Band saws....? Cutting theory

[MrWhoopee]

The HF 4x6 is definitely worth buying. It's one of the few tools I bought new. Hold out for a sale or 20% coupon though, mine was about $200. Unlike many of the complaints, mine cut square and straight right from the box. I've made several useful mods, including the flip-down table for vertical cutting, which is one of the slickest and most useful mods I've seen.

 

[MtnBiker]

Don't know what your budget is but conceptually, most of the horizontal bandsaws have a vertical mode where you can cut odd shapes and remove stock where milling would be inconvenient. The Ellis range of dry cut metal band saws are excellent price/performance/work envelope. Excellent for home shops. My 1600 is portable (on wheels), and has a vertical mode. Ellis sells a simple vertical table attachment but a home-brew version can be fabbed up very easily as well. The Ellis saws are dual mitering (the saw miters, don't have to move the work around) and super rugged. Made in USA.

 

[ahazi]

I recently bought a Jet 7x10-inch Belt Driven Mitering Band Saw Model HVBS-710S


I did not like the "mobile base" that was not very mobile so I built this base with some storage space:





I also wanted to improve on support for the cut piece to have a cleaner finish so I added this support:





And lastly I replaced the original flimsy table with a 12" x 12" table for vertical sawing. It is made from 0.625" 7075 aluminum plate that is held by the saw vise through a welded support. It is very accurate and solid with zero vibrations. The idea was borrowed from some nice Italian H/V bandsaws. I added support for the table directly against the cast iron body of the saw. See below:











Thanks to Mark (MKSJ) for encouraging me to add a metal bandsaw to my shop, it is a very useful tool to have, gives a lot of flexibility in using material that is otherwise unusable or requires too much machining.

I was using the HF portaband bandsaw with a shop fabricated large solid throat plate but there is no comparison. With good blades the HF portaband saw is a great value but it is beyond night and day comparison.

Ariel

 

[mikey]

I'm digging the small wire wheel that cleans the blade teeth. Does it rotate or is it bolted tight?

It rotates on two sealed bearings.

 

[mikey]

Ariel, aluminum tables catch and snag on the work piece and that can be dangerous. Steel doesn't do that and is safer. Something to consider.

 

[ahazi]

Ariel, aluminum tables catch and snag on the work piece and that can be dangerous. Steel doesn't do that and is safer. Something to consider.

This is good to know, I will consider it. So far so good. BTW, the italian tables are definitely made of aluminium, see attached PDF.

Does the catch and snag happens even on smooth/polished aluminium? I sometimes use wax on smooth surfaces and it helps.

I wanted to reduce the weight but a 3/8 steel plate might be enough in case I need to change it.

Ariel

 

[mikey]

Any small burr on a work piece will dig in and catch on an aluminum table and will cause you to apply more pressure with your hands to feed the work into the blade; I am not guessing at this. If you slip or if the work suddenly moves forward it can cause your hand to move into the blade. A steel table will not snag a work piece like this and is much safer to use. Additionally, you should use a push stick whenever using a table because it takes more force to feed metal into a blade so contact with the blade is a real risk. I have not been injured by my saw yet but my friend had his thumb cut to the bone because he didn't use a push stick - lesson learned.

 

[FlyFishn]

The HF 4x6 is definitely worth buying. It's one of the few tools I bought new. Hold out for a sale or 20% coupon though, mine was about $200. Unlike many of the complaints, mine cut square and straight right from the box. I've made several useful mods, including the flip-down table for vertical cutting, which is one of the slickest and most useful mods I've seen.

Do you have any thoughts on the belt pulleys - looks like it has 3 speeds stock. Could you potentially swap pulleys/belts and get faster blade speed - thinking cutting wood also. Larger pulleys, obviously, wouldn't fit in the shroud. It would require more torque to pull the blade through work, potentially (higher gearing, but softer material so maybe they balance out somewhat?).

 

[MrWhoopee]

Do you have any thoughts on the belt pulleys - looks like it has 3 speeds stock. Could you potentially swap pulleys/belts and get faster blade speed - thinking cutting wood also. Larger pulleys, obviously, wouldn't fit in the shroud. It would require more torque to pull the blade through work, potentially (higher gearing, but softer material so maybe they balance out somewhat?).

You certainly could put a larger pulley on the motor (and larger belt), but I'm not sure it would be worth it unless your intent was to use it principally for wood. It cuts wood fine at the slower speeds, just not as fast.

 

[ahazi]

Any small burr on a work piece will dig in and catch on an aluminum table and will cause you to apply more pressure with your hands to feed the work into the blade; I am not guessing at this. If you slip or if the work suddenly moves forward it can cause your hand to move into the blade. A steel table will not snag a work piece like this and is much safer to use. Additionally, you should use a push stick whenever using a table because it takes more force to feed metal into a blade so contact with the blade is a real risk. I have not been injured by my saw yet but my friend had his thumb cut to the bone because he didn't use a push stick - lesson learned.

Thank you Mikey for bringing this up, you are right, burrs can interfere with smooth movement. I am with you 100% on safety first.

If you look at my images you will see that I use a small 2" machinist vise to hold a bolt that I wanted to shorten. The vise bottom is grounded very smooth so it slides very smoothly on the table against the guide bar that is attached with a clamp to the table. This is very safe. Even a push stick can be dangerous for cutting metals. A push stick works fairly well with wood when the movement is quick but it is hard to hold steady with pressure for extended cuts of metal.

I am pretty paranoid about safety and for my woodworking I use Felder CF741P (see below) which is a european combination machine with a sliding table. The material (wood) is attached to the slider with (pneumatic) clamps and your hands are always far from the blade.



Another note about metal saws - I have a 14" Fein chop saw that is excellent for fast cutting of metal profiles with milling machine like finish quality but...

• It is noisy
• It throws chips all over
• You have to be very careful in moving the blade into the material or it can bind and kick a small part out of the vise, bend the blade and lose few carbide teeth in the process (don't ask me how I know...)
• 14" carbide blades are about twice the price of 93" bi-metal blade for the above band saw

The band saw is only slower and does not suffer from any of the above and can also cut big solid metals and can be used vertically.

Ariel