Coolant/lubrication for bandsaw

[firemech]

Just purchased a 6" horizontal/vertical bandsaw from KBC tool in Canada. Believe it to be the same unit as Craftex, King Industrial and General Machine. My question is,,,,, it has a coolant system but I have read the entire "vaque" manual and while it tells me to insure the coolant and filter should be kept clean; and don't use oil/water mixed coolant for certain materials it does not suggest what coolants you might use. The main use will be to cut angle iron and square steel tubing. What should I be looking at for coolant. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[raross61]

Just purchased a 6" horizontal/vertical bandsaw from KBC tool in Canada. Believe it to be the same unit as Craftex, King Industrial and General Machine. My question is,,,,, it has a coolant system but I have read the entire "vaque" manual and while it tells me to insure the coolant and filter should be kept clean; and don't use oil/water mixed coolant for certain materials it does not suggest what coolants you might use. The main use will be to cut angle iron and square steel tubing. What should I be looking at for coolant. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi I might be able to shed some light on this for you, at work we have a cold saw, and a bandsaw. When we purchased the cold saw, it said to use a synthetic coolant, we use a Lenox brand (just like the lenox blades) of the coolant, it dilutes with water and works very well in our cold saw! We used to have a old bandsaw with coolant for years, and fought the pumps, bearings rusting etc. Not sure what your bandsaw setup is like, but we replaced the old bandsaw with a new Ellis bandsaw and it runs dry! Has a little wire wheel on it to brush exit chips off the blade, I have had great luck with it, I can't see the blades last any less without the coolant! The key is to "set" the blade right out of the gate before you ever do any production sawing! We use a solid steel bar or round about 2" (solid) or so, and set the saw to cut as slow as it can, might take 12-20 minutes to make this "set" cut, after that its doing production sawing! I never have any problems at work, until some moron takes a rockwell hardness #80 track pin and tries to cut it in 1/2, not sure coolant will even help that! Hope this helps Bob in Oregon

 

[raross61]

Hi I might be able to shed some light on this for you, at work we have a cold saw, and a bandsaw. When we purchased the cold saw, it said to use a synthetic coolant, we use a Lenox brand (just like the lenox blades) of the coolant, it dilutes with water and works very well in our cold saw! We used to have a old bandsaw with coolant for years, and fought the pumps, bearings rusting etc. Not sure what your bandsaw setup is like, but we replaced the old bandsaw with a new Ellis bandsaw and it runs dry! Has a little wire wheel on it to brush exit chips off the blade, I have had great luck with it, I can't see the blades last any less without the coolant! The key is to "set" the blade right out of the gate before you ever do any production sawing! We use a solid steel bar or round about 2" (solid) or so, and set the saw to cut as slow as it can, might take 12-20 minutes to make this "set" cut, after that its doing production sawing! I never have any problems at work, until some moron takes a rockwell hardness #80 track pin and tries to cut it in 1/2, not sure coolant will even help that! Hope this helps Bob in Oregon

Here is the link to the coolant we use: http://www.lenoxtools.com/pages/Product.aspx?productId=BandAde

 

[firemech]

Hi I might be able to shed some light on this for you, at work we have a cold saw, and a bandsaw. When we purchased the cold saw, it said to use a synthetic coolant, we use a Lenox brand (just like the lenox blades) of the coolant, it dilutes with water and works very well in our cold saw! We used to have a old bandsaw with coolant for years, and fought the pumps, bearings rusting etc. Not sure what your bandsaw setup is like, but we replaced the old bandsaw with a new Ellis bandsaw and it runs dry! Has a little wire wheel on it to brush exit chips off the blade, I have had great luck with it, I can't see the blades last any less without the coolant! The key is to "set" the blade right out of the gate before you ever do any production sawing! We use a solid steel bar or round about 2" (solid) or so, and set the saw to cut as slow as it can, might take 12-20 minutes to make this "set" cut, after that its doing production sawing! I never have any problems at work, until some moron takes a rockwell hardness #80 track pin and tries to cut it in 1/2, not sure coolant will even help that! Hope this helps Bob in Oregon

Thanks Bob, just the info I need. This saw also has the wire wheel so I think I am going to try the dry route as it will not be in constant use so I have concerns the coolant might be more hinderance than help. Will definitely "set" the blade before use. Thanks again for the prompt reply.
Larry

 

[rdhem2]

I believe what you refer to as "set the blade" is what I was taught as breaking in a new blade. This procedure helps stop certain blades from wanting to wander while cutting and increases service life. I have used a product called RUSTLIC for years and have had zero rust problems and blades seem to last forever. I do use the more expensive Lennox bi-metal blades in a irregular tooth pattern. I have a 10" JET saw that is serving me well. My saw has a separate switch for the coolant pump so it is easy to cut dry when needed. I use this same product in my lathe, drill press and mill also just mixed to a different proportion. Personally I would never give up my RUSTLIC! Drill dry, then turn on the RUSTLIC, see the difference for yourself!