"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
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I recently picked up a small HF metal cutting bandsaw. Its not great, but
it does what I wanted it to do. Sever pieces of flat aluminum bar stock.
Recently I was making some small molds for a customer and it worked out
great. I cut pieces with the bandsaw, squared them up on the big mill,
and then threw them on the smaller high speed mill. It was quite nice
having all three pieces of equipment working for me at the same time while
I was doing other work on the manual machines in between loading parts.
For a few minutes I felt like a "real" shop owner. LOL.

I know I have not been kind to HF in recent years, and this piece of
equipment has its HF problems, but as long as I don't expect high
precision work out of it it's a useful piece of equipment for me. I'll
keep and eye out for a bigger and better one I can afford now that I have
realized how useful it is. I've used it for freehand carving curves and
angles to fit sheet for enclosures, I've used it for severing steel tube,
and of course its severed a lot of flat aluminum bar stock.

I haven't had it long, so there is not telling how it will hold up, but I
am sure I'll do something stupid and snap the blade at some point. I am
thinking I want to pick up a spare blade for it before that happens. I
am sure I can just shop around for a generic blade the right length, but
I was wondering if there was a "better" blade I could get for it. One
that will tolerate more stupid mistakes, last longer under normal usage,
or something I can't even think of at the moment. The saw is mostly used
for severing aluminum bar with the still quite slow highest pulley speed,
but I can see it having to sever a piece of 1018 or a piece of O-1 from
time to time.

This is the cheap little 4x6.

I can easily see my abrasive saw falling into disuse, and my table saw
getting a good wood blade back on it.

I've been satisfied with mine, a Delta. I use mostly 10-14 Diemaster II
blades for steel, also 6-10 TPI for 6" wide steel and landscaping timbers
and 24 TPI Bosch blades for sheetmetal.
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-BS6412-2.../dp/B0062IBH6A

O-1 doesn't seem to dull it, at the lowest speed. I remove the case on the
lathe before sawing hydraulic cylinder rod.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...Bandsaw-Blade/

To unfold it you open it until it wants to continue and then throw it hard
toward a safe place. It's an impressive outdoor-only demonstration with
the 1.25" x 16' blades for my sawmill, a do-it-yourself sharknado.

-jsw

I am somewhat familiar with the sudden opening of bandsaw blades. I've got
a little Rigid bench top (on its own stand) that' I've used for wood and
plastic for years. Those blades are bad enough. I can't imagine the force
and reach of uncorking a 16' saw mill blade.