Thread: Woodfast HB350 bandsaw resaw sawmill

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

Regarding bandsaw guide blocks, how about Tallowwood? It seems to be "greasy", even when dry. I used it as bearing blocks for a gemstone tumbler years ago and it worked well with little wear to either the wood or the metal shafting.

Greasy isnt the most important factor. For prolonged use the ability of the timber to retain a smooth surface that actually improves with use rather than degrade is the secret.

Cooktown Ironwood might be worth a try too, it can be burnished to a high gloss using a piece of smooth steel.

a photo of the HB350A in action with the timber team quarter sawing a London Plane log.

If you look closely, you can see the home made sacrificial wooden dogs holding the log (We have a backer board on the flat face) and wooden guide blocks. Before sawing this log (we were taking off 17mm planks for the box makers) we spent a couple of hours and "leveled" the bed for the work piece to be co-planar within 1mm of the cutting plane of the blade over the entire travel of the track. Possibly a little bit pedantic, but it cant hurt, and we figure it will give us a better chance when we put on a couple of end supports & put a sled on the bed.

As you can see, improving the standard of dust control is still a serious issue

We have discovered that keeping the kerf open with wedges makes things easier, and that lightly pressing on the starter_end of the piece being cut off, at the time we anticipate the cut to finish, allows the board to spring up a tad as separation occurs, which allows it to clear the blade and stay above the log rather than traveling on the blade & hitting the fixed guide blocks

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Today We added a flip up rear dog to one of the existing rear dogs on the HB350. This makes it possible to roll logs onto the bed with a back stop and secure them to make the face and edge cuts prior to processing the log. Previously we have been making the face and edge cuts with a chainsaw mill outside as the standard dogs wont grip round items much over 150mm diam.

The flip_dog is made from a piece of angle iron mounted to the top of the existing dog, with the flip being flat steel bar bolted to it, with some sharpened threaded rod thru a tapped hole in the end. When not in use it simply folds away behind and below the standard issue dog

Also I re-cut 2 of the Turpentine guide blocks today. They were showing a bit too much wear after about 25 hours of cutting. I have been quite pleased with their performance. I still have not tried out the Grey IronBark guides I made. I'm waiting for the turpentine guides to wear out.

New Mk 2 design dogs for the HB350 is pop up type... much better than flip type

and some video of the new dog design in action on some claret ash https://www.facebook.com/actwoodcraf...5136473426476/

stretching the limits of the 14 inch horizontal bandsaw at the ACT WoodCraft Guild with a fair sized chunk of English elm culled from the Royal Military College

Hi Hilly,

Just seen your post about the Wood-fast HB350 Sawmill / Horizontal Band-saw, which was originally imported by Beyond Tools and the initial models only had a 2HP motor and were basically pro to types only tested at the factory in China. This model has been discontinued and the replaced with 3HP version HB350A please see attached web page for detailed specification http://www.woodfast-group.com/products?cid=482. The Wood-fast group is based out of Brisbane and is the exclusive importer of all Wood-fast machines. Beyond Tools and the exclusive dealer in WA. The HB350A will be demonstrated at the Wood Show this week end (2nd -4th August) at Claremont Show grounds in WA and also at the Melbourne Timber, Tools and Artisan Show 23-25th August at Melbourne Show Grounds. I am the business manager at Beyond Tools and would be happy to provide any information that any member requires. Good Luck, Francis

some many years ago bought a 20" 3HP bandsaw with the primary purpose of resawing -had close to a 12" cut needs work on the top guide at the moment -but has done some impressive things -bit dangerous -malee root slices in particular. Have heard of small wheel band resaws -presume that the blades are a particular hardness as small wheels flex the blade much more. Once delt with a -say 8" wheel metal cutting bandsaw that could cut 6" height -had blades made for wood for it-frequent breakage. My current -no breakage however the odd nail etc. and the issue with the guide is the rear (back of blade) guide seized and the blade ate through the bearing - can and have got new bearing. still needs a sleave to cover the width. About 1/2" or so. bearing itself is only 4mm or thereabouts