Woodfast Model 370 Bandsaw for Wood and Aluminium

I saw this Bandsaw on Gumtree yesterday. Arranged to go and see it today. Did some research last night as to what to expect when I was taking a look. Bought it home this evening. The history as I have been told is that the machine was originally installed at a South Australian School. Woodfast manufactured a range of small workshop equipment in SA for many years and supplied a lot of gear to Local schools. Nowadays they flog a range of Chinese machines, rebranding them Woodfast. Schools got rid of a lot of workshop machines due to ridiculous OH&S concerns. Common sense apparently does not exist.

nice old unit & bet it'll run rings a Chinese bandsaw http://d1r5wj36adg1sk.cloudfront.net...py/biggrin.gif

Well my first post seemed to work OK. My Model 370 was picked up for a song by the previous owner being in the right place at the right time when the Risk Assessors had carved up another training facility. It was used in his workshop for a few years and then has been sitting around in his cluttered garage for the past 5 years. It is currently laying on its back in my ute and it is too cold and late for me to go and unload it. Last night I found a manual online that I paid to download. It was this document that got me a lot more interested in this particular model Bandsaw. The Model 370 was produced in a Metal/Wood cutting version with 8 speeds. Mine is a wood only version but I see the potential to slow down the Bandwheel speed and fit a metal cutting blade for sawing Aluminium. I have watched a tool room video of a guy Bandsawing Aluminium at 1000ft/min and I think my wood Bandsaw runs at around 2600ft/min.

I am new to Bandsaws. I have a little more experience with metal lathes and milling machines. My interest was to be able to cut small Aluminium stock and ply or MDF for mainly hobby interests. If I can slow the saw speed to around 1000ft/min or 300m/min then both materials can be sawn OK? Simply reducing the motor pulley by a ratio of 2.5:1 would drop the Bandwheel speed but would the motor pulley be too small? Where could I source a suitable blade for cutting Aluminium at 1000ft/min? I need to investigate the thrust and guide bearings and determine if there was significant differences between the Wood and Metal versions of Model 370 machines? The motor is single phase 3/4 Hp 240V. Would a Variable Electronic Speed Controller be a practical option? Any suggestions?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BMSTECH

I am new to Bandsaws. I have a little more experience with metal lathes and milling machines. My interest was to be able to cut small Aluminium stock and ply or MDF for mainly hobby interests. If I can slow the saw speed to around 1000ft/min or 300m/min then both materials can be sawn OK? Simply reducing the motor pulley by a ratio of 2.5:1 would drop the Bandwheel speed but would the motor pulley be too small? Where could I source a suitable blade for cutting Aluminium at 1000ft/min? I need to investigate the thrust and guide bearings and determine if there was significant differences between the Wood and Metal versions of Model 370 machines? The motor is single phase 3/4 Hp 240V. Would a Variable Electronic Speed Controller be a practical option? Any suggestions?

---

Hi
All you have to do is move the gearbox lever to the second position and pull the locking pin on the pulley and you will get a reduction of 10 to 1
it works something similar to the back gear on a hercus lathe. I have Hyco band saw with same setup and it works fine, If you can get a pick of the gearbox it would be easier to explain

Thanks Tore, I wish it was that simple. The Metal cutting Model 370 has a 9:1 reduction 60:20 x 60:20 Back gear transmission case and 4 pulley ratios giving 8 speeds. My wood Model 370 has 1 fixed pulley ratio as shown in Post#1 The metal cutting Model 370 is sometime known as a Steelfast. I see that BobL in another post about Blades mentioned a 1/2inch bimetal blade with varying pitch 10-14tpi was used in a Steelfast Bandsaw at his Men's shed. That is a good clue. Where do I get one of those?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BMSTECH

Thanks Tore, I wish it was that simple. The Metal cutting Model 370 has a 9:1 reduction 60:20 x 60:20 Back gear transmission case and 4 pulley ratios giving 8 speeds. My wood Model 370 has 1 fixed pulley ratio as shown in Post#1 The metal cutting Model 370 is sometime known as a Steelfast. I see that BobL in another post about Blades mentioned a 1/2inch bimetal blade with varying pitch 10-14tpi was used in a Steelfast Bandsaw at his Men's shed. That is a good clue. Where do I get one of those?

