On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:15:06 -0700, Trevor Jones
wrote:

Ray Field wrote:

Have just been given a small three wheel band saw, had to make an upper
blade guide for it. Obviously designed for hobby woodworking, blade is 56
1/8 inch long 1/4 by 6tpi.
Can this be converted to light metal cutting? I realise that the motor
(direct drive ) will have to be slowed down; are there any metal cutting
blades of this size (1/4 or 3/8 wide) available?
Do not have blade welding equipment, how effective is silver soldering for
joining blade ends? Is the joint a butt or scarf type?
Ray, in sunny Victoria.

Aluminum sure, lightweight brass maybe, not steel thicker than about
..090.

I made a speed reducer for a very old (vintage late '40s or early
'50s) belt-drive Craftsman 3-wheeler using two stages of sprockets
and chains. Noisy as hell, but it worked fine. But even that old
Craftsman, with cast iron frame, just doesn't have the rigidity to
withstand the forces used in cutting steel. It would throw blades as
feed force deflected the frame enough to screw up the tracking.

You may not need a speed reducer for cutting aluminum.

Silverbrazing works fine for joining blade ends with a scarf joint.
It's easy to make a simple jig to hold the blade for joining.