, but i vaguely recall weyger's "complete modern blacksmith" having something (maybe it was just an illustration?) on converting a wood band saw to metal...i think it was just a pulley system of some sort but if you have the book, it might help generate some ideas...
Click to expand...


I think that was to actually speed up a woodcutting bandsaw to about 5000 SFPM. At that speed you can friction cut many steels very quickly.

That was a popular way of doing it years ago, before relatively inexpensive HF bandsaws. :D
 
Originally posted by Burchtree
It's a good 12-inch bandsaw, so I wouldn't want to ruin it's woodcutting abilities. It does have a pulley and motor system, so i might see if I can find variable speed motor for it. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...


You would be $$ ahead to just buy a HF metal cutter, especially if you figure labor etc, into the equation.
They had them on sale for $149.00. :eek:
 
Alex Daniels took a 12 inch Craftsmen bandsaw and added a 1 1/4 horse variable speed motor like he uses on his grinders and cuts all his metal and Ivory and wood or just what ever he wants as he can make it run from a dead stop to a few thousnad rpm,just has to buy different blades..I added a treadmill motor to my small metal cutting bandsaw that I saved from the scrap yard and can do the same with it.The motor has been running on it for a few years now with no problems..The Bandsaw with a variable speed motor on it has many more uses than having two saws,As yo can set the speed to cut at the best possiable speed for the material you are cutting and not heat the piece or the blade...

Bruce
 
Yeah, I have both. HF often won't charge freight either but you're ahead if you have a store locally. I got my woodcutting saw from an ad in the paper - lots of woodworking equipment very cheap that way! :)

Be sure to buy bimetal blades - it took me way too long to believe what everyone else was telling me. :o I've been using the same blade over a year and it's still going strong.

Dave
 
Can it be done? Yes. I have such a setup now. I put in an extra shaft with a couple of pillow blocks, ran a 2" pully to a 14" pully on the extra shaft, then a 2" from the extra shaft to a 14" on the drive.

Should it be done? Well, it cost me more than the $149 that a Harbor Freight saw would have (I didn't know about them then), it took a weeks worth of labor out of my knifemaking, lots of swearing, and I doubt it works as well as the HF model. I don't recommend it.
 
I have a large Delta table top wood band saw. Bought it at Builders Square when they were going out of business at half price which still cost me $450. If I had to do it over again I would have just spend the $150.00 and bought the correct bandsaw for cutting metal. I have gone the pulley route, went to bi metal blades and still went through blades quite frequently. I bought a 6" pulley for it to slow it down but seems the blades still dulled out fairly quick. So I finally got tired of broken/worn out blades and burnt material so I put the small pulley back on and went to friction cutting for everything. Works extremely well for me, cuts Ti like butter. CPM steels take a little more time to cut and you have to go slower but still very doable. My blades last a very long time now.
 
Mike - when I saw it at that price, I almost fell of the toilet...

:eek: :D :eek:
 
You have a computer in your bathroom? I feel dirty now. :D
 
What about friction cutting? I've read on the net about guys getting WAY more blade life from cutting with dull blades at wood-cutting speeds than they were getting from their metal bandsaw/blade setups. Not good for brass or aluminum, but they said steel would just zip through like butter. You had to have a big enough saw though, like 14" min., so that the blade would be long enough to disipate the heat. The steel just heated locally at the cut, without heating the piece. Slagg would just be created at the cut. I've never tried it myself, and was wondering about it before buying a bandsaw. Is it too harsh on the expensive tool steels and stainless steels or something? Just wondering why no one is bringing it up.
 
If it was me I would buy a HFsaw an forget about it but.
There is a article in The Home Machinist about what you want
to do
 
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