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Making My Bandsaw Bigger ... or

This is how I converted by 4x6 bandsaw into a 4x8 bandsaw.

The little El Cheapo Harbor Freight band saw is huge amount of help in the shop, but it was built and setup wrong. The "fixed" jaw was mounted so far over to take advantage of the full possible width of cut of the saw with the saw guides pulled back.

With the saw guides pulled all the way back there was 8-1/2 inches of space between them, but the jaw was set such that a piece even as little as

1/100th of an inch to wide would hit the rollers when the saw cut down to a certain level. If you have worked with much aluminum flat bar you know the dimensions can vary more than that. It drove me bonkers, that sometimes I could cut 6 inch stock and sometimes I couldn't.

Over the weekend I fixed that. It wasn't a big deal at all once I decided to do something about it. I just jerked the fixed jaw off the machine, cut it down to fit the space and bolted it in place further back giving me an additional two inches of cutting room for stock. I haven't confirmed I can cut 8 inch wide stock yet, but its close. On the other hand the rollers will never hit again when severing 6 inch wide flat bar.

I know. I know. I should just buy a bigger better saw. I plan to, but there always seems to be something that needs fixing or something that needs paying that takes up the new machine cash. If I can stretch the life of this saw out a little more I will.

Here is a cheesy video recap of the project.

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Reply to
Bob La Londe
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Good idea.

Another mod I've found useful is drilling two more mounting holes in the base of the fixed jaw that position it very close to the blade to clamp small short pieces of stock you wouldn't want to cut hand-held.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Good mod, Bob. Quick question: Wouldn't removing the soft face on the fixed jaw have temporarily resolved your problem with overwide 6" stock? AFAIK, they're not milled to make the jaw perpendicular to the blade.

P.S: Your scary shop looks far too much like mine, but you have a lot more open floor space. ;)

P.P.S: Izzat a Talking Bass you're holding up there in the video? :/

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Good mod, Bob. Quick question: Wouldn't removing the soft face on the fixed jaw have temporarily resolved your problem with overwide 6" stock? AFAIK, they're not milled to make the jaw perpendicular to the blade.

*** I added the softjaw to make up for the jaw position after moving it it back off the stock surface ***

P.S: Your scary shop looks far too much like mine, but you have a lot more open floor space. ;)

*** Actually after retiring from contracting and changing over to making molds full time I have been slowly cleaning up and organizing the shop. The area around the saw is one of the areas I still have not gotten to. I actually have quite a lot of open shop space, and I have two boats parked inside the shop. Once I figure out where to park my welders and my torch when they are not in use I'll have very large free area of floor space in the back where I can pull in stuff to work on. ***

P.P.S: Izzat a Talking Bass you're holding up there in the video? :/

*** LOL. No. That's a 7.07 pound cash winner I caught in the Jimmy Phipps Memorial Bass Derby. I caught it on the bait you might notice in one hand in the picture. I make the mold for that bait. Its far from my biggest bass, but biggest bass in life doesn't usually win you any cash. Biggest bass in a tournament is usually worth a few dollars. ***
Reply to
Bob La Londe

Good idea.

Another mod I've found useful is drilling two more mounting holes in the base of the fixed jaw that position it very close to the blade to clamp small short pieces of stock you wouldn't want to cut hand-held.

*** That's a good idea. I may make up another jaw to do that, and also give me back the angle cutting capability. Then I'll need a place to store it that I'll find it when I need it. ***
Reply to
Bob La Londe

The fixed jaw won't angle when moved close to the blade, but the pieces that need minimal overhang are short enough to fit on angle blocks in the mill vise.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

The fixed jaw won't angle when moved close to the blade, but the pieces that need minimal overhang are short enough to fit on angle blocks in the mill vise.

-jsw

*** I pretty much true everything up on the mill or on the lathe anyway. Its not like I'd saw cut pieces and just start welding them together. (Well, I have back in the day, but...) However, I thought about your close to the blade jaw idea. Make a softjaw for the fixed jaw of the saw's built in vise that has screw slots. For most work leave it slid back. For close work loosen the screws, slide it out to the blade, and snug the screws back up. In the stock location the soft jaw will reduce your capacity, but you can always remove it when you need the full stock width capability.
Reply to
Bob La Londe

It would have to be fairly thick to not deflect from the clamping force. Just c-clamping a spare piece of stock to the fixed jaw works too.

I don't angle the fixed jaw very often so it usually stays in the closer position. I can usually follow a pencil line accurately enough to cut angles freehand, for non-critical projects like the truck rack I'm making now. I've carefully milled rectangular tubing cuts before clamping and welding but still had to force the finished frame back to square with a hydraulic jack because of the welding shrinkage distortion.

The 4x6 is also my main wood chopsaw, with a 6-10 tpi blade. The telescoping jack from an old Toyota Land Cruiser makes a good outboard support for long timbers.

-jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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