Thread: Woodfast Model 370 Bandsaw for Wood and Aluminium

Been thinking of ways using both sets of pulleys in a 2 step configuration. I suspect that 2 different belt lengths will be required. The 2inch pulley will need a v-belt with a notched inner to wrap nicely around the tight radius. The 2:10 pulley set may not be terribly efficient delivering the motor power to the saw blade, but I need to suck it and see. I don't expect that I'll be changing speeds too often.

Hmmmm . . . . I'm not convinced by grub screws in situations like this although this is about what I am going to to do on a project which uses a double pulley.

If possible I'd be looking to keyway the first to the second pulley - or keyway both to the shaft

Or seeing as you have to turn down the smaller one what about taper locking the bigger to the smaller.
A tapped thread down the middle of the joint - not sure tear works all that well for aluminium.

My project is looking at using two pairs of pulleys to get somewhere near 20x reduction in speed.
I have 2 150 mm pulleys off old washing machines and am going to make two smaller (33mm) pulleys and do it in two steps.

Found a simple calculator which just needs the pitch circle diameter of each pulley and a centre distance of the shafts. I know the original belt is A64 so worked backwards to determine the centre distance. I am not at the machine to confirm. Then using 10-2-23.3 came up with A66. Be interesting if that is a common size.

Originally Posted by Yanis

Kero also works as a cutting compound on Aluminum. I keep a pot of universal cutting compound on my bench and use a blob whenever I cut any metal.

Nice find. I saw it on Gumtree myself then saw it disappear and assumed it sold.

John

There is a cutting compound available for doing al on a circ saw or bandsaw.
Its like a thick grease and is in a cardboard tube.
You just cut into it before cutting the al to load your blade.
Probably get it from an engineering supply co or a good saw doctor.
Using this stuff al cuts fine with normal wood speeds and blades.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

There is a cutting compound available for doing al on a circ saw or bandsaw.
Its like a thick grease and is in a cardboard tube.
You just cut into it before cutting the al to load your blade.
Probably get it from an engineering supply co or a good saw doctor.
Using this stuff al cuts fine with normal wood speeds and blades.
H.

I cut all my ally at normal wood cutting speeds on band and table saws.
On the TS I use a negative rake blade and it leaves a very clean finish, much cleaner than the bandsaw.
The lubes I use are hard wax or meths. Meths is preferred because it is easily applied with a spray bottle and it eventually evaporates and leaves less mess.
I also drill ally using large forstner bits and tap ally using meths.
I got these tips from my BIL who has been an ally boat builder for the last few decades

The new blade thrust bearings fitted and the lower guide block turned up the right way. Brass guide fingers adjusted up to lightly touch the saw blade and secured with 8 new socket head 1/4 UNC screws. Some of the light surface rust on machined surfaces polished up.

Trimmed up a piece of ply on the Bandsaw for a base for wheels. First job since refurbish and all good. The wheels are rated at 85kg each, caster and fixed. Can now roll and steer the machine to a clear space for work and push back when not in use. Need a chock block to prevent machine rolling during operation. The raised height is good for me as I am a tall bloke. I am not cutting logs so stability seems fine for light work. Made my 20 ton press mobile also, while I was motivated.

What about something like this on the fixed wheels. Two wedges can be cut to just slide under the wheels and hold it steady.IMG_1372.jpg

Originally Posted by BMSTECH

When we lifted the Bandsaw into my ute on its back the rusty underside of the base was evident. Before removing it from the ute I figured it was a good time to clean that up a bit. A wire brush in a die grinder got the loose stuff, then a splash of rust converter and a coat of Black Epoxy Kill Rust. Job done, it was never painted at the factory and so it is now better than new. Now when I stand it up, it will be out of sight and out of mind.

Hi,
Some thing that might assist all machinery owners in the never ending battle in the war against rust.OK the one pictured has graduated to a set of castors,but here's a fix for anything metal that sits on what you think is supposedly dry concrete.

See where the saw body meets the concrete on those small triangular metal pads in each corner.
Some pieces of rubber, plastic sheet(even old ice cream buckets) or hardwood inserted between saw body and concrete reduce the incidence of rust dramatically.

I am not claiming all airborne caused corrosion will completely stop, but the main source of corrosion very much akin electrolysis has the pathways blocked by the pads.It makes a difference believe me. The coating of the bare surfaces alone will not stop this types of corrosion but in combination with what amounts to an insulator sure helps!

Grahame

I found a video of a piece of 12mm aluminium being cut on a bandsaw with a 12mm carbon steel blade that looks around 10 teeth per inch.

The operator says that the speed is 500 which I think refers to 500 foot per inch band speed. He uses some wax stick lubrication.

This is exactly the type of cutting that I want to do on my bandsaw.

The video shows the aluminium stock then being machined in a mill which maybe of interest to some.

Bandsaw cut starts about 6 mins into video.

Enjoy.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jspu_IXxyXo

https://youtu.be/nYr7CsDqY28

Nice Mod BSMtech!

As I said above slow blade speeds are not necessary to cut Al on a WW bandsaw with a carbon or bimetal blade. This can be done at 3000 fpm blade speed and using a bit of hard wax or metho spray as a lube to prevent the Al sticking to the teeth helps. We also do this at my mens shed. I also regularly use table saws which are about 9,000 fpm, ideally a negative raked blade is used (it gives almost a machined quality finish) otherwise use a high tooth count blade..

While we are on the topic of cutting ally. A couple of weeks back I was making an Al Flange plate for a rectangular air duct and needed to cut a 140 x 180 mm rectangular hole in a 3mm thick Al plate.
I decided to use a router (hand held) which I have some many times before so I made a template out of MDF'
Then I drillied 6mm holes in the corners of the Al rectangle, rubbed wax along the lines between the holes and started to use the router with a 1/4" carbide bit. After about 10s I could feel the resistance to the cutting and sure enough the bit was galled with Al. I then realised the bit was a down cutting bit so it was not pulling the wax into the cut so I switched to the router on my router tables and it cut like a dream - now the wax was pulled into the gut - no galling at all. Later it dawned on me I could have just flipped the plate so the wax was underneath instead of on top.

One thing to be aware of is the Al chips made by a router are like little needles so some sort of decent swarf collection is essential. I accidentally got a few chip down the front of my shirt - not good. The chips from a TS are like little razor blades but those from a BS are usually not as bad.

After cutting a 13mm strip off a piece of 50x12mm bar stock, I cut in half, milled the cut surfaces flat and adjusted the thickness to 12x12mm.
The Busbars then needed a series of holes 16mm apart and a couple of M5 tapped holes. Perfect.
Minimal heat generated when cut at slower speeds.

I found a Bi Metal blade and a couple of wood (carbon steel?) blades on Ebay that should fit my machine and were free postage.
Tell me what you think of my online Purchases?

Next I shall look at a VFD to slow the blade speed down further to cut steel with the Bi Metal blade.