Converting a Bandsaw from Wood to Metal TECH!

Wow! Thanks for that Ill have to blow it out with air, it did have some wood dust in it. Didn't even think of that.

 

Hey, same warning if you do any kind of welding inside your garage near any oily rags or newspapers.

I hate FIRE.

 

I can switch my saw from wood cutting to metal cutting in a few minutes, makes it the most used tool in my shop!! Good job Adam, you'll use it all the time now.

I do have to be very careful if I cut a bunch of wood, you certainly don't want a wood fire blazing away in the shop!!

 

Landice,Precor and other treadmills found in a fitness club will have motors rated at true HP, the stuff at Sears uses the flashier "peak" HP figure to look like it has more power for the dollar.

 

Cool, I need to do this to my drill press to slow it down enough so I can use it for hole saw cups. They are supposed to run way down around 50-60 RPM, currently the slowest my drill press goes in 540. Now I'll have to cruise the neighborhood and look for the fat hog/doughnut/porch scenario with the treadmill in the driveway... THANKS!!!

 

Ha, I just tore down an old treadmill I had a few weeks ago. Thank God I kept the motor. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but now I know.
That's a good idea to use it as a bench-top belt sander too. Too bad I already cut the bearings out of the rollers to use the tubing and bearings for something else.

 

Great idea! I've got a band saw with no motor. I know what's going in it now. This one gets my vote!

 

Use a good quality, 1/2" wide, 18 tooth bi-metal blade (Lennox is a good brand). A good blade will last a long time. Go easy with it, dont bog down the saw by trying to go too fast and beware of any spot welds in your material. They can eat teeth off the blade if your not careful. Bandsaws are a great tool for any shop. Good luck.

 

'Coupla quick pointers here, guys.

One, the cheapy speed controllers that come with most home sized treadmills are almost always undersized for the motor. In the OP, the motor is a 1.5HP, drawing 14.7 amps at 90VDC. The speed controller- I have one exactly like it- is only rated for 10 amp. Meaning at best, you'll have 1HP, total. (Still better than the original motor, though.)

Second, while the speed is adjustable, again, the cheapy controllers simply raise or lower the voltage to change speeds. They don't use any fancy PWM (pulse width modulation) tricks to keep the HP up while reducing the speed.

That means your HP drops as the speed drops. Turn it way low for cutting steel, you might only have 1/8th HP actually doing the work.

The cure here is to put a jackshaft in. The motor is 4,800 rpm, while the original was 1750rpm. You need to repulley it, with a jackshaft between the saw and the motor, so the output of the jack is about 1700 rpm.

That keeps the torque/HP of the motor up, since it gets to turn at a much higher speed. But still gives you the adjustability to drop it down for cutting metals.

And last, on the subject of fires; don't cut both steel and aluminum on the same machine, at least not without a pretty thorough cleaning in between. (Regular cleaning's a good idea anyway, but I digress.) Same reason you shouldn't grind steel and aluminum on belt grinders- the dusts mix and form a crude thermite, making essentially a very hot and pretty much unquenchable fire. People have lost shops that way.

Doc.

 

Here are some pics of the cast-iron Delta bandsaw we picked up over the weekend. Louie S. is fixing it up and giving it to me for my birthday.


Hey, there's that beer I was looking for!



Here it is in primer; I need to take some more now that it is semi-gloss black. It came out pretty nice, will look good with some pinstriping on it.

What size pulleys should we use to slow 'er down? Don't really want to do a jackshaft.

 

I don't know if they are still available but surplus supply co. use to sell 1 and 2 h.p. treadmill motors with a variable speed controller for dirt cheap (around 50 to 60 bucks). I think either one would be ample power for this.

 

well like usual I messed up the name it's surplus center and the address is surpluscenter.com .

 

I bought a 12'' pulley for the blade end and a 2 1/4'' pulley for the drive end to slow things down. The saw originally had a 7'' and a 5'' pulley i will run it and see how it does and repost for you.

 

Looks great! Good score!

 

Lennox's sells rolls of 3/8 " Bimetal band saw blade. I belive it is 24 TPI. comes in a self dispesing roll of 100'. You can snip it to length, butt it, weld it, Anneal it and grind it flat/flush. works out real well and lasts longer than the blade will. and IMO Lennox makes the best blades. I believe Granger or McMasterCarr sell it by the roll But, not positive