---

Yep the one with the 8 speeds is the one we have at the mens shed and we also have a bigger older wood fast as well. A varying pitch 10-14 bimetal blade is pretty standard and available from most bandsaw blade suppliers. Henry Brothers will have them but you can also probably find a more local source

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BMSTECH

Thanks Tore, I wish it was that simple. The Metal cutting Model 370 has a 9:1 reduction 60:20 x 60:20 Back gear transmission case and 4 pulley ratios giving 8 speeds. My wood Model 370 has 1 fixed pulley ratio as shown in Post#1 The metal cutting Model 370 is sometime known as a Steelfast. I see that BobL in another post about Blades mentioned a 1/2inch bimetal blade with varying pitch 10-14tpi was used in a Steelfast Bandsaw at his Men's shed. That is a good clue. Where do I get one of those?

---

My apologizes.
In that case your best bet is to put a 3ph 1.5hp 1440rev/min on it and run a VFD on it. put a pulley on the motor that is 1/2 size from original pulley, reason for this is that you can run the motor at normal speed when cutting al, and speed it up to cut wood, problem is if you running a low speed you are losing torque in the motor

BMSTECH, it depends on how good a finish you want on the aluminium you are cutting. I run 4 TPI wood cutting blades on mine and cut wood, ply, MDF and aluminium up to 50MM thick with just a spray of CRC or rub with soap to stop the ally building up on the teeth.
rgds,
Crocy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Old Croc

BMSTECH, it depends on how good a finish you want on the aluminium you are cutting. I run 4 TPI wood cutting blades on mine and cut wood, ply, MDF and aluminium up to 50MM thick with just a spray of CRC or rub with soap to stop the ally building up on the teeth.
rgds,
Crocy.

---

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

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.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tore

My apologizes.
In that case your best bet is to put a 3ph 1.5hp 1440rev/min on it and run a VFD on it. put a pulley on the motor that is 1/2 size from original pulley, reason for this is that you can run the motor at normal speed when cutting al, and speed it up to cut wood, problem is if you running a low speed you are losing torque in the motor

---

When I replaced the single with a 3 phase motor and added a VFD to my BS I increased the motor power capacity by 50% (from 2 to 3HP).
See https://www.woodworkforums.com/f27/19-bs-upgrade-195900
This means at half speed I still have 1.5 or 3/4 of the original HP.

Now that I have had it for a while I have had it cutting 1/4" and 1/2" aluminium plate as low as 20Hz (2/5 original speed) without any problems.
At the other end a higher than standard speed works really well on timber.
Most bandsaws cut wood at a significant slower blade speed (3200 FPM) than the optimal speed which is up around 5500 fpm.
running from 20 to 80 Hz gives me 1400 to 5700 FPM which covers things nicely.

So before the bandsaw is stood fully upright it is a good opportunity to take a look where the sun don't shine. This was all new to me when I took the photos but I have gained some understanding since and can now explain the problems with the saw blade guides and the thrust bearings. Behind the upper safety guard was saw guides fitted upside down and a seized and worn thrust bearing. The lower guides, missing a screw, were worn and maladjusted. The lower thrust bearing was also seized and buggered. I removed the saw blade and the tilt table for further inspection. The bandwheel tires seem fine.

Great link to your thread BobL, nice work, I will follow up the VFD info. The blade thrust bearings on my Model 370 seems a bit crude to me? Loading an ordinary ball race 6201 sideways probably works for a while but is there better ways of doing this on modern machines? Are similar guide plates used on modern machines? I pressed the spigots out of the damaged 6201 bearings and have purchased 2 new NTN bearings from ComBear. While I was there, I also got 10inch and 2inch Stenco pulleys to experiment with.

Great info. I need to do some engineering on my new BS to bring it up to scratch. All of the info helps a lot.

John