Buying Band saw- advice needed- mild steel cutting

A bandsaw meant for wood cutting can be used on aluminum, but it will be much too fast for steel and will destroy blades very quickly. Blade speeds of 100 to 160 feet per minute are suitable for sawing mild steel.

A 14 tpi blade is suitable for material at least 3/16" thick. You'll need a finer pitch blade for thinner material.

.... Variable from 90 to 340 Surface Feet Per Minute. "These saws are specially designed to effectively cut a variety of materials including wood, plastic, bakelite, composites, ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Capable of contour and straight cutting and resawing. Can cut delicate curves in both thick and thin stock."

This is what you want. Beware that the market is full of "Wood and Metal Cutting" band saws that will instantly destroy the blade when confronted with steel because they run the blade MUCH too fast. They are inexpensive though.

If you are feeling handy, you could adapt a standard wood cutting bandsaw for metal use by putting a gearbox between the motor and drive wheels.

--Winston

I got lucky and bought this at auction for $400.

Cadillac of multi-purpose bandsaws.

Karl

.... Variable from 90 to 340 Surface Feet Per Minute. "These saws are specially designed to effectively cut a variety of materials including wood, plastic, bakelite, composites, ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Capable of contour and straight cutting and resawing. Can cut delicate curves in both thick and thin stock."

This is what you want. Beware that the market is full of "Wood and Metal Cutting" band saws that will instantly destroy the blade when confronted with steel because they run the blade MUCH too fast. They are inexpensive though.

If you are feeling handy, you could adapt a standard wood cutting bandsaw for metal use by putting a gearbox between the motor and drive wheels.

--Winston

A variable speed saber (sabre) saw with the right blades will cut steel, just not fast. Yesterday I cut off a 10" piece of 5/16" hot rolled plate with one. Progress was imperceptible but it did eventually cut off the plate.

Enco sells this Wilton saw with pulley-change rather than variable speed, for a lot less. They've been on sale for under $900.

It can still change speeds about instantly from wood to metal by engaging or disengaging the gearbox.

Caution! Some wood saws aren't rigid enough to handle metal cutting loads. I tried this with a Craftsman saw. It tossed blades with aggrivating frequency.

I see the 8 speed pulley change unit for about U$1K:

That's a much better deal than the variable speed unit and would also fit in my garage just fine. :)

(...)

But Don, it's a Sears power tool. What could possibly go wrong?

--Winston

As much as I like my Craftsman hand tools , you couldn't run fast enough to give me another Sears power tool .

>

That would depend on how much copper and alumininum I could salvage.

On Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:32:12 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Winston quickly quoth:

Crapsman: J U S T S A Y N O !

Ayup. The recent stuff is just nasty.

--Winston

WOW!! Hell of a deal!!! New they start at about 3500 bucks!

Gotta argue about the Cadillac part though....the Marvels are a better machine.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario

This one was made decades ago (40's, I think) when Sears sold only quality tools. My dad did a lot of woodworking with it. He made most of our furniture out of black walnut and cherry.

It was a good tool for woodworking but its frame just wasn't heavy enough for the blade tensions and loads associated with cutting metal.

Ah. I understand. Ferrous metal is right out for that saw. I wonder if it would cut aluminum at woodworking speeds.

My '70's era Craftsman bandsaw works just fine for that.

--Winston

Here is (what I believe) you are considering: Silverline bandsaw:

length =3D 1.425 m =3D 55=94, 350 W =3D 0.54 HP, =A385 =3D $153

Most people recommend bimetal blades for cutting steel, but I=92m not sure how easily they will be found in the size fitting this machine. The costs might be nearly as expensive as the bandsaw itself. As others have mentioned you still need to slow down the blade speed for cutting steel (electrically or mechanically). This has also been previously discussed on RCM:

13 hits =96 =93blade speed=94 + =93cutting steel=94 Also the blade width (depth) will limit the radius of your cuts. You may still need to resort to =93chain drilling=94 holes for tight curves. Scroll saws have =93metal cutting=94 blades, but they are usually the high carbon steel ones and better suited to nonferrous metals. Possibly you could adapt (grind, file) some bimetal hacksaw blades to fit a scroll saw. Additionally you may also still have to modify the machine to reduce blade speed to make the blade last. Most scroll saws are designed only for cutting wood.

Bimetal jig saw blades are commonly available, if you want to consider using a jig saw.

Horizontal/vertical bandsaws are designed primarily for cutting metal (i.e. have correct blade speed, etc.), but they don=92t normally come with good tables when used in the vertical mode. If you get one of those you might need to improvise a better table if you frequently use it in this mode. Also they usually come with deeper blades (1/2=94 or better) to resist deflection when used in horizontal mode. Still, it may be possible to adapt one for your work.

Certainly a plasma cutter fits the bill for some of the work you describe, but it may not be within your budget:

188 hits =96 advice + =93plasma cutter=94 I=92m not sure of all the resources you have for searching for used tools in the UK. If you haven=92t considered it, you might try:

How many sfm (surface feet per minute) does the blade run at?

Wood bandsaws tend to run in the 4000 sfm range, metal needs 75 -250 or so.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

I started out hacksawing off a 2" x .25" piece of steel for a riser to get my AXA toolpost high enough to be able to keep tools on centerline.

Since the detail was clamped into my mill vise, I quickly decided that running a milling cutter to slice the stock to length would be much faster. I figured the end mill was cheaper than pulling out the sawsall. I can end sharpen my endmills. Someday I'll have a metal bandsaw.

Wes

If it's the same Craftsman bandsaw I had at work, there was a speed reducer available for it and it would cut ferrous metals. My dad's Craftsman was a little 3-wheeler.

Now *there's* another interesting bit of info.

Thanks!

--Winston