I got one of those cheap-o HF band saws. The horizontal one. I think it is
called a 4". Their $149 special.

I got some 14tpi blades for cutting .065 tubing. Occasionally, I will cut
some stouter stuff, but mainly tubing.

I noticed that this is eating blades a little faster than I think it should.
(I think they should last for 5-7 years.) But, I have been using it quite a
bit, and have gone through two blades already.

I was looking at the directions on the new blade, and noticed that there is
a 10tpi that is recommended for metal cutting. These are the Home Depot
variety blades, I believe Ridgid.

Should I go to a 10tpi, or is this just what they do?

Steve

SteveB wrote:

I got one of those cheap-o HF band saws. The horizontal one. I think it is
called a 4". Their $149 special.

I got some 14tpi blades for cutting .065 tubing. Occasionally, I will cut
some stouter stuff, but mainly tubing.

I noticed that this is eating blades a little faster than I think it should.
(I think they should last for 5-7 years.) But, I have been using it quite a
bit, and have gone through two blades already.

I was looking at the directions on the new blade, and noticed that there is
a 10tpi that is recommended for metal cutting. These are the Home Depot
variety blades, I believe Ridgid.

Should I go to a 10tpi, or is this just what they do?


You probably have a 3-speed belt pulley arrangement. You get speeds from
about 100 to 200 SFPM with that, I think. For aluminum, use the higher
speed, for steel, use the lowest speed.

..065 tubing probably needs a FINER blade tooth pitch! You normally want 3
teeth in the material. 3 x 1/.065 = needs about a 46 tooth blade, by
that rule.
You won't find one that fine, of course.

Be glad you weren't using a $50 Starrett bimetal blade with your tubing, it
would have stripped all the teeth in one rotation of the blade!

Don't you notice the 14 TPI blade grabs and tears the heck out of the tubing
as it is cutting half-way through the tube? The 14 TPI teeth would be
expected to fall into the edge of the metal and take a full-depth bite,
which
is very hard on the blade. Maybe you are controlling the feed manually when
you do this.

Are you serious about the 5 - 7 years? I don't think metal (horizontal) saw
blades last that long under ANY circumstances due to the twist applied
to the
blade. That added flexing of the blade fatigues the metal. If I get a
couple
hundred cuts out of my el-cheapo blades that come in 100' rolls, I'm pretty
happy. Sometimes, I even wear out the teeth before the blade itself is
starting to wear out. Usually it breaks a couple of times at the joint,
because
my crappy blade welder is not really set quite right.

Jon

Jon Elson wrote:

Are you serious about the 5 - 7 years? I don't think metal (horizontal)
saw blades last that long under ANY circumstances due to the twist applied
to the blade.

No, he isn't! :-)
The "3 tooth"-rule is right. As a note, there are also variable pitch
blades, that claim to be more versatile.

But the interesting thing quality producers say about their blades is,
that you have to cut them in (break them in) before "real use". They
say, that you have to cut several square cm with reduced speed and feed
to dull the blade! And only then, you can go full feed.
I have the impression they are right.

I'm using 6/10 tpi comby blades. With thin tubing, you should also have
0 deg. rake (rake?)

Nick
--
Motormodelle / Engine Models
http://www.motor-manufaktur.de

The guys on the 4x6 Yahoo group all seem to be using 10/14 bimetal.
I'm using 10/14 plain HSS and it seems to work fine on nearly everything
I cut. Thin tubing is problematic, but those cut so quickly that it's
no big deal to hold the weight off it by hand. If I were doing a lot of
cuts, I'd buy a finer-tooth blade.

- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

Nick Müller wrote:
Jon Elson wrote:


Are you serious about the 5 - 7 years? I don't think metal (horizontal)
saw blades last that long under ANY circumstances due to the twist applied
to the blade.


No, he isn't! :-)
The "3 tooth"-rule is right. As a note, there are also variable pitch
blades, that claim to be more versatile.

But the interesting thing quality producers say about their blades is,
that you have to cut them in (break them in) before "real use". They
say, that you have to cut several square cm with reduced speed and feed
to dull the blade! And only then, you can go full feed.
I have the impression they are right.

I'm using 6/10 tpi comby blades. With thin tubing, you should also have
0 deg. rake (rake?)

Nick

"SteveB" wrote in message
news:EEnpe.8909$tr.5717@fed1read03...
I got one of those cheap-o HF band saws. The horizontal one. I think it
is
called a 4". Their $149 special.

I got some 14tpi blades for cutting .065 tubing. Occasionally, I will cut
some stouter stuff, but mainly tubing.

I noticed that this is eating blades a little faster than I think it
should.
(I think they should last for 5-7 years.) But, I have been using it quite
a
bit, and have gone through two blades already.

I was looking at the directions on the new blade, and noticed that there
is
a 10tpi that is recommended for metal cutting. These are the Home Depot
variety blades, I believe Ridgid.

Should I go to a 10tpi, or is this just what they do?

Steve


I have one of those machines, too. I run (cheap) 16 tpi Starrett blades in
it and use it mostly for cutting rectangular tubing. It works great. The
blades aren't exactly immortal, but, overall, the blade cost is a couple
cents per cut. I also have a big, old Wilton with a coolant system on it.
I run a 4 tpi bi-metal blade in it and use it for bigger (NEVER anything
less than an inch wide) solid stuff. (The little HF machine is pretty slow
on that stuff after the blade has cut a few tubes...)

Jerry