Vertical Bandsaw Question/Advice
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Hi Bob. It's a popular and controversial modification. Many will tell you that a wood saw doesn't have the rigidity needed for a high-tension metal blade. Others will tell you that a good quality wood bandsaw with a 1/4" or 3/8" blade will work fine, provided you get the SFPM low enough. Some will tell you just to cut aluminum at wood speeds on your wood bandsaw. Others will tell you that will embed aluminum into your wood subsequently. As I say, controversial topic.
I'm about to do a wood-to-metal bsaw conversion myself and will start a thread on it so y'all can watch my success or failure. I'll be using a 15:1 Leeson geared reducer ($149 from Surplus Center) and a 1745 RPM 3/4 HP motor (which is overkill) to get mine slow enough. If my calculations are correct it will be giving me speeds of 100, 200, and a little less than 400 SFPM.
I'm about to do a wood-to-metal bsaw conversion myself and will start a thread on it so y'all can watch my success or failure. I'll be using a 15:1 Leeson geared reducer ($149 from Surplus Center) and a 1745 RPM 3/4 HP motor (which is overkill) to get mine slow enough. If my calculations are correct it will be giving me speeds of 100, 200, and a little less than 400 SFPM.
GWRdriver
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Hello Roberto,
I have, and I'm almost finished with it. The drive unit is almost complete but I still need to rework the blade guides to something more suited to metalworking blades. The machine is a US-made Delta 28-245 and the photo shows the basic idea.
I had to slow the blade speed down, as you know, so I decided to try to find a 90-degree NEMA C-Flange mount gear reduction drive (mfg David Brown). I don't recall the reduction ratio. After not too long just what I needed came up on eBay for a reasonable price and a bartered 1725rpm C-Flange motor soon followed. The gearbox ratio, motor rpm, and driving and driven pulleys, were all selected to give me a good starting blade speed range which I can bump up or down if need be with a pulley change. The bar way mechanism you see the gear drive unit mounted on is a slack adjuster. The entire motor drive unit can be moved several inches to accomodate belt/pulley changes and adjust belt tension. The vertical motor position was both by chance and by purpose. The vertical motor allows me to conserve a little floor space by setting the saw closer to the wall.
I have, and I'm almost finished with it. The drive unit is almost complete but I still need to rework the blade guides to something more suited to metalworking blades. The machine is a US-made Delta 28-245 and the photo shows the basic idea.
I had to slow the blade speed down, as you know, so I decided to try to find a 90-degree NEMA C-Flange mount gear reduction drive (mfg David Brown). I don't recall the reduction ratio. After not too long just what I needed came up on eBay for a reasonable price and a bartered 1725rpm C-Flange motor soon followed. The gearbox ratio, motor rpm, and driving and driven pulleys, were all selected to give me a good starting blade speed range which I can bump up or down if need be with a pulley change. The bar way mechanism you see the gear drive unit mounted on is a slack adjuster. The entire motor drive unit can be moved several inches to accomodate belt/pulley changes and adjust belt tension. The vertical motor position was both by chance and by purpose. The vertical motor allows me to conserve a little floor space by setting the saw closer to the wall.
hi, i believe that is posible to do
only need some points to take care:
first, the construction of the saw, a 14" bandsaw is not the most rigid and heavy machine, will vibrate when starts to cut metal
second, a horisontal bandsaw will only cut sheet metal and small diameter stock, i dont think that it will be able to cut more that 1" diameter carbon steel, not at least you build some kind of auto feed mechanism, and put good tension on the blade, with the risk of abuse the construction, wheels and bearings.
a light duty 14" bandsaw will not cut metal like is equivalent 4x6" horisontal metal saw, just only will work for small stuff and sheet.
btw i have seen a lot of pictures of homemade powered hacksaws, maybe build one of these will be more usefull that mods the 14" for metal, and seems to be a fun built
thats what i think about that, just me :
Saludos
only need some points to take care:
first, the construction of the saw, a 14" bandsaw is not the most rigid and heavy machine, will vibrate when starts to cut metal
second, a horisontal bandsaw will only cut sheet metal and small diameter stock, i dont think that it will be able to cut more that 1" diameter carbon steel, not at least you build some kind of auto feed mechanism, and put good tension on the blade, with the risk of abuse the construction, wheels and bearings.
a light duty 14" bandsaw will not cut metal like is equivalent 4x6" horisontal metal saw, just only will work for small stuff and sheet.
btw i have seen a lot of pictures of homemade powered hacksaws, maybe build one of these will be more usefull that mods the 14" for metal, and seems to be a fun built
thats what i think about that, just me :
Saludos
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