Band saw parts

[Retired Starman]

Any saw shop can make up the blades for you, so you aren't limited to buying them from a parts house or industrial supplier. They cut them from rolls of blade stock, weld and anneal them, any length you want in any blade width and teeth per inch. Look in your yellow pages for saw shops.

If you can't find one locally, you can order what you want from

Keenedge
http://www.keenedgeatl.com/

They are a small company outside of Atlanta, GA and do good work. Blades aren't very expensive. Call them up, tell them what you have in a saw, tell them what you want to cut, and they will figure out what you need, make it up and ship it to you, usually in one day or so.

Dr. Bob

[daniel_dsouza]

Thanks guys! This was great information.

Daniel D'Souza

[jspatz1]

We have used this online supplier and like them. You can specify the blade type, width, tooth pitch, length, and they will custom make it and ship it very quickly at a very good price. ==> www.probandsawworks.com

Opinions: Order a wide blade (3/4) for staight cutoffs through heavy material, AND a narrower blade (3/8) for curved/shaped cuts through thinner material. Go with a high TPI (teeth per inch) of 14-18 so you can cut sheet and thin stock without snagging. It will also cut thicker stock, just slower. If you are cutting aluminum almost exclusively as most FRC teams are, a plain high-carbon steel blade will last a long time for about 1/3 the cost of a bi-metal blade. For the cost of bi-metal you could buy a couple of different widths, TPI's, or spares and be well set.

[DonRotolo]

Don't worry about the saw manufacturer supporting the saw; the physical principles are the same regardless of the brand. The only issues would be spare parts; most can be fabricated by any group of FRC students. The saw is very much worth having, using and repairing - an equivalent would cost quite a lot of money.

In addition to the blade recommendations given already, you also need to consider the blade speed (given in feet per minute). Some online research will easily yield some recommendations for that, given what you'll be cutting. Too high of a speed - like that used for wood - will dull your blades quickly. Too slow is less of a problem.

I have also seen suggestions to use a very low-tooth-count blade for aluminum, since the teeth will not get clogged. I can't cite any experts, but some research for the cost of a blade might be valuable. Something like a 4-6 TPI skip-tooth blade was mentioned for aluminum.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

I have also seen suggestions to use a very low-tooth-count blade for aluminum, since the teeth will not get clogged. I can't cite any experts, but some research for the cost of a blade might be valuable. Something like a 4-6 TPI skip-tooth blade was mentioned for aluminum.

I have used a 6 TPI blade for cutting 1" round bar stock, on my 14" Delta bandsaw which is intended for wood. It did seem to work fine. Finer teeth (higher TPI) for thinner stuff, larger teeth (fewer TPI) for thick stuff.

Any sort of lubricant seems to hep when cutting aluminum. WD40, A9, or blade wax stick.

[daniel_dsouza]

Originally Posted by Retired Starman

Any saw shop can make up the blades for you, so you aren't limited to buying them from a parts house or industrial supplier. They cut them from rolls of blade stock, weld and anneal them, any length you want in any blade width and teeth per inch.
Dr. Bob

Our teacher in charge of our club decided to take the above route and find a local store that might sell us a length of blade. It turns out that we have all the equipment for joining the ends of a blade! Thanks everyone for all your suggestions, we will use them when choosing our blade specifications. Thanks Dick Linn for your link to the manual, it will be invaluable when starting this thing up.

Thanks again.
Daniel D.

[Dick Linn]

Here's a good video showing how to uncoil and coil a bandsaw blade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WUiEJEZMTc