How to safely cut 1" A-36 flat plate steel on a HF 4 by 6 horiz/vertical bandsaw?

Hi Guys,
I am new to cutting thick steel, so i need some advice on speed, feed and lubricant.. I put a carbon steel blade on it , .5' wide I cut .5 in round ss304 with no problem. I need to cut 4 pieces 5.75 by 4. by 1" thick. It will probably come out of a 1' by 2' piece.

Thanks for any advice,
Jon

I don't have a convenient way to know or measure the SFMs on my band saw but, it's the typical harbor freight unit that has a 3 step pulley. I leave it on the middle step at all times. Oil... Not much. Just an occasional squirt on the outside of the blade as it passes by.

The problem you'll have is positioning the piece so you can complete the cut. Sometimes there's no way to cut it uninterrupted and you'll need to cut it half-way then flip it over. Sometimes you need to use scrap pieces to effectively extend the reach of the jaws...

Ray

ome said:

Hi Guys,
I am new to cutting thick steel, so i need some advice on speed, feed and lubricant.. I put a carbon steel blade on it , .5' wide I cut .5 in round ss304 with no problem. I need to cut 4 pieces 5.75 by 4. by 1" thick. It will probably come out of a 1' by 2' piece.

Thanks for any advice,
Jon

Click to expand...

Like ray said, I pretty much leave my saw on the middle speed all the time too. I use whatever lube is handy, you just need a little, too much gunks everything up.

Your biggest challenge is gonna be the dimensional limitations of these saws. In measuring my saw, the largest depth of cut vertically seems to be about 4.25" to the top beam from the bottom of the blade. From the blade in to the beam is only about 2.75". You only have about 8" between the saw blade roller guides after removing the vice. Not an easy cut on such a heavy piece. I think your best bet is gonna be to clamp it in vertically and your probably gonna have to rig up a support on the the outside of the cutting blade to support your work for the second cut. You might have to flip the saw vertically and free hand that last 3/4" by tilting the plate manually and trying to get every last bit of depth out of your cutting capacity. Get ready for a workout.)

Its surprising how big a chunk you can cut if you get creative with the clamping. I cut a 12" x 24" chunk of 2" plate on my saw, and while you cant complete the cut in one go (have to flip and cut the other side) you can get a long cut by having the piece vertical. Just have to make sure its solidly clamped or it will vibrate and cause major issues with the blade. I myself run it on the slowest speed setting of the 3, as it seems to make the blades last a lot longer.

ome said:

Hi Guys,
I am new to cutting thick steel, so i need some advice on speed, feed and lubricant.. I put a carbon steel blade on it , .5' wide I cut .5 in round ss304 with no problem. I need to cut 4 pieces 5.75 by 4. by 1" thick. It will probably come out of a 1' by 2' piece.

Thanks for any advice,
Jon

Click to expand...

Sometimes it is easiest not to use the vice to hold stuff. I have sometimes used the slot there the vice jaw slides to hold the T-nuts of my hold down sets, then just bolt the stuff straight to the table. What ever works :thumbzup:
Alan

Some times you have to improvise with your clamping. Don't know if you could do a 12" wide piece this way but the circle shown is a little over 10" in diameter. Note the little extension table I added. Homemade angle plate and some "C" clamps made it work. Material is .750 thick.