It seems I'm often stuck looking for unique tools, for situations I
come across in my business. Long story short, I've been trying to find
a way to have a quiet and very portable, small metal band saw, that
can also hold up to some pretty long running periods. Basically the
size of the average portable band saw is fine. But I'm wondering if it
would be possible to modify one and have it powered by a quiet AC
induction motor. I've seen people modify portable band-saws into stand-
up models, but I've never seen anybody change the motor. I've searched
all over and apparently nobody makes such a thing. JET has some that
are very close, but they still use the typical noisy portable motor.
Just wondering if anybody has ideas for doing this.

Thanks,

"Dave99" wrote: (clip) But I'm wondering if it
would be possible to modify one and have it powered by a quiet AC
induction motor. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Induction motors are heavier and larger for the same horsepower, compared to
AC/DC brush type motors that are used on hand held tools. Pistol drills,
portable circular saws, weed cutters, portable grinders all get their power
at small size and weight by spinning really fast. The crossover comes with
table saws--the small contractor saws that are moved from job to job use
high speed brush-type motors. Cabinet saws such as used in a fixed location
generally have induction motors.

The Portaband and Milwaukee hand-held metal-cutting bandsaws are extremely
useful and versatile, but their size and weight would jump way up if
induction motors were used.

Thanks guys... Leo, you're right... Adding an induction motor would
make it less portable, but still a heck of a lot more portable than
bringing a full size band saw. I should have included that I would
also fix it to some sort of stand, so hand holding would not be
needed. It would basically be like a mini horizontal or vertical band-
saw. Ronald... Slowing the motor would probably help some.

Milwaukee makes a table/vise for their portable band saws. They make about a
half dozen variations of the band saws, and they have various speeds, 200, 250,
350 and 0-350 fps. I'm not sure if the variable speed versions can be locked on
at lower speeds.

I bet a slower speed model with the optional table would fill the bill, albeit
not too cheap.

http://www.milwaukeeconnect.com/weba...related_27_400
28_-1_681771_192206_192137_Y

Small Url: http://smallurl.co.uk/?3033


Dennis

On Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:59:34 -0700 (PDT), Dave99
wrote:

It seems I'm often stuck looking for unique tools, for situations I
come across in my business. Long story short, I've been trying to find
a way to have a quiet and very portable, small metal band saw, that
can also hold up to some pretty long running periods. Basically the
size of the average portable band saw is fine. But I'm wondering if it
would be possible to modify one and have it powered by a quiet AC
induction motor. I've seen people modify portable band-saws into stand-
up models, but I've never seen anybody change the motor. I've searched
all over and apparently nobody makes such a thing. JET has some that
are very close, but they still use the typical noisy portable motor.
Just wondering if anybody has ideas for doing this.

This one from Penn Tools looks better than some:

http://www.penntoolco.com/catalog/pr...ategoryID=4766

Seeing it has variable speed though I would strongly suspect
it has a universal motor with brushes...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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The Penn Tools one looks pretty good. It looks similar to the smaller
JET ones. I ordered a fairly cheap portable that comes with a chop
stand, plus I'll try the speed control idea. At any rate, I know it
will be more quiet than a chop saw for sure. I still think I might try
adapting an induction motor to one at some point, but I didn't want to
deal with it now. Kama makes one that does both vertical and
horizontal, which is cool. But still the AC/DC motor though. Thanks
for the ideas.

On Apr 13, 2:09 pm, Ronald Thompson
wrote:
Dave99 wrote:
The Penn Tools one looks pretty good. It looks similar to the smaller
JET ones. I ordered a fairly cheap portable that comes with a chop
stand, plus I'll try the speed control idea. At any rate, I know it
will be more quiet than a chop saw for sure. I still think I might try
adapting an induction motor to one at some point, but I didn't want to
deal with it now. Kama makes one that does both vertical and
horizontal, which is cool. But still the AC/DC motor though. Thanks
for the ideas.

I guess there is a reason you are shunning the HF H/V band saw, but it
seems to fit your criteria. It's on a stand, is fairly quiet, and turns
itself off after the cut, to boot.

Thanks Ron... I actually did consider the horizontal. You're right, it
does meet the quiet criteria. But it's not very portable. Plus, it's
kind of overkill for most of the material we cut. Most of it is pretty
light gauge stuff.

Well, the portable band saw/speed control idea didn't work too well.
The saw itself was almost as noisy as a chop saw and on top of that,
didn't cut straight worth a darn. The speed control works with other
motors, but for some reason it didn't work well with the saw. It had
to be turned almost all the way up, otherwise it would just stall and
hum. Back to the drawing board.

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:57:16 -0700 (PDT), Dave99
wrote:

Well, the portable band saw/speed control idea didn't work too well.
The saw itself was almost as noisy as a chop saw and on top of that,
didn't cut straight worth a darn. The speed control works with other
motors, but for some reason it didn't work well with the saw. It had
to be turned almost all the way up, otherwise it would just stall and
hum. Back to the drawing board.

How would it work if you got one of the HF 4x6 Band Saws and
a Hand Truck. Leave the legs off the band saw and mount it
to the hand truck. If you put the motor end towards the
wheel side the center of gravity would be pretty low when
moving it about. Just put the saw in the down position for
transport and place a big rubber strap over it to keep it
there.

You might have to do a bit of work/thinking to clear the
motor housing when the saw is in the up position, but I
think this would work. It would be relatively cheap and
pretty portable with its own hand truck.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email