Thread: Re-birth of the Heska 260 HA horizontal Bandsaw

Well done Simon,
I was thinking about this today whilst i was trying to cut 250x90 C section on my pos 8x5 saw. Took forever! turn it this way, cut to here, flip it round.....All i could think was damn! that heska would have it done it minutes!

Cheers,
Ew

Originally Posted by simonl

Hi Phil,

That's a very generous offer. The worm gear is about 130mm diameter and has a bore of 35mm and the gear is 25mm thick. The amount of bronze required for such a job is worth more than I paid for the saw!

Given that I still have another nylon blank and a CI blank, I could not possibly take you up on that offer and feel comfortable Phil. Any bronze you have is much better used on any project you would need it for than using it on this thing!

Once again, thanks Phil!

Cheers,

Simon

No worries Simon but you have to stop being so nice.

Phil

Originally Posted by Steamwhisperer

No worries Simon but you have to stop being so nice.

Phil

There are some really generous people on this forum. I'd never want to take that for granted!

Simon

Originally Posted by Ueee

Well done Simon,
I was thinking about this today whilst i was trying to cut 250x90 C section on my pos 8x5 saw. Took forever! turn it this way, cut to here, flip it round.....All i could think was damn! that heska would have it done it minutes!

Cheers,
Ew

Thanks for the encouragement Ueee! The biggest I have cut on it so far was a piece of BMS bar 380x12. It took quite a few minutes to do that. I have no real idea of what is a fair/equitable feed rate so I tend to err on the side of caution. I still don't totally trust the saw not to do something unpredictable so I don't leave it while cutting either.

Cheers,

Simon

Originally Posted by Michael G

A should go to Christian (CGroves) who started the ball rolling with the suggestion of an engineering plastic.
It might be settling in to be the long term fix for the Heska. Certainly easier to cut than PhBr.

Michael

Yes, I'm pleasantly surprised at it's performance so far. It's really tuff stuff. It may end up as more a permanent fix than a temporary one!

With the couple of queries about the saw cutting from right to left, I have been thinking about the saw cutting direction. I have no doubt (reasons previously discussed) that the manufacturer wanted it to cut right to left but I'd like to understand a little more about the physics or the mechanics of cutting on the bandsaw. Is there really any difference to the actual cutting of the steel and blade performance cutting towards or away from the pivot point? Ignoring the blade cleaner placement and the fixed/moveable jaw, is there any other difference or reason why it would cut right to left? Personally I would prefer it to cut against the fixed jaw and would happily change the location of the blade cleaning device (which is really a POS anyway) but not if I'm going to damage something. Is there anything else in this equation that I am not understanding? Blade cutting uphill, not downhill? Is there more chance of the blade biting into the stock if feed to hard going one way or the other?

Simon

I solved the problem of my H&F 7L biting in too much. Cut a 150mm long by 32mm deep off a slab of M200. Leaves the blade teeth lovely and rounded and can't hurt yourself on it.

Scratch one blade. This machine also cuts towards the fixed jaw.

Ken

Theres a lot of material in a blade. Must be something you can use a blunt blade for......

Simon

Originally Posted by Toggy

I solved the problem of my H&F 7L biting in too much. Cut a 150mm long by 32mm deep off a slab of M200. Leaves the blade teeth lovely and rounded and can't hurt yourself on it.

Scratch one blade. This machine also cuts towards the fixed jaw.

Ken

Just did a search to see what M200 steel is. Came up with several descriptions..... knife steel, tool steel, spring steel. All of which would have to be pretty hard on a saw blade!

Simon

Simon,

Bohler M200. Heat-treated pre-hardened plastic injection mould tool steel. I find it is tough as hell and doesn't tolerate substandard tooling. On the HM50 at slowest speed a fly cutter is still too fast even with Bohler HSS. Abrades the cutting edge away within minutes. Asian HSS lasts seconds. I used a CDCO "little hogger" insert end mill with some success. Shattered or badly worn asian inserts are the norm.

Finishes very well and new Sutton HSS taps leave a polished thread. A repair to a broken casting in the Rossi Mill thread is made from it. It apparently can't be heated or welded.

I use it because I have some decent pieces of it.

Ken.

What a fine restoration. I think you did it all properly, the sample cut says it all.

Originally Posted by Toggy

Simon,

Bohler M200. Heat-treated pre-hardened plastic injection mould tool steel. I find it is tough as hell and doesn't tolerate substandard tooling. On the HM50 at slowest speed a fly cutter is still too fast even with Bohler HSS. Abrades the cutting edge away within minutes. Asian HSS lasts seconds. I used a CDCO "little hogger" insert end mill with some success. Shattered or badly worn asian inserts are the norm.

Finishes very well and new Sutton HSS taps leave a polished thread. A repair to a broken casting in the Rossi Mill thread is made from it. It apparently can't be heated or welded.

I use it because I have some decent pieces of it.

Ken.

I'm sure if you listened carefully, you could probably hear it laughing at Asian HSS! I assume you have best results if using flood coolant?

Simon

Originally Posted by bosox

What a fine restoration. I think you did it all properly, the sample cut says it all.

Thanks Bosox.

Laziness has set in. Yesterday I had to cut a piece of 25x3 MS into 80mm lengths. Usually I would head for the vice and get the hacksaw. Well, I started and after a couple of strokes I looked at the BS and thought Stuff this! It gave me an excuse to set the depth stop and the limit switch for a height just enough to clear the stock. It's a big cumbersome thing but if correctly set up with multiple cuts, it's eve quicker and easier than my cut off saw.

Cheers,

Simon

Originally Posted by simonl

Thanks Bosox.

Laziness has set in. Yesterday I had to cut a piece of 25x3 MS into 80mm lengths. Usually I would head for the vice and get the hacksaw. Well, I started and after a couple of strokes I looked at the BS and thought Stuff this! It gave me an excuse to set the depth stop and the limit switch for a height just enough to clear the stock. It's a big cumbersome thing but if correctly set up with multiple cuts, it's eve quicker and easier than my cut off saw.

Cheers,

Simon

You will soon get the hang of it Simon. You are coming on real good now. A couple of things that get cut on my 4 x 6. PVC pipe. The BS can give a better cut than any other method I can use. Poly pipe. Same. A little bit of wood needs to be just so long. The BS is right there, all other saws need to be got out of the cupboard. Plastic containers to be used as parts drawers. I did set up a table plate (the original was bent and has gone missing) and fence and used it like a normal band saw. Sandwiches. Did not work out very well.

It has caused me to think about buying or building a vertical bandsaw because of its usefulness. I now have some bigger plastic containers to cut. The other ones were 5 litre, these are 20 litre. In the past I have used a hand saw, circular saw and jigsaw. The circular saw is a bit risky because of the odd cutting forces and the jigsaw is hard work when the plastic just jumps up and down with the blade. The bandsaw is perfect. (Chainsaw?)

Dean

PS I was joking about the sandwiches!

Simon,

All turning and boring was done dry on the TOS with Mitsubishi vp15 carbide tips. Polished finish off the cutter.
Mill work and hole tapping I used CRC cutting oil as the hm50 has had the suds sump drained.

Ken