metal cutting band saw

[duratothemax]

ok so im looking at buying a nice metal cutting bandsaw. Vertical...not one of the pivoting horizontal ones. I have a chopsaw for making square "to length" cuts...I just like vertical bandsaws a lot more.

Im not considering anything newer than mid 1960's-ish. Reason being because anything thats newer than 1960ish and not a piece of crap is going to be really expensive. I dont want to spend more than 450 dollars or so. And I just like old machines...Id take our old 1938 walker turner table saw over a brand new unisaw or powermatic 66 ANY day.

Im looking at a nice heavy duty 20" Delta/Crescent saw from the late 40's. Crescent/Delta made both a wood/metal and wood-only version of this saw. I think the one im looking at is wood only.

As far as differences, I think the only difference is the w/m saw has a 2 speed gearbox??

If I got this wood one and put a different pulley/sheave on it to slow it down enough is there any reason I couldnt use it as a nice old metal cutting bandsaw????

ben

 

[LBZ_Duramax]

Wouldnt it be a different blade though?

 

[BombDocDiesel]

Looking at prices, I think there may be a bit more of a difference between them. A 20" is expensive even for the new cheap stuff.

 

[duratothemax]

Wouldnt it be a different blade though?

yes I already accounted for that

 

[BombDocDiesel]

Ben did you get the measurements from both blades? The metal blade is 1/4" or so deeper on the ones I've seen.

 

[duratothemax]

Ill use one of those, should be perfect...

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2009101121243841&item=13-1446&catname=powerTrans

 

[Osubeaver]

Have you checked with any used industrial machine dealers in your area? Might be a good start for really old stuff.

On an old metal cutting bandsaw you might have a H/L and 1/2 gearbox for 4 total speeds. The one we have in the shop was proabably old when I was born, and is still going strong.

It has a blade welder thing built in so you can cut a blade, put it through a drilled hole, weld the blade back together and cut an internal shape. Nobody knows if it works, never tried it, and there are guys that have worked there since the 70's

 

[duratothemax]

its kinda like this one:

http://www.owwm.com/photoindex/detail.aspx?id=1611

If I get that 15:1 gear reduction, doing some rough calculations, it will slow the saw down to about 130sfpm. I dont see why that wouldnt at least be reasonable for cutting steel with an appropriate blade.

ben

 

[BombDocDiesel]

sweet

 

[JOHNBOY]

Marvel or Do all. The old round top Marvels are the best saws ever made IMHO.

 

[duratothemax]

Marvel or Do all. The old round top Marvels are the best saws ever made IMHO.

the only Do all's Ive found are $850+

I dont really want to spend more than 450-500 dollars...

 

[BombDocDiesel]

Well, the cheapest I found even near your 20" was a 16" Dalton and it was over the budget. Did you find anything on CL?

 

[duratothemax]

yeah I found a couple.

Another alternative to using a gear reduction box or making a new set of pulleys is to use a DC motor and speed control off a treadmill or something.

OR. Put a 3 phase motor on the thing and use a VFD to run it. That way I get [basically] constant torque, variable speed, and many variable frequency drives only require single phase (even if they are driving a 3 phase motor).

You cant really vary the speed of a single phase motor without losing a lot of power...

ben

 

[dmaxlover]

The speed isn't the only difference between a wood saw and a metal saw. The guides on a metal cutting bandsaw are much heavier, and they are designed to put up with metal chips vs saw dust.
The wood bandsaws I've seen have rubber on the wheels. On the metal saws, the blade just rides on a machined surface of the wheel.

 

[duratothemax]

the "lighter" (anything but the 1500lb+ purpose built saws with blade welders etc...) bandsaws that are dual purpose wood/metal, only have a separate gearbox...otherwise they are the same as their wood-only relatives.

ill probably replace the blade guides regardless...pretty much every bandsaw, wood or metal cutting has crappy guides from the factory. Best to replace them with some of the carter ballbearing/roller guides...

think im 98% gonna get that 20" delta/crescent saw, and work out some sort of pulley setup to slow it down. Or maybe ill get super lucky and it will actually be the wood/metal version?? I havent seen it in person yet. Since it was made in the 1940's and weighs almost 700lbs, Im sure it will be more than adequate for what I want to do.

ben

 

[THE-BEAST]

Sounds ol skool tough........

 

[WolfLMM]

F rollers. Solid carbide guides.

 

[duratothemax]

ok I picked it up for 400 dollars.

Surface rust, and ill need to do a cosmetic restoration, but it runs very nicely and I can throw a pressure treated 4x4 (wood) through it as fast as I can feed it and the blade does not wander at all. Very smooth and solid machine. Once I slow it down I think it will make a sweet metal machine.

It was made between 1945-1950. Im going to take it all apart, clean it up, paint it, make it new, etc...

It also came with probably 300+ dollars worth of extra blades. Ill post pics up later on today.

ben

 

[duratothemax]

here are some crappy blackberry pics

 

[TrailerproPop]

I'm betting that saw will still be working well long after the ones built today have been scrapped.:thumb: