Wood to Metal Bandsaw Conversion - Part 1
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- A friend gave me a cheap wood cutting bandsaw as scrap. I wanted to modify it to make a free standing metal cutting bandsaw. The main modification needed was to reduce the ridiculous blade speed to something around 70 metres per minute and to upgrade the wheels to something a little stronger. The blade guides were missing so those will need re manufacturing.
The biggest outlay was for the Nema 34 worm drive gearbox which I purchased on Ebay www.ebay.com.au/itm/30-1-Worm... for approximately Au$139.
The diamond tool holders used in the video can be purchased from Eccentric Engineering www.eccentricengineering.com.au/
(not a sponsor) - Наука та технологія
Nice job. What I noticed was the racket that gearbox made when you turned it on. Holy cow!
Yes, I was surprised too. It needs a bit of fine tuning. I may end up fitting a silicone membrane between the motor and the face of the gearbox to isolate some of the noise. The motor is pretty noisy too!
G'day Mr P. I am impresoed err impressed! Nice re-engineering on that saw. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.
Great project! Looking forward to the next episode.
This is one of your best series by far Mark. Thanks 👍
Would love to work in your shop and watch for a day or week!!!! Thanks for information!!!!
Great work as usual mate, you are an interesting and funny guy, can`t believe you've only got 3.5 k subscribers. I watch loads of channels, (Diresta, Myford, Matthias, A-Bomb etc) but you are the one I look forward to the most. Keep on keeping on mate.
Russell, thanks for that. It would be great to have loads of subscribers but I would need a secretary to answer all the comments!
Your videos show great attention to detail. Great work!
Great video. I have been thinking about the same sort of project for a while now. great to see an Aussie doing these sort of videos.
I've made several similar conversions to 14" wood cutting saws using worm reducers. All mine had step pulley belt drive between motor and reducer for the simple reason the available motors were base mounted but it had the advantage of a higher band speed for aluminum and low enough for stainless and alloy steel sawing. But while speed changes seemed to be nice to have most of my customers left the belt in one position for everything indicating not every good idea results in a practical implementation
I very much liked your conversion because those little saws are cheap and very portable, perfect for the home metalworking shop. You address existing deficiencies and remedied them. My only niggle is the long overhang from the reducer to the driven band wheel especially with the extension and its necessary assembly clearance to the reducer shaft. Worm reducers are often limited for overhung shaft load. The adapter spool you installed between reducer and lower bandwheel case seems like a good place to mount a bearing to constrain the shaft adapter just behind the band wheel as it will reduce the strain on the outout shaft and the assembly fit on the extension.
I think this is a superb video as it takes the viewers through a step by step analysis, design, and parts manufacture for modifying a cheap small benchtop wood cutting band saw to a practical tool for the metalworker. It moved right along in logical sequence from start to finish in one go without tedious discussion, trivialities, irrelevencies, and long sequences of watching cuts in progress. I only wish I could have been as concise in my lectures and demonstrations years ago.
Forrest, thanks for that appraisal. I get what you mean about the cantilever on the gearbox shaft extension. It is not the best solution and I am going to have to monitor the bearings on the output end of the shaft. If it seems to be getting hot or loose I will have to retrofit some sort of support of the type that you have suggested. I am going to try to remember to take the tension off the blade when I am not using it and it might only get an hour or two of use per month anyway. I seem to acquire lots of tools that only get occasional use. The little rivnut tool that I showed in the video has only been used once on that particular job since I made it back two years ago but it was the perfect tool for the job.
I am hoping to have the saw back together in the next couple of days. It has taken ages to get all the parts polished, plated, anodised and powder coated but it's nearly done.
Regards,
Mark Presling
Great engineering work to make the best of a pretty crappy bandsaw :) Looking forward to seeing the next episode
Wow, great engineering and machining. Nice video. Thanks for sharing! : )
Renaissance guy making your own pulleys you got me amazed at your skills. Keep up the great work.
Ah yes, metal casting at home! It was a revelation when I realised that it could be done. It opens up so many possibilities for new crap to be made in my shop! 😁
Mark -
Yipee!
Your videos are the Best ever coffee pot education.
Thanks for continuing the journey.
Your educating your coffee pot?? To what level of knowledge will you go to?
Mark Fryer,
It is a Smart Device. Trying to surround my self with Smart Devices to become a Smart Home.
I toil over wanting to test my level of Smart.
I forget what I was thinking . Umm
Very Nice and informative video. Definitely want to see more
MMmmmmmetal cutting. Also, be nice to Nigel, we all have to start somewhere. :D
Cool project! Ooh and you are going to love having a sand muller, it's a real game changer!
Yes, I am sick of mixing sand by hand. Hard on the back and hard on fingers!
I realize I'm late to the party, but I'm going to offer up the following advice anyway. When using a file during turning go ahead and stroke the file as you would as if the work were stationary. The poor finish comes from the file teeth loading with swarf. Also, coat the file with a very light cutting oil to help the chips/swarf flow. This will improve the surface finish of the work and help prevent chip welding.
On another note, I REALLY like that keyway cutter you have for your lathe. That looks much faster than using the hand wheel on the longitudinal feed. Brilliant!
Good work on the saw as well. Great video.
Thanks. It's hard to remember what metal I melted to make those wheels but it was probably scrap recovered from old automotive cylinder heads and water pump housings. I have since been able to source some 601 series pure ingots from a local foundry and they are much nicer to work with once cast. They don't gum up files so much and they don't have any impurities in them. You are correct though, a little soluble oil helps a lot especially with files and hacksaws.
Regards,
Mark
No more than 40 meters per minute would be a great spot all around. Really like that you're doing this project with gearing instead of making yet another failed variable frequency drive attempt. Too many of those. This is much superior. I love the new wheels with increased mass and think the heavier the better.
Thanks,
I looked up a number of references for blade speeds and found that there was a wide range of suggested speeds. I had always thought that 30 MPM was about right when turning steel with a single point tool but I was surprised to find bandsaw blade speeds up to 100MPM. I guess it depends on the type of blade. I knew that whatever I chose was going to be a compromise given that I had a fixed speed. The little horizontal bandsaw that I have has variable speed from about 60 to 90. Time will tell!
I suscribed, waiting the final result!! Congrats!!
Good job Presso!
I was a bit worried about the thickness of the spokes but you certainly had the metal nice and liquid hot. Good video.
The second attempt worked great. I had my friend weld up the missing piece in the first casting.
New supporter mate from another Aussie. Your work is awesome, Thanks!
Thanks, If you like my work, check out Scott Turner. He is from Townsville and he does some fantastic industrial style furniture. ua-cam.com/channels/AVSzq_Tk0B-9uTKzIpkBqg.html
I really enjoy your videos.
You’re kind of a badass. Great work. Subscribed
Ambitious project!
Awesome work!
That will be a great addition to the shop, now you have me thinking........
Nice work!
Hey Mark, i found exactly the same model bandsaw in my brother in laws shed not being used, with a broken blade, and he let me have it. Like you, I thought about cutting metal with it and decided to convert it to a metal cutting bandsaw, (great minds think alike), I have used a dc motor and controller from an old treadmill, and set it up for belt drive, and the variable speed conttrol works great. So when your video popped up with the same machine I watched all your videos. I'm still using the old wheels and it seems to work alright with these wheels, as I don't know how to cast new wheels. I don't have a you tub channel, but would like to show you my setup.
Michael,
I looked at the original wheels and thought that they would probably work but I was keen to try casting something with large voids to see if it would be easy or not. Turns out it's not! I also had a DC motor but it was around 190V and I couldn't find an off the shelf DC motor controller and it was also surprisingly heavy and quite long. I store my bandsaw on top of a high cupboard and it's a bit of a chore to lift it up and down when I need it. So keeping the whole assembly fairly light was important. My wife and I were discussing getting rid of one of our cars a few days ago and as much as I like the idea of having a spare car, the lure of extra workshop space is also exciting.....
Regards,
Mark
Hey Prezza... Love this video, looking like an interesting project. Have you noticed how good you've become at casting aluminium, compared to castings that you made many months ago, when you firststarted ? What I find facinating about your vids is how you overcome problems 'on the fly' and it's great that you learn quickly... the faster you learn, the fast WE learn. Great work, more please! Greetings from Southport UK
Thanks Kevin. I do feel like I am getting better results as I go along. However, as you have observed, it's all a learning process. I have been able to broaden my skills by watching others on UA-cam. It's great that we can take advantage of these shared experiences.
Hi Mark,
great work! I am interested in this project as I have a heavy cast iron wood band saw that I am intending to convert to the duel purpose of steel/wood.
As a suggestion, when you form your runners extend the end of the runners passed your last ingate, as opposed to curving then into the ingate.
if they extend passed the last ingate then any rubbish being in the melt being pushed ahead by the flow of the melt will carry on past the ingate instead of being driven into the casting.
Also in regard to the riser, you tend to narrow off the junction with the casting. this may make it easier to cut off but at the risk of it freezing early and stopping the riser feeding the casting as it shrinks. you shrinkage of the hub (on the bottom) could be a result of the narrow neck that froze before the riser could feed the casting.
the riser interface should be as large as possible to ensure it does not freeze early in the process.
great work.
One of my favorite channels. Early on I was thinking the entire bandsaw frame might be too weak for the tension. Will be nice if that is not the case.
Dan, it seems to be fairly rigid due to it's small size. I won't know for sure until I start using it in anger! 😁
Great project! 👍 I need to do the same thing.
Colin, if you do decide to convert one of those cheap little saws, make sure you get one that has a fairly solid table on it. The GMC machine that I have has a lot of spring in the table and it's bracket. It makes a dreadful noise when cutting thin material. I am going to cast a solid aluminium table for mine and do away with the tilt mechanism. I am unlikely to ever use it and I want to put a slot in the table so I can use a mitre gauge. That would be more useful.
I may do a follow up video next year....
Nice work. Nigel has one mate 😁
Nice job . Handy to have as i know with by bandsaw its a pain to screw the plate on for vertical cutting . Nice keyway slotter you have . Cheers .
I almost bought one of those bandsaws that can be pivoted up into the vertical position but I really don't have room for one.
Nice project.
Thanks, I have wanted one of these for such a long time. I hate having to cut up aluminium plate with a hacksaw. I have a big stack of it courtesy of the skip outside a local sheetmetal works shop close to where I live. Most of it is 2 to 3mm thick and it's a great resource for me but I sometimes just want a small piece, say 100mm square cut out of a much larger sheet and although I have metal cutting blades on my jig saw it is a pain to use and it tends to mar the surface. I have almost finished the blade guides so I should have it cutting in anger by the end of the week.
Regards,
Mark Presling
The eccentric engineering tool holders are stocked in the U.S. by villagepress.com. I like using them quite a bit also.
I didn't see anything there about tool holders. Some kind of marketing services company.
@Bob Engelhardt Try secure.villagepress.com/store/items/list/group/414. They also publish a number of magazines including Home Shop Machinist, Machinist's Workshop, Digital Machinist and Live Steam. The store home page is secure.villagepress.com/store . I have no affiliation with them other than a customer.
New sub. Nice work.
Being able to cast brings a boat load of new machining possiblities
Yes,
I have been able to make some really useful items for my shop and it removes a lot of the limitations that you get when trying to fabricate intricately shaped parts. Having a good 3D printer for making patterns is also a big bonus. I started by making patterns from wood but for me it seemed to be just as big a chore to make the split patterns as it was to cast and machine them. I also do most of my prototype development using 3D CAD so after I have modelled the assembly I only have to modify the parts to make the patterns.
Regards,
Mark
If nothing else, ya got very pretty wheels :)
An old time way to get an accurate measurement of a complicated shaped bore is to cast a plug of it from Sulphur (Brimstone) by melting it and pouring in the hole. The plug removes rather easily and is a very accurate representation. Old gunsmith trick for checking chambers.
Scott, that's interesting. I am guessing that would be a rather smelly process? A bit reminiscent of rotten eggs maybe.
Regards,
Mark
Mark Presling not sure about the smell, but according to Hoyle it works.
Molten sulphur is an old time version of polyester resin. It was often used to fix wrought iron railings into concrete verandahs.
Stavros
Poor old Nigel No-Mates, the hand hacksaw!
Mark,
I'm really looking forward to this video series because I've got a piece-of-crap woodcutting bandsaw that's _maybe_ half the size of your saw. Maybe my saw has a chance at being useful for once? And, my version of Nigel does nearly all of my metal cutting for now!
Bob, I saw a review of a little benchtop bandsaw that was sold by Aldi at one point and I was waiting for it to come back as a "special buy" so I could convert it to metal cutting. The GMC version that I was given was about the same size and it was free so I was ahead already. I did some more work on the blade guides today and they are nearly finished. I also received the 30:1 gearbox today so I should be able to give it some serious testing by the end of the week.
Regards,
Mark Presling
Thank you for sharing, good job, now yours will cut better than my, LoL, Have a good
I've had good luck using tin cans full of casting sand with a hole down the middle, set over top of the sprue and riser. It helps with shrinkage, and provides a nice large funnel shape on the sprue. I think I saw Myfordboy doing that.
I watched the same Myfordboy videos and I copied that method for ages. Just lately I have used the pouring basin and riser design that Olfoundryman uses and I am not noticing any problems with shrinkage on the top of the casting. Unfortunately there are about a million ways to make sand moulds and everyone seems to have their own techniques. It's just a case of continual experimentation. I think it's called iterative design!
Yes you got me thinking as well, I have a cheap wood cutting bandsaw.
Damian, I just posted a photo of the new blade guides fitted to the saw. I am hoping it will be cutting metal by early next week.
Awesome video. Subscribing.!
Hey there Mark, so what you have done there looks great. I agree with you on the set ( grub ) screw , and in reality it (if made from soft enough material) would act as a safety shear point. As you said something went very wrong if it gets sheared off. Also as you explained about your lathe being under powered, I became curious as to what brand and size it is. Have you ever done a work shop tour? I don’t about any one else but I like to see what other people’s shops look like compared to mine. Anyway thanks again for sharing your videos, can hardly wait for the next one! P.S. like your sense of humor 😁👍
Gary, my lathe is a Colchester Student MKII. It has a centre height of 6" and it is British made. I purchased it from the school where I used to work after it literally fell off a truck. We were having a semi trailer load of machine tools delivered which had been written off from a trade training college. Most of them were still in good condition but they were old and the college were upgrading their inventory. The Colchester was in a line of three lathes across the trailer and the forklift operator bumped one machine and it set off a domino effect that saw the Colchester topple off the bed of the truck. Luckily it landed on soft ground beside the road and it smashed the headstock guard and bent the chip tray. It sat in a shed for nearly a year since it was deemed to be not worth fixing. I bought it for $300 but it had a three phase motor and my shop only has single phase. I swapped out the 7HP motor for a 1.5HP single phase so it is dreadfully underpowered. One day I will fit a bigger three phase motor and a VFD. I have not done a shop tour. I understand why they are interesting but I would have to spend a month cleaning up before I would do so. I watched Stefan Gotteswinter's shop tour recently. Everything about his shop is immaculate and well organised. So unlike mine!
Regards,
Mark
Thanks Mark for sharing the information about your lathe . I hear you about the cleanliness of the shop, when compared to Stefan, Tony , Ox and the rest. However I very much enjoy your videos, your style and content is what it’s about for me. Hope your weekend was good! 😃
very interesting!!
Yes, I like interesting. I used to teach in a secondary school and you could always pick the kids who would do well with tools and equipment. They were the ones who had a curiosity about how things worked. Sometimes they would drive you crazy asking questions or just using tools in unusual ways (incorrectly) but they were always improvising and experimenting. Invariably, they were the kids that went on to produce good results. I am guessing that you and many others had that same curiosity and desire to take a piece of material or a tool and push beyond the obvious.
Regards,
Mark
Lots of work put into this machine it’s good to see someone go into detail, do you still use this to cut metal?
Yes, I used it just yesterday. I have a lot of sheet aluminium, mostly 3 to 4mm thick and it 's great for cutting that up. Thinner stock can sometimes get jammed in the teeth but I don't have a fine pitch blade for it. If I were doing it again I would fit a variable speed motor like a small three phase with an inverter or a DC motor with speed control. As it is now I can still lift it up onto a shelf but if it were any heavier it would need to stay on the bench all the time.
Regards,
Mark
A comment for the analytics, would it have been an idea to turn the inside edge of both faces of the rims for better balance?
I don't think that balance is an issue. The overall blade speed is quite low.
Regards,
Mark
👍👌
Did it with mine ,took all of a couple of minutes! I changed the blade.
Glenn,
Are you using a saw like this to cut steel? I have used a wood cutting bandsaw to cut aluminium and although it is a bit hard on the blade it will work. I wouldn't like to try it on steel though.
I thought the Colchester Master and Student came with 3HP 2 speed motors as standard. Did they make a beefier one?
Maybe I misremembered the size of the motor but it's also possible it was modified at some point with a bigger motor than factory spec.
Regards,
Mark
I did a Craftsman my self however it was a 12” saw. Looks like you having to do a bit more to that saw
I spent a whole day today just on the blade guides. They were missing when I was given the saw. I had a look at a brand new Ryobi and an Ozito saw yesterday and they both had identical motors to the GMC that I have and the blade guides are also identical. They are very flimsy and I doubt that they would be robust enough for the 13mm wide blade that I have. I think I will have the saw cutting metal by the weekend but there will have to be a total disassembly and clean up before I am satisfied that it is finished.
Regards,
Mark Presling
The camber on the rim of the wheels might not work well. For wood blades yes but for metal cutting most saws have a rim on the back because of the force to cut metal. Just a thought. Looks like a great project!!
I was just going to mention that.
I figured that I can always alter the pattern and add the back rim if it fails. My reasoning was that the blade guides will absorb all of the back thrust from the cutting forces. I actually cut some metal with it even though the blade guides are not fitted yet. No sign of the blade wandering off the crown but it's early days. Still plenty of latitude for things to go wrong!
Bloody Nigel, always getting in the way! Stay on the wall!
Nice. Did you need to cut a sharper curve for the set of the teeth?
I am guessing you are referring to the amount of crown on the wheels? I checked on the little cut off bandsaw that I showed at the beginning of this video. It has cast iron wheels of almost the same diameter. It has very little crown on the wheel so I just replicated that. I am not sure about whether the setup that I am using will alter the set of the teeth against the wheel.
Hi Mark when you bored the pulley why did you finish it with the 18mm reamer
also how much HP is the single phase motor on your lathe that you replaced
The drive wheel for the bandsaw blade had to mount rigidly to the gearbox extension which was sized at 18mm. My Colchester motor is now 1.5 horsepower which is a bit undersized for the lathe. for 90% of the jobs that I do it's adequate but occasionally when I run a large diameter piece of steel with a carbide insert it can trip the thermal overload in the motor. This has happened twice so I tend to keep my feeds and speeds on the low side and this causes issues with breaking the chips. I have been working up to replacing the motor with a three phase 3 horsepower motor and a VFD. It's either that or I upgrade the lathe to a Colchester Triumph. There is one for sale at present for $10,000!
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 Thanks for all that info, my lathe has the same problem and has
a 1 HP and I just ordered a 2 HP hope its enough anyway about the reamer why can't
you just bore it to 18 mm, or will the reamer get it exactly to 18 mm and if you bore
it then it might be a bit under or over
Aww, poor Nigel.
Hi Mark, love your channel, very informative and interesting. Do you still have the original top bandsaw wheel, and can I have it?? mine is warped, and I don't know how to unwarp it, or cast aluminium. I have the same model and converted it to cut metal. I will pay shipping, etc.
I think I do have them down in the workshop. I'll check tomorrow. If you email me at mark.presling@gmail.com I can reply to you.
Regards,
Mark
Do you think the frame is rigid enough for cutting steel? Some other bandsaw conversions have needed to reinforce it, so feed pressure doesn't bow the frame. I suppose the benchtop size works in your favor for that. We'll see!
I have been able to tension up the blade and it has actually cut metal but I still don't have the blade supports fitted yet. If the blade supports are doing their job all the cutting pressure should be absorbed between the two rollers which are only about 100mm apart. The frame is what has to take the tension which keeps the blade tight enough to transmit the power from the driven wheel to the saw blade. As you say, the saw is quite small so there is less metal to bend or twist. I have almost finished the new blade supports and the 30:1 gearbox came in today so I should have it running by the end of the week. Fingers crossed!
Hi Mark
I just got myself a 3D printer for my moulding patterns - I think you use 3D printer too for patterns - right ?
What kind of material are you usgin PLA or ... ?
An interesting project and mayby I have to do one too ;-)) - thx for sharing !
Here's a video you may want to watch, by myfordboy on 3D printing patterns. ua-cam.com/video/HVgPM1ojyLw/v-deo.html
Keld, I am using PLA exclusively now. I used to use ABS but the warping and adhesion was a serious issue. I purchased a new Creality Ender 3 just recently and I switched over to Cura for the slicing and haven't looked back. I had thought that ABS was more durable but most of the patterns that I make are only ever used once.
@@iteerrex8166 Hi - I think I have seen all of myfordboys videos, but thx I'll take a look !
@@Preso58 Thx for answering - Using one time is most often the life of patterns in a hobby shop - OK, then I'll use PLA too for my patterns.
I wonder of the low speed you have on the blade - why not a VFD too ?
A comment to upgrade your account. Could you have trued the o.d. of the bottom wheel inner diameter to lessen the possibility of imbalance?
Mark your having to extend the gearbox shaft is showing up as a problem for you. This has shown the need to strengthen the mounting frame. The amount of tension needed on the blade to stop it from slipping and sliding off the wheels is significant. Is there any way you can mount the motor and gearbox closer to the blade and get rid of the shaft extension?
Gray,
Gray,
I decided to take the course of least resistance and try the simplest solution first.The extension shaft has a through hole that lines up with an M6 threaded hole in the end of the gear box shaft. I can pass an M6 cap head bolt right through the extension and torque it down hard which will put the whole assembly into tension. The fit is very close as well so it should behave as a single unit. The overhang is a problem though and the cantilever is (I think) warping the back plate of the bandsaw frame. I won't be able to assess how bad the misalignment is until I can get some measurements on things as I tension the blade. As it is right now, the blade is able to cut 6mm steel and that's without any blade guides in place yet. The blade is riding on the outer edge of the bottom wheel though and that needs to be addressed. It's not really possible to mount the motor/gearbox unit any closer to the plane of the lower wheel without major surgery to the back of the saw frame which might weaken it further. I don't really want to add a lot of weight to the saw because it has to be lifted on and off the bench when I want to use it.
Early days yet.
subscribed
Go GMC I used to have a GMC tradie tablesaw and still have a wood lathe in a box somewhere. Good old old bunnies.
I think "Cheap and Cheerful" would be the best description for these tools. Having said that the upgrades that I have done are starting to look like the saw will now be a great asset in my shop.
Your cast wheels look incredible. The effort you put into your new furnace appears to be well spent.
I doubt that your gear reduction unit is designed to withstand the radial loads your imposing on it. It might be better if you supported the drive wheel shaft with its own bearings and used a flex coupler to the gear drive. Your gear drive is likely to wear-out prematurely the way its currently configured and deflection may make it difficult to maintain blade tracking.
Hi, I need to do some fine tuning on the interface between the motor and the gearbox. I think I can isolate a lot of the noise and get a smoother coupling between the two. It's not like it's going to be used a lot.
Regards, Mark
Mark, were you not able to turn the motor shaft to match the taper in the gear drive? You're inspiring another project in my shop doggone you! Oh, and we've all got a "Nigel" in our lives. Don't be too hard on him!
Hi, I was finding it really difficult to measure the taper and as a result I just kept reducing the diameter of the motor shaft until it slid in far enough to give a positive drive. I wanted to be able to accommodate a little misalignment as well. I will probably fit a silicone gasket between the face of the motor and the adaptor plate at some point.
How did you make the templates for the wheels. They look like rubber in the video. Are they actually 3D printed?
Lee, they were made from MDF and turned on the wood lathe. The colour is just a satin black acrylic car paint that I had. It lost all it's gloss when I sprayed it on. I usually make bigger patterns from wood and the smaller more intricate ones from 3D printed PLA.
Regards,
Mark
@@Preso58 they look super swish. Nicely done.
Can you do the opposite and convert a metal cutting bamdsaw to a wood?
My god, how many processes and materials do you know?
My interests are broad but thin. Since retirement I have had the luxury of time to explore things that were considered too dangerous or costly to include in our school curriculum. Interestingly, I have noticed that Mr. Pete AKA Tubalcain, was able to teach foundry work and metal casting in high schools. This was forbidden in Queensland schools which is a pity as it's such an interesting process.
Regards,
Mark
i often hear that a small lathe is not made for carbide inserts - i have a chinese mini lathe and i'm using only the finest chinese carbide inserts, it works great so far. sure getting the chip to break properly on aluminium is hard to archieve but yet i dont care enough to justify spending a lot of money on the subject. i want to get some hss blanks though because carbide tooling from china always has a rather big radius on the edge wich brings cutting force up and finish quality down. the dream would be a tool and cutter grinder, so i could make the inserts fit the lathe properly, because all in all i think carbide is the way to go, lasts forever, doesnt need cooling, doesnt care if the part is hard or soft. but a tool and cutter grinder or anything suitable for grinding inserts is more expensive than i can buy right now.
anyways. nice little project. the taper on the wheel is called crown in case you didnt know. is there a reason why you chose to go the gearing way of things? wouldnt just slapping a vfd on it give you the speed you want? at the point you are right now, it would be a small step to just build the bandsaw from ground up to your own design wich is propably more rigid than this :D
I was in the process of designing the machine from scratch and I was discussing it with my mate over a beer when he dug up the GMC saw from under his bench. I figured that 75% of it was already done and the motor was there. I already had the gearbox so it was a bit of an experiment really. I just started filming it in case it worked. Trust me, if it wasn't going to pan out I would have deleted the footage and destroyed the evidence but so far I think it will be worthwhile. Stefan Gotteswinter grinds his own carbide inserts using a CBN wheel to make them razor sharp. I too have found the Chinese inserts to have too rounded an edge to give good results at low speeds. One day I ran a big insert at the recommended feed and speed and the motor on my lathe stopped when the thermal overload switch tripped. The finish I was getting was great but man, it put some load on the motor.
@@Preso58 :D i have no worries that the saw is going to work, the worm gear should give you great torque and all... that you already had the gear explains it, i think buying it just for the purpose of modifying such a saw would kinda be a dealbreaker.
maybe i will visit stefan gotteswinter one day, he is only 200km away from me roughly :D
Got a real laugh out of the Hacksaw of Shame... they are indispensable however.
Hi. Mark. Any possible to sell me middle profile metal cutting vertical bandsaw at a reasonable price that you did? I live in Gold Coast.
Kinda works, I sense a lot of fettling coming soon. Starting out with what you had maybe your worst decision.🤔
Well, it was free and I already had the gearbox. If it fails I can use the wheels and build my own frame. Also the motor is about the right size. If I weren't messing around trying to make it go I might have to go shopping with the wife. 😀
Why did you not just bore the diametre smaller in the bottom wheel rather than make a fit over just wondering
Dougie, this job is one of those that is very much a prototype. The approach that I take is to start at one point, in this case the motor and the gearbox and then try to make everything else fit. There are often false starts and revisions as you go along and I often end up with a bunch of parts that don't make it onto the machine. Ideally, once it becomes a going concern, you would go back and make a more streamlined version without all the accumulated mistakes. It's all coming together though. I hope to have it running and cutting metal by the end of the week.
Regards,
Mark Presling
@@Preso58 thank you very much for the reply that makes a lot of sense love your moulding skills BTW i am a retired moulder from Scotland
Turns out you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
Ross, That almost became the title for this series of videos!
The metal is probably Zamac.
Sounds like an evil 😈 genius!
I am Lord Zamac, yield before my evil 😈 genius!
@@markfryer9880 Zamac was first alloyed in Germany so the name is probably German slang for worthless!
Rollie Kelly Wikipedia excerpt: "The name zamak is an acronym of the German names for the metals of which the alloys are composed: Zink (zinc), Aluminium, Magnesium and Kupfer (copper).[2] The New Jersey Zinc Company developed zamak alloys in 1929. Zinc alloys are popularly referred to as pot metal or white metal. While zamak is held to higher industrial standards, it is still considered a pot metal."
"Need more power Scotty. I'm giving it all she's got captain." lol
That was like 5 videos in one.. What happened?
I think this is going to be a three part series!
@@Preso58 Cool!
No one got my Star Trek reference.
@@iteerrex8166 Captain, I can't hold this outrages accent any longer!
Nice work Mark, Cheers from John, Australia.
if you had a metal bandsaw you could make quick work of trimming that casting up
Yes, tell me about it. My next project is a sand muller for which I need to make some more aluminium castings. If only I had a sand muller to prep the sand for moulding.😁
Wheels - material, crapalloy. That’s the technical term.
My friends dad used to call it munschmetal! Apparently cars from the mid century used to have door handles made from an alloy which I have heard called Zamak and Mazak. It was a fairly easy to die cast zinc based alloy and it was easy to polish and chrome plate. I have been told that you can crack them in half and melt out the alloy.
Poor Nigel
Don't feel sorry for him. He is generally an instrument of torture.
Regards,
Mark
Every metal band saw I've seen have a small flange on the back of the wheel, instead of a crown
I wondered about that too. However, I actually cut some metal (6mm thick steel) even though the blade guides weren't fitted. Granted, I wasn't pushing too hard but the blade stayed tracking on the top crown.
@@Preso58 I'm only curious because I have a typical small Chinese chop style bandsaw, and I can't get it to cut straight, I was thinking of removing the wheels and dressing them up on the lathe, but now you have me thinking about crowning them
my metal bandsaw has rubber tires i think to not damage the set on the blade
I can still retrofit these. I was reluctant to go out and source them unless the machine is a total failure. I had a look at my little benchtop bandsaw today and it has cast iron wheels with no tire. We had over the years, three different metal cutoff bandsaws at work and they all had bare cast iron wheels. I know that nearly all wood cutting bandsaws have resilient tires perhaps because of the higher blade speed.
Regards,
Mark
Nigel has no mates :(
I thought his name was Harry the Hack Saw.
Nigel, Nigel No Friends!
Awwww, poor nigel. Can't help noticing that your car is not a Rolls Royce, banish it to the driveway and reclaim all that empty real estate 😏
If I had the cash I would get a Merc. I was lucky enough to go to their factory in Stuttgart and do a tour of the plant. Very impressive. Plus, the Mercedes F1 team can't put a foot wrong at the moment.
Gotta love that German engineering 👍 but will it get you to the shops any quicker laegally than a Datsun 120y 😏
Mark, just watched. I am inspired.
Saw will need cast / Laser / Engraved brass / plastic LABEL with your name & MMXIX.
You have a winner.
Look at luckgen1001 for alternative lathe motor. Ask viewer to look out for a free one that would work.
We want more projects from Mark Presling ~~ UA-cam Renaissance Man
I am still working on the art work for the nameplate. Probably going to be etched brass - just to satisfy you. 😀