Considering a vertical bandsaw build

[Lo-Fi]

Been looking for ages for a metal bandsaw. I remember Mr Pete saying in one of his videos that they're a great tool to have, but that they're expensive. He ain't wrong! Anything decent is more than I paid for my Bridgeport over here and usually just as big. Certainly anything that'll run slow enough to cut steel. So many projects lately I've been thinking a bandsaw would save me so much time. Then I bought a nice block of tool steel offcut recently and realised when it arrived that I have no sane way to cut it...

So it got me thinking... They're simple tools really. Why not make one? My current shop is tiny, so footprint is critical. I have motors and a worm reduction box handy, plus a bunch of other bits, and I can buy wheels/guides and suchlike off the shelf as spares, so it's really just the frame that needs making. I don't have room to make it horizontal/vertical even if I wanted to, there just isn't room.

If you own a metal cutting vertical bandsaw, are there features you like/dislike/wish for? Any comments on blade guides, fences/feed mechanisms, speed adjustability? Table tilt? Desirable blade deapth?

Appreciate the comments, thanks in advance

 

[Reddinr]

I use mine quite often but 70% for woodworking 30% metal working. Speed adjustment is really nice to have for this mixed use. A big, stable, heavy table is great too. Metal is heavy so a light duty table might flex. I bought my Powermatic 87 for a bargain price a couple of decades ago and have moved with it twice (it is a beast to move!) It is a 3-phase unit so I made a little built-in phase converter for it. Trouble is that spare parts are not available for it anymore. But, that may make for a good bargain if you can find a used one. I guess UK is a bandsaw desert though...

The other thing to consider is a set of wire-brushes that sweep the blade continuously. I recently put a new set of roller guides on mine at the same time I had to replace the weakened blade spring. Those guides probably cost more than I paid for the saw but the rollers make a big difference in how well the blade tracks vs. the fixed pinch-style guides.

Just to give you an idea of how rigid the frame might need to be, here is the band tension spring on mine: 25mm dia x 64mm long.

I also tried to attach the manual for it but it was too large. I can email it to you if you like, though I might have to .zip/compress it. You might glean some ideas from looking through it.

All that being said, I use a horizontal bandsaw more often for metal work because most of the stock I deal with is long and narrow. Best of luck with your project!

 

[NC Rick]

I finally got one a few years ago. I bought a Grizzly 17" wood/metal unit because I couldn't find anything used that wasn't too big. I'm impressed with it and like it more than I thought. The bearing guides seem fine. Fast blade changes are really important to me and if I stay with the same with and thickness blades, I can do it way way faster than on the 4x6 h. saw. I have been using 1/2" blades and the 10-14 is in there the most because of the thinner things I most often cut but I switch to a 6tpi and a 8-10 a good bit. The "17-inch" is a bit of an exaggeration and 16" is more like the most of will handle. More would be better, a three wheel one would be the thing if your building one and need smaller footprint. I haven't needed to saw stuff more that 4" thick that I can think of. the machine is quiet and clean. It also can pre machine a lot of stuff before it goes in the Bridgeport. Some of that can be done with the 4x6" horizontal but the nice working height and solid large table along with the stability is surprisingly much better. I'd have loved to have a do-all but just don't have the room nor want such a large machine. The Grizzly is under 500 lbs. variable speed is nice. I cut wud on it some but seldom change the pulley system to high range. 60-to 500 ft/min would cover what I do and with the coarser blade still works for cutting a wooden shelf or something quick.

 

[benmychree]

I have not seen any vertical bandsaws that use wire brushes, they do not seem necessary, but are very common on horizontal machines; why, I do not know, but horizontal machines mostly use Iron wheels and coolant, whereas vertical machines commonly use rubber or urethane wheel tires and do not use coolant.

 

[C-Bag]

I used my 14” vertical bandsaw today. I like it because it was cheap($50) plentiful parts at cheap prices and it was cheap to make a double belt reduction to cut steel. Every place is different but the 14” is the most common bandsaw made and the only difference between wood and steel cutting bandsaws is the speed of the blade. Wood 3,000 ft per min, metal 100 to 200ft per min. The footprint on the floor is about 2’x2’. About half what a horizontal is. I have wheels welded on the bottom front so I can easily move it around the shop like a hand truck. Dont need wire wheels on neither the horizontal or vertical. I use old tooth brushes to keep the tires on the vertical from getting swarf embedded in them. So yeah, handy as a shirt pocket and cheap.

 

[mickri]

IMHO it would be easier to convert a wood band saw to cut metal than to start from scratch. That's what I did. I picked up a Dunlap 14" for $70 of CL and a 30:1 speed reducer off Ebay for around $60. The 30:1 is a too slow with the 7" driven pulley on mine. I have replaced the 7" with a 3" pulley. Haven't used it yet with the new pulley because I need a smaller v belt. I'll get that next week. The other route is with double reduction pulleys like C-Bag did. Vintage Machinery has a speed calculator that is very handy to check different set ups.

 

[graham-xrf]

I had wondered about woodwork bandsaws.
Is it really so that the only difference is using a saw with more TPC (sorry ..TPI), and making it go slower?

 

[Lo-Fi]

Thanks everyone for the detailed replies! I shall read thoroughly and digest.

I have tried a wood bandsaw slowed down with a metal blade but didn't have a lot of success, I think because of a lack of rigidity. Just couldn't get the blade to stay on. Anything decent, even a woodworkers model, is expensive this side of the pond for some reason!

Thanks @Reddinr , that would be great. I'll pm my email address shortly.

 

[C-Bag]

I had wondered about woodwork bandsaws.
Is it really so that the only difference is using a saw with more TPC (sorry ..TPI), and making it go slower?

There is a boat load of wood cutting bandsaws. Some mostly sheet metal and some like the 14” that have all cast iron frames and cast iron tables. It’s why I picked it. There are versions of it with gear boxes so they could cut metal and wood. Way too much $$ for my budget. Almost everybody seems to make a knockoff of the 14” and the Harbor Freight is a direct knockoff where it uses the same parts as a Delta or Rockwell.

I feel like a broken record because periodically somebody wants to convert or make a vertical bandsaw and here I am. But it does stuff my horizontal can’t do. Like take a 2.5”x2.5”3.125” of 1018 and cut it longways in .300 slices. That’s what I was doing yesterday, making jaws for my drill press quick vise that didn’t come with jaws. For doing odd, small, thick, thin, whatever cuts my 14 is the goto. And since I put a pneumatic powered sled on it so I can just mount up the piece and let it do the boring work while I go do some thing else I’m a happy camper.

 

[graham-xrf]

Thanks everyone for the detailed replies! I shall read thoroughly and digest.

I have tried a wood bandsaw slowed down with a metal blade but didn't have a lot of success, I think because of a lack of rigidity. Just couldn't get the blade to stay on. Anything decent, even a woodworkers model, is expensive this side of the pond for some reason!

Thanks @Reddinr , that would be great. I'll pm my email address shortly.

Do you suppose robbing a flimsy bandsaw of it's rotaty bits, and making a stiff frame weld fabrication could be a decent project?
Even adding a "stiffen up the frame" mod to an existing bandsaw?
If the UK price is crazy enough, maybe a homebrew version in it's entirety?
(.. but what to use for the big wheels)?