Band
Saw
Last updated on
Saturday, September 03, 2011 08:39:01 AM
Eastern US Time Zone
Band Saw, Cut-off Saw, Blades, Saw Tables & Miter, Table Fence, Handles, Wheels & Machine Mounts
Always wear safety glasses, breathing protection & gloves.
A band
saw allows you to remove large amounts of
soft metal
before mill or lathe work.
I chose this Jet model
(HVBS-463) because of its low cost, the large ½ hp
UL motor,
the quality of the design (heat-treated
steel worm &
bronze drive gears; ball bearings
on
the shafts & guides) plus the availability of any
replacement parts that may
be needed in the future. The unit performs very well. Bi-metal blades, though
more costly, last much longer
than carbon steel
types. It uses a ½" x 0.025" x
64½" (5' 4½") blade.
LS Starrett
blades are excellent.
Cut-off Saw
For hardened metals, I use a Ridgid 14" abrasive cut-off machine.
Cast iron tool less adjustable miter fence, 3900 RPM, 15 Amp motor cuts 5" pipe & 2" bar stock. 51 lbs. (23 kg).
To re-coil a band saw
blade into a smaller, more storable size, perform
the following steps.
Wear the appropriate
clothing, gloves & eye protection, after all, it is
spring steel, under tension & has sharp teeth.
With the teeth pointed outward, step on the blade
to hold it down on the floor. Grasp the top of the blade
then
simultaneously rotate
& lower your hand (CW or CCW) towards
your foot (which is holding down the blade).
As the blade is rotated to over ¾'s
of a turn, it will form into 3 coils. Secure with
ties in three places.
Sawing 3" steel for a new
compound pivot.
Saw Tables & Miter
Though
Jet
does not make a miter-type guide for this unit, one from Sears fits the saws' table groove, perfectly.
Replaced the OEM stamped band
saw table
with a 12" x 12" x ½" aluminum table held to the saw through
counter-bored
holes, using 2, ¼-20, cap-head screws. Used an F drill & ⅜" end mill to achieve
close-tolerance, counter-bored holes. A steel plate would be
better to resist scratching.
Milled
both the
miter surfaces
& raised scale. The miter is painted cast aluminum. Milling the
raised lettering
made it much easier to read. Also milled (fly cut)
the face making it
smoother, flatter & perpendicular to the
table's surface.
The miter
originally pivoted on an aluminum peg that quickly broke when it was
dropped.
Replaced it with a ¼-20, flat-head
screw & large brass spacers. Used a lock nut to maintain proper tension.
The
⅛" slot was milled to accept a
¾" wide by ¼" thick cover plate. It is held in the T-slot by 2, 10-32
thumb
screws with thick brass washers.
The cover's nose was marked with a
⅜" radius
gage & then ground by hand
until it fit.
The cover was then clamped into the plate
& milled flush when the entire edge was squared. The slot
cover plate was
pushed into the running blade to create a zero-clearance
slot. Corners have since been rounded.
The fence uses a toe-clamp on each end to hold
it to the table.
A roll pin (in the body) keeps the clamp (with a clearance hole) from
turning.
10-32 knobs with brass washers are used. The new table
enhances the entire
functionality of the saw.
Handles
Adapted a spare aluminum RF-25 handle to the band saw.
The handle that is used to move the unit around,
passed through thin metal.
The metal around the handle
distorted. Additionally, even when
the unit was lifted relatively high, the metal feet still rubbed against the floor
because
the original wheel bracket flexed too much & was too far from the floor.
Not a safe condition. To improve
the handle mount, both sides of the
area were reinforced with ⅛" thick aluminum,
trapezoid-shaped plates.
Wheels
& Machine Mounts
The original wheels were poorly designed; had to
lift too high & too much flex.
The
latest Jet model has
updated the stand to now sit on two hard-plastic wheels
(pneumatic tires would flex too
much) & two,
height-adjustable machine
mounts.
I copied that
design using a few parts (steel axle & axle guides) from an
old hand truck. It now
has a very sturdy handle & a small lift allows safe, easy movement of the 125
lbs. unit.
The feet are similar to the
mill &
lathe machine mounts.
Band Saw, Cut-off Saw, Blades, Saw Tables & Miter, Table Fence, Handles, Wheels & Machine Mounts
