I have acquired a small tabletop bandsaw , and was wondering if it might be
suitable for cutting metal - with a proper blade . I calculate the blade
speed to be around 2700 ft per minute , and there is no way to slow it any
as it drives straight off the motor shaft .
Probable uses would be bar stock 1" or less , and sheet metal 1/8" thick
(~3 mm) or less .
--
Snag aka OSG #1
'76 FLH "Bag Lady"
"A hand shift is a manly shift ."
shamelessly stolen
none to one to reply

Aluminum will work OK but a bit slower would be better. Wear goggles,
lots of HOT flying particles. No steel or brass.

Snag wrote:
I have acquired a small tabletop bandsaw , and was wondering if it might be
suitable for cutting metal - with a proper blade . I calculate the blade
speed to be around 2700 ft per minute , and there is no way to slow it any
as it drives straight off the motor shaft .
Probable uses would be bar stock 1" or less , and sheet metal 1/8" thick
(~3 mm) or less .

In article ,
"Snag" wrote:

I have acquired a small tabletop bandsaw , and was wondering if it might be
suitable for cutting metal - with a proper blade . I calculate the blade
speed to be around 2700 ft per minute , and there is no way to slow it any
as it drives straight off the motor shaft .
Probable uses would be bar stock 1" or less , and sheet metal 1/8" thick
(~3 mm) or less .

With a good blade, it should do aluminium OK, but slowly if the motor is
small. Steel is totally out of the question at that speed.

What's the size, make and model, and the motor power?

Joe Gwinn

Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
"Snag" wrote:

I have acquired a small tabletop bandsaw , and was wondering if it
might be suitable for cutting metal - with a proper blade . I
calculate the blade speed to be around 2700 ft per minute , and
there is no way to slow it any as it drives straight off the motor
shaft . Probable uses would be bar stock 1" or less , and sheet
metal 1/8" thick (~3 mm) or less .

With a good blade, it should do aluminium OK, but slowly if the motor
is small. Steel is totally out of the question at that speed.

What's the size, make and model, and the motor power?

Joe Gwinn

I was kinda expecting the responses I got . Too fast and too weak . It's a
Delta 28-160 10" and the motor tag sez it's 1/5 hp . Looks like this one
will be reserved for plastics and wood . I got it for like 5 bucks from a
kid who worked at a cabinet shop with me . Spent 12 bucks for tires , and a
decent blade should run around 10 or 12 , so I'm not too deep into it . Not
that I want to do woodwork at home after a full day of it ...
Metalworking relaxes me , unlike my friend Bill the machinist . He does
woodworking for fun .
--
Snag aka OSG #1
'76 FLH "Bag Lady"
"A hand shift is a manly shift ."
shamelessly stolen
none to one to reply

I use a small Delta every day to cut brass, german silver and steel.
It ran too fast when I started this job, I thought. What I did was
slow it down. I took a piece of al. I bored a hole . Next I made a
shaft with a step pulley on it and pressed the shaft into the bored
hole. At the other end of the al I put another bored hole with an old
bearing in it with another shaft. I milled a flat on the end sticking
out and drilled a couple of holes at this end and mounted to the frame
of machine. got a coupple belts and I had slowed down the thing by
about 50%. This was just a guess as to the right speed by me but the
amount of blades the company used on this machine went down from about
$1000/yr to 200/yr.
The cost was two v belts, old bearing, two bolts and some al that was
laying around.
When were doing steel and I don't do much on this i,m only cutting
..060 thick at the max.
I was planning on doing something similar with two of my step pulley
al. pieces to slow down another bandsaw for doing greater dia steel but
never hae time but its the same principle

Dr. Butter wrote:
I use a small Delta every day to cut brass, german silver and steel.
It ran too fast when I started this job, I thought. What I did was
slow it down. I took a piece of al. I bored a hole . Next I made a
shaft with a step pulley on it and pressed the shaft into the bored
hole. At the other end of the al I put another bored hole with an old
bearing in it with another shaft. I milled a flat on the end sticking
out and drilled a couple of holes at this end and mounted to the frame
of machine. got a coupple belts and I had slowed down the thing by
about 50%. This was just a guess as to the right speed by me but the
amount of blades the company used on this machine went down from about
$1000/yr to 200/yr.
The cost was two v belts, old bearing, two bolts and some al that was
laying around.
When were doing steel and I don't do much on this i,m only cutting
.060 thick at the max.
I was planning on doing something similar with two of my step pulley
al. pieces to slow down another bandsaw for doing greater dia steel
but never hae time but its the same principle

Did you miss the part where I said the drive wheel is on the motor shaft ?

--
Snag aka OSG #1
'76 FLH "Bag Lady"
BS132 SENS NEWT
"A hand shift is a manly shift ."
shamelessly stolen
none to one to reply

For a motor that small an electronic variable speed control might not be
too expensive.

Snag wrote:

I was kinda expecting the responses I got . Too fast and too weak . It's a
Delta 28-160 10" and the motor tag sez it's 1/5 hp . Looks like this one
will be reserved for plastics and wood .\

The cost reduction sounds good. What size & make & model blades are you
using?

Hul

Dr. Butter wrote:
I use a small Delta every day to cut brass, german silver and steel.
It ran too fast when I started this job, I thought. What I did was
slow it down. I took a piece of al. I bored a hole . Next I made a
shaft with a step pulley on it and pressed the shaft into the bored
hole. At the other end of the al I put another bored hole with an old
bearing in it with another shaft. I milled a flat on the end sticking
out and drilled a couple of holes at this end and mounted to the frame
of machine. got a coupple belts and I had slowed down the thing by
about 50%. This was just a guess as to the right speed by me but the
amount of blades the company used on this machine went down from about
$1000/yr to 200/yr.
The cost was two v belts, old bearing, two bolts and some al that was
laying around.
When were doing steel and I don't do much on this i,m only cutting
.060 thick at the max.
I was planning on doing something similar with two of my step pulley
al. pieces to slow down another bandsaw for doing greater dia steel but
never hae time but its the same principle

According to Mike Berger :

Snag wrote:

I was kinda expecting the responses I got . Too fast and too weak . It's a
Delta 28-160 10" and the motor tag sez it's 1/5 hp . Looks like this one
will be reserved for plastics and wood .\

For a motor that small an electronic variable speed control might not be
too expensive.

If it is an induction motor, it is unlikely to be three phase
down at 1/5 HP, so it is likely to not work well with various speed
controllers. Check whether it has brushes. If it does, you can use
some speed controls with no problems.

But -- you would be better off with a layshaft arrangement so it
picks up torque while it looses speed.

Good luck,
DoN.

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