Cold saw build

[tongleh]

I'm thinking of building a cold saw for my next project. probably a two speeder with 1hp motor and a coolant pump. Anyone built one?

[seafurymike]

Ive not built one, but am in the market for a cold saw.

What type you going to base your unit on?

[tongleh]

Probably either the wet cold saw type, which spin at around 40rpm or perhaps the Makita drop saw type, which I beleive spin considerably faster (1400rpm I think) and don't require coolant. I'll have to research them both a bit more.

[rascal]

Have built one.The worm and wheel are out of a truck brake slack adjuster.I think the blade can be up to 10 inch.Pic 5 shows the method I used to adjust the blade to cut
straight and square.No coolant on mine. Motor is 1 hp @1440 rpm. I think the blade
does about 80 revs.Needs more hp.
P.S. I haven't used it since I got a bandsaw and if you want a slack adjuster or two I
have plenty of free ones
John

[Stustoys]

Pic 5
Seems I cant count :)

Hi John,

Great work , I'm sure I'll use the adjuster idea one of these days. Thanks

Stuart

[rascal]

Neither can I but it would have been pic 5 if I had posted the rest:doh:
John

[tongleh]

Great bit of work there, what a rascall you are! I was thinking of using pulleys and V belts, but a couple of questions: How does the blade cope without coolant and the extra rpm? Is the second vice for the offcut necessary?

[shedhappens]

I have a home built one that my father made, I'll see if I can find it under the pile of cuttings and take a couple of pic's tomorrow for you tongleh, mine doesn't have coolant either, I just give it a squirt of oil on each side of the blade every few cut's.

I doubt that you would have success using a belt to drive the blade shaft because you need a fair bit of torque, belts would be very problematic.

John

[rascal]

I used a cheap blade which used to"catch" and a brobo that worked well.
I think the brobo had "set" on the teeth.Coolant/Lubricant probably would have helped.
Revs seemed ok to me and the vise just seemed like a good idea at the time.
John

[seafurymike]

Rascal,

What a great idea using the slack adjuster. Beats paying $1200 for a cheap cut off saw which may get used 10 times a year.

[tongleh]

I assume you'd be able to get a truck brake slack adjuster from a truck wreckers, not familiar with them.
I think the number of pulleys (not to mention their size) and belts required to get the blade spinning slow enough might be a problem. I have seen motors with gearboxes and I know Hercus used to make a range of boxes. I have also just discovered another toothed cut off saw 'Rage', I might look into, after my experiences with Makita, I woudn't touch them with a 10' pole. More research I think.

[shedhappens]

tongleh here is the cold saw my old man made, he made his own gearbox including the worm and wheel, I can't read the plate on the motor but I think that it is 3hp.

[Gerbilsquasher]

That's awesome... until now I would never have thought about building one, but I suppose someone had to invent the thing... something else to add to the 'roundtoit' list...

Even if you had to buy a worm and gear I reckon it would be substantially cheaper than a Brobo.

Adding a suds pump wouldn't be that hard. For small jobs a gravity-fed overhead tank would be just fine and get rid of the pump altogether.

[rascal]

That is a serious saw
John

[tongleh]

What a ripper, looks like a rotating table. If you ever want to get rid of it, I can help.

[shedhappens]

I think the blade diameter is only 225mm, the circular plate was just something that was pulled out of a pile off cuts in fact the whole thing would have been made from off cut's.

"If you ever want to get rid of it, I can help."
I think it has fair bit of work to do here before it retires from my shed :U

[whitey56]

Hi Tongleh
New slack adjusters are cheap for trailers and american trucks or see your local transport company who do their own repairs they will throw then away regularly.
Rascal
I have thrown heaps of them out over the years and would of never thought to use them for a saw like yours, you got me thinking about the S-cams too thats a lot of shaft that gets binned and we should be able to recycle them.

[rascal]

whitey56
We throw them out too but could easily save them for pickup from Melbourne or Adelaide
John

[shedhappens]

I have never heard of slack adjusters before so I just did a google on them and I was wondering what wears out on them and why do they need to be replaced and not repaired ?

Also if tongleh was to get one of these off one of you blokes is the splined shaft also readily available ?

john

[rascal]

The thin tin sides wear off or come loose or the lock fails.Shafts are called s cams or camshafts. They are about 1 1/2" diameter and18"long.These are trailer ones but there
are others off trucks with different splines and different lengths which may be more
precisely made.The cam end of the shaft or the bearing area wears.Can save them if anyone wants some.
John

[Bryan]

whitey56
We throw them out too but could easily save them for pickup from Melbourne or Adelaide
John

Hmm. So it's a worm drive of about 18:1, going by your 80 rpm estimate. I guess you could fine tune that with pulleys on the input side?

Probably the best saw I ever used was at one of my first jobs. School holidays at the old man's work. This thing had a blade that auto fed upwards, and was as smooth and quiet as you like. I remember the blade as not all that big, but with large teeth. May not be a reliable memory though.

I'd put my hand up for one of those gearboxes, but only because I can't resist cool stuff like that. You should give them to guys who are serious about building something first.

[tongleh]

Boy would I love a couple of them to play with, I can think of endless possibilities. I also googled them tonight, handy little items I'm thinking.

[Steamwhisperer]

Hmm. So it's a worm drive of about 18:1, going by your 80 rpm estimate. I guess you could fine tune that with pulleys on the input side?


Hi Bryan,
I checked the ratio at Simons barby and if I remember correctly they are about 27:1.
Well, that's if I remember correctly:-.

Phil

[Bryan]

Hi Bryan,
I checked the ratio at Simons barby and if I remember correctly they are about 27:1.
Well, that's if I remember correctly:-.

Phil

That gives 53 rpm. Even better! :)

[rascal]

I have two different sets
First set has a 10 tooth spline on a 1.5" shaft ratio is 21:1
Second set 28 tooth spline 1.5" shaft ratio is 26:1
As can be seen they come in imperial or metric lengths :USee photo 2
My intention is to supply Slack adjuster and Camshaft sets to those who would like some.
jhovel and tongleh have already put in their orders.
pm me if you want any.They can be picked up from Derrimut or Regency park or possibly
dropped off between Melbourne and Adelaide
John

[tongleh]

Thanks for that Rascal. Either is good for me, if jhovel wants a particular set. I live in Adelaide so Regency Park would be good for me. Just PM me with where and when at your leisure. What a good man you are, thanks agin.

[Steamwhisperer]

Thanks John for supplying the correct ratio. My memory is beginning to fade. Thanks again for the one you have given me. It will eventually be for rotating the tool on a ball turning device. ...Hopefully.

Phil

[jhovel]

John, the adjusters in post #25 you show in the photos look quite different to the one you used on on the coldsaw in post #4.
Are they a different type alltogether or just from different kinds of cams?
Cheers,
Joe

[rascal]

Joe,I only used the worm and wheel out of the slack adjuster. The housing was fabricated from 2 bits of pipe and the ends and
bearings of an ej holden diff.
John

[tongleh]

Thanks Rascal, I should be able to pick up tomorow.