Thread: Group Purchase - Brass back stock for sawmakers

I haven't visited the forums for a couple of weeks and have just seen the picture of the shiny saw plate. It's beautiful. Can't wait to get a hold of some.
Thanks again Ray.

Sweet - the plate looks nice and shiny - Thanks Ray (and Mike!!).

regards
Anthony

Ray,
I have not been following this thread for a while bit today in bunnies I stumbled over some floor scraper blades so was wondering if there is any brass left.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

Ray,
I have not been following this thread for a while bit today in bunnies I stumbled over some floor scraper blades so was wondering if there is any brass left.
Regards
John

Just remember that the Bunnings Scraper blade is approx 30 thou" and the brass that Ray is organizing is I think slotted to 20 thou". Still having it started for you would be easier than doing it from scratch on a plain brass blank.

Peter

Originally Posted by RayG

Another Update,

The second roll of 3" 1095 20 thou bright shiny saw plate arrived today.



The bright polished finished is beautiful, I can't thank Mike Wenzloff enough for generously
allowing us to have some of his beautiful saw plate.

So, expecting to pick up the slit brass I went to see how it was going, but there have been problems,
and they are now going to make some tooling and guides, so there will be a bit of a
delay before the slit brass is ready..


Regards
Ray

Hi Ray, just wondering how the brass is going? Reading http://www.backsaw.net/ has got me all moitivated.
( not that I really have time to start making saws so SWMBO wont mind if it takes a while )
regards
Ian

Hi Ian,

I haven't heard anything from the guy doing the machining, I think it's about time to go and see how he is going... I'll let you know tomorrow.

Regards
Ray

Thanks Ray, by the way I love the web site, it one of the best.

Ian

Just an update..

The brass slitting job is still in the job queue, the delay is primarily due to the difficulty accurately slitting the long lengths. (plus I haven't been hassling him) I will check back with him next week.

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

Just an update..

The brass slitting job is still in the job queue, the delay is primarily due to the difficulty accurately slitting the long lengths. (plus I haven't been hassling him) I will check back with him next week.

Regards
Ray

Ray, it did occur to me at the time that slitting such long lengths may have been a problem, even for a well set-up shop. It needs care to keep the saw tracking accurately with my Heath-Robinson set-up, I have to take multiple passes with a shallow cut each time, or the cut goes off. I don't quite know why, but I suspect it is caused by the blade heating & warping if you push it too hard. I thought these blokes might have some secret that would allow it to be done in a single pass. A pretty tedious job doing that many metres at a mm or so per pass like I do them!!

Hope it gets sorted soon - all that pent-up sawmaking out there....
Cheers,

Some thing to think about. While I was engaged in using my biscuit machine it occurred to me would it be possible to adapt a biscuit machine to take a thin metal cutting blade , you then would be able to cut the grooves in the brass for the saw blades. You would also need to set up some type of jig to hold the brass strip securely while you carried out the operation. The speed would no doubt be a problem . The biscuit machine is actually a modified angle grinder adapted to take a wood cutting blade.
It is only a thought
Regards.
Mac

Originally Posted by Malcolm Eaton

Some thing to think about. While I was engaged in using my biscuit machine it occurred to me would it be possible to adapt a biscuit machine to take a thin metal cutting blade , you then would be able to cut the grooves in the brass for the saw blades. You would also need to set up some type of jig to hold the brass strip securely while you carried out the operation. The speed would no doubt be a problem . The biscuit machine is actually a modified angle grinder adapted to take a wood cutting blade.
It is only a thought
Regards.
Mac

A biscuit cutter would be too inaccurate and there would be a lot of mucking around with setup.
A good solid table saw with good solid fence in short lengths with some lube might be better/

For small saws, what about this?
"www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Saws_and_slots/Fret_Slotting_Table_Saw_Blade.html"

Or a mcjing 123110-0.8 would probably do it - I might buy one and have a fiddle with it!
See this page "www.mcjing.com.au/engineering/toolframe.htm"

Originally Posted by BobL

Or a mcjing 123110-0.8 would probably do it - I might buy one and have a fiddle with it!
See this page "www.mcjing.com.au/engineering/toolframe.htm"

Bob - yep, just what I got. I paid a bit over $30, for an arbor and two saw blades: 0.5mm, which is just right for the 20 thou stock RayG has obtained, and 0.75mm, which is the size for the Bunnies scraper blades. Amortised over the 10 saws I have already made, plus slitting some brass for others, it has earnt its keep already!

Here's my setup (design borrowed heavily from RayG's) - I think the pics are self-explanatory. Just a couple of things I 'discovered' - my drill-press table shifts a bit as I tighten it down, so I have to be very careful when centering & levelling the base of the jig (pic 3) and setting the depth of the cut. I found it easiest to level the saw blade with it almost on the base of the jig, then set the cutting height by moving the arbor in the chuck - a bit fiddly, but it gets there. I also made some practice pieces out of carefully-sized bits of scrap hardwood, to get the feel of it. As I said above, take multiple passes, with the brass pressed firmly against the fence (advancing the cut by about 2mm a time seems to work well), and you'll get a nice clean, straight slot, which is what you are aiming for...

Make sure your drill-chuck arbor is firmly in place - drills aren't really meant for machining operations like this, and it may come loose.

!!WARNING!! This darned saw-making business is highly addictive! I had only planned to make 3 or 4; so far I've made about 10, and I've still got several more planned......

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Bob - yep, just what I got. I paid a bit over $30, for an arbor and two saw blades: 0.5mm, which is just right for the 20 thou stock RayG has obtained, and 0.75mm, which is the size for the Bunnies scraper blades. Amortised over the 10 saws I have already made, plus slitting some brass for others, it has earnt its keep already!

Here's my setup (design borrowed heavily from RayG's) - I think the pics are self-explanatory. Just a couple of things I 'discovered' - my drill-press table shifts a bit as I tighten it down, so I have to be very careful when centering & levelling the base of the jig (pic 3) and setting the depth of the cut. I found it easiest to level the saw blade with it almost on the base of the jig, then set the cutting height by moving the arbor in the chuck - a bit fiddly, but it gets there. I also made some practice pieces out of carefully-sized bits of scrap hardwood, to get the feel of it. As I said above, take multiple passes, with the brass pressed firmly against the fence (advancing the cut by about 2mm a time seems to work well), and you'll get a nice clean, straight slot, which is what you are aiming for...

Make sure your drill-chuck arbor is firmly in place - drills aren't really meant for machining operations like this, and it may come loose.

!!WARNING!! This darned saw-making business is highly addictive! I had only planned to make 3 or 4; so far I've made about 10, and I've still got several more planned......

Cheers,

Did you purchase a off the shelf Arbour and if so from where and the size and or code no.
You have got me interested in saw making.
Regards
Mac

Originally Posted by Malcolm Eaton

Did you purchase a off the shelf Arbour and if so from where and the size and or code no.
You have got me interested in saw making.
Regards
Mac

Malcolm,
Yep - this is an off-the-shelf set. I got it from McJing's - probably not the quality you'd use for building the Space Shuttle, but handles brass with great ease. The link in BobL's post above didn't parse, so I'll try again - look here:
http://www.mcjing.com.au/engineering/toolframe.htm

You need either the 12260-0.5 saw for 20 thou slots (the stuff RayG has imported) or the 12260-0.8 saw for 30 thou material (the Bunnies scraper blades). I THINK the correct arbor is their part number 712-0220, but if it doesn't match the saw blades, they'll tell you (I ordered the wrong arbor size and they sorted me out...)

Cheers,