Bandsaw
I went to Harbor Freight to check out the tumbler’s and came out with this on sale –
It barely fit my trunk and then was a b&%$h to get assembled…. Worse than the mill and lathe.
But its worth it not having to use a hacksaw or reciprocating saw and then spending ages cleaning stuff up in the lathe !
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all good advice walt… if only I could get the blade on.
You pussies 🙂 Grind the bandsaw blades with extreme prejudice and silver solder them together. With adequate cooling a given bandsaw blade should last you several years of normal duty use. I took apart an entire junkyard with racks 50 ft high full of cars and wrecks with 2 guys and 2 portable bandsaws. We broke maybe 5 blades between us in several hundred cuts and no coolant. The ones we broke were unavoidable due to the built in stress that is built in when you weld large angle iron and channel together due to the heat distorting the steel and then contracting as it cools…. so in the cold state the structure is stressed. But when you cut a stressed structure, it snaps suddenly near the end of the cut, and this trapped and broke the blades we lost.
On the small portables the blades are small hoops, so can’t be welded. But on the larger machines, the blades are long enough to lose 1/8″ or so for the reweld. You should be able to snap the same blade several times and reweld again.
YN, your blade looks a bit coarse toothed; you may want to opt for a higher tooth count. Also the speed of cut has a lot to do with it. Oh DH’s machine liquid cools and lubricates the blade, but on small machines without liquid cooling, you have to allow the teeth time to cool down or they dull quickly. If the machine has adjustable speeds, slow it down. The higher the density or hardness of material, the slower you have to go. Also slow down the material feed rate/rate of fall. If you are already the slowest you can go, then you’ll have to manually apply coolant. I use WD40, which works great on alum but is nearly uselss on steel.
walt
Like KM said…. use a Lenox saw blade. I know just a little bit about it. 😉 If it the saw employs a liquid cooling method for the blade look into getting something called “solution oil”. It mixes with water, and is absolutely unreal. I’ll try to find the brand name next time I’m at the shipyard. I have access to a Bad Ass vertical band saw that I love using. It will cut thru 16″ solid round stock like it was butter.
Actually compare the length of the broken one to the new one, maybe the new one is f-ed up size wise
SAW
I know on my 17″ wood band saw it adjusts down to install the blade and then some.
SAW
I tried to put the new blade on my bandsaw and it isnt going on. I loosed the tension adjustment so much that the knob came off and I also removed all the guides and I still cannot get it around both wheels.
Its a 64 1/2″ blade……
Are they supposed to be this hard to get on? I figured it would be easy and the tension adjustment would take in the slack.
Yep, Like I said, they suck! And they aern’t all that cheap! 🙁
The Lenox bi-Metal Diemaster-II on the saw in the shop has been on there for over a year now. They use an alternating tooth count which helps a lot with preventing binding and heat. They cost less than twice as much but last 20 times longer. Makes them Very Reasonable! 😀
Somthing else you can do that helps is use the stick lube they sell at just about all machine tool sales places. Just cut into the end of the lub stick, and it will help a lot when cutting thicker pieces of steel. I use Cool Tool here in the shop. Works very well!
Mike
i broke the one that came with mine really fast but after that i replaced it with a good blade and it has held up well so far
I have enco ones for it, was just waiting for the HF one that came with it to break/dull.
Yeah, thats exactly where mine would break as well. Maybe order some good blades? Those HF ones are total crap.
I was cutting 2″ bar stock and was doing other stuff in my shop while it was working, after the 4th cut I heard a loud crashing. Expected to see something broken but didnt see anything wrong. Looked closer and realised the blade wasnt moving at all.
Broke where the two ends were bonded. You guys told me they sucked, but I was hoping I’d have a bit more life out of it.
Yes it is! I love the stuff. 😀
Killer Stair case and flooring! 😯
Wood SAW
Com’on you old farts, do both! 😀 
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Is that amboyna burl???? YEA DO BOTH!!!!
Wood SAW
Com’on you old farts, do both! 😀 [/img]
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YN, how far does it have to go before it will slip on? Do your 2 wheels have anything on them? like a collar of rubber for driving the blades? or are they steel on steel?