DIY Cold Saw Project Pix

Nice job. If you're concerned about slop in the bearings, put an indicator on the output shaft and load it in various directions with a bar. There is probably some play in the bearings that you can improve on if it's enough to affect the accuracy you're after.

The tolerance on tapered roller bearings, which that reducer almost certainly uses, is such that if you need to minimize or eliminate play it's necessary to shim or otherwise adjust the bearing stack. The factory probably does this at assembly, but will err on the loose side to maximize bearing life.

Ned Simmons

Motor is 1/3 HP. 90VDC. PM. i was concerned that it would be lacking enough power but to my surprise its quite adaquite. There is no noticable loss of speed even when i lean on it, perhaps when the blade starts to dull this will change.

Best Regards Tom.

Azotic, I have a very sturdy looking 1/2 HP, 60 RPM gearmotor with a big shaft etc. An old garage sale purchase.

Do you think, based on your experience, that I could put a cold saw blade on it?

Any suggestions regarding cold saw blade size?

Thank you

Are you left-handed? Or did you lose your right arm already? hint: That thing NEEDS a guard!

Nick

Very nice, but I agree with you that some kind of guard to protect people's fingers would make it even nicer. What if a sleeve gets caught on the saw? Might pull the whole arm into the work.

S.

Yes a guard is being fabricated. Being ambidexdextrous has its advantages.

Best Regards Tom.

Agreed a blade gaurd is essential. I did find some suitable sheetmetal today at the scrap yard, so theres gonna be a gaurd over the blade tonight.

Best Regards Tom.

Should work provided the bearings are good and there is no runout on the shaft. You will have to fabricate some blade adaptors to accomadate the blades you have available. HSS blades can shatter so you wanna make shure there is no wobble, you don't want the blade to bind and make a mess.

Best Regards Tom.

Azotic, thanks. Would you say that there are some big advantages of such a cold saw over a regular not too cheap chop saw?

A good cold saw makes a burr-less cut plus even a high end bandsaw can develop a very slight amount of taper when doing odd angle cuts. In theory the cold saws rigid blade prevents that.

They also chew through solids a lot faster than my abrasive chop saw. Now that I have my bandsaw its less of a concern, but the last time I had a bunch of cuts it SAVED time to drive to/from a place that had a cold saw.

Obviously in a home brew setup it depends on how precise you can make it.

Chop saws using abrasive blades to perform the cut generate heat in the metal being cut. This is bad news if your cutting air hardening tool steel or any other alloy that can surface harden if heated. Then there is the noise factor and dust generated by chop saws, a cold saw doesn't have these problems. Chop saws can't compete when cutting bigger pieces of metal, just for fun i timed some cuts and i can zip thru a piece of 3" by 4" 1018 CRS in 3 1/2 minutes, and i can repeat cuts within .005" accuracy which means i don't have square up material on a mill before i do other things to the stock, a real time saver when your cuts are square and parallel. Don't get me wrong, chop saws are geat for certian jobs and do have thier place in the shop so if you have a high quailty chop saw keep it around you will use it also.

Best Regards Tom.

that's the general idea. I have a full auto non ferrous cold saw at work. Freightening thing when it is running, does a great job.

Tom,

Thank you for your reply.

This item is now on my scrounge-and-build list.

Truly a fine piece of equipment.

Regards,

Wolfgang