Questions about band saw blades...

[FOMOGO]

Trade or sell the stock you have. Mike

 

[Ultradog MN]

we have time...

This is a cut/paste of a post I made on a tractor board I frequent:

There was a small industrial supply company went out of business about 10 miles from me. A health/exercise outfit bought it out for the building. They were getting rid of all the stock. Just throwing it in the dumpster. Literally, Tons of new stock.
Pallets of welding rod/wire, hundreds of types of specialty bolts, nuts, screws, fasteners. Boxes and boxes of new bulk band saw blade. Too many items to even mention. 4 guys throwing everything into rolling bins then dumping it all into the dumpster.
It was the most depressing thing I have ever seen. The workers were saving boxes of brass and stainless fasteners for scrap. One guy had his poor Camry loaded to the gills. I happen to be the friend of a friend of the new owner. He called me to see if I wanted to come and see. I asked if I could have my scrapper buddy Donald come. He said sure.
Got there and was told to take whatever you want. Anything. Everything.
To see it all just wasted was too overwhelming. You cant take it all. Not a tenth, not a hundredth of it.
I hauled half a pickup load out of there. I brought about 400 lbs of new, unopened welding rod, 17 rolls new flux core welding wire, and a bunch of bandsaw blade straight to a small auction house near me. Maybe get a little $ when it sells at their next auction.
Kept some for trading or to give away to friends.
Anyway, I got a lot of free stuff but overall the whole story makes me more sad than happy. In a way I wish I hadn't even gone...
But my question:
One of the things I took was this round stock. It was in a rack that said Drill Rod. Bunch of sizes. Mostly fractional. Some metric.
There was no other provenance on it. None.
I took a bunch of it. 100 lbs? But I don't know what to do with it now. Will keep a few pieces/sizes. Try turning some to see how it machines.
Maybe make go cart axles? Dunno.
I just know it is expensive. Hate to see it made into yard art. Worse yet, go to scrap.
Would sell most of it but with no provenance, who would buy it?
Assuming it really is drill rod what can I use it for?
Thanks for reading this.

That is the story.
This saw was there. I tried real hard to buy it but it along with a nice Miller welder and 2 big blade welders and about 800? lbs of premium band saw blade had already been sold to a machine buyer.
I took the dregs of the blade and a whole pile of stuff to another auction house in Blaine - Premier - and sold it all.
Made a nice chunk of change on it.
Two weeks later I see the saw on Hi-Bid. Same one.
So I bid high. Way too high. But it was a low houred machine in excellent shape and I was using free money so ...
And I still have a few hundred $ left from the free money to buy some blades and maybe a coolant pump from Dake.
That's the story.

 

[ddickey]

What a story! Depressing too but what can you do? Might as well take advantage.
I didn't think it was that bad of a price considering now that I hear it was in nice shape.
I got a microscope, 3 Dumore foot pedal switches, a 40 taper presetter and a 35' Woodhead 997 cord reel that looks new from the Premier Auction. Were any of those yours?

 

[AGCB97]

I used EBAY bearings on my guides. Probably less than $30 total and most likely got enough for future replacements. I don't remember.

I stole my model J for $400. With bearings and a new blade, still under$500

Aaron

 

[MikeInOr]

My old Wellsaw came with a 1/2" on it. I changed it to a Lennox 3/4" 10-14tpi blade and it made a huge difference in how straight the saw would cut. I would go with a blade that is as wide as your saw will take. The Lennox blade has lasted a very long time and and cuts very nicely for me.

 

[Ultradog MN]

What a story! Depressing too but what can you do? Might as well take advantage.
I didn't think it was that bad of a price considering now that I hear it was in nice shape.
I got a microscope, 3 Dumore foot pedal switches, a 40 taper presetter and a 35' Woodhead 997 cord reel that looks new from the Premier Auction. Were any of those yours?

None of those items were mine.
We should make contact so we don't end up bidding against each other there
I will probably bring my Keller power hack saw and some other stuff up to Premier for the March auction. Did you see this cool old arbor press up your way last week?
I bid $160 on it but it went for $300. I didn't need it that bad.

ENTERPRISE MACHINE TOOLS NO. 3 ARBOR PRESS WITH | Proxibid

Bid in a Proxibid online auction to acquire a ENTERPRISE MACHINE TOOLS NO. 3 ARBOR PRESS WITH BRAKE TOOLING, 6" THROAT from Henslin Auctions, Inc..

www.proxibid.com

 

[ddickey]

No I missed that one. Only 12 miles from me too.
Are you going to try to buy anything from the Metal-Tronics auction tomorrow?

 

[Janderso]

I've got a model J too. I use it more than any machine in my shop. It works great with the blade that's on it (3/4" I think). I've also got a lot of 1/2" blade stock (maybe 7 rolls), but I wouldn't try to use it on the Johnson. I've had this saw for about 6 years and it's only on the 2nd blade. I always use coolant and the 2nd lowest speed with minimal weight. It shuts off by itself at the end of the cut so no need to hurry. I can do something else while it's cutting. Besides a blade brush there is a air blade cleaner so no chips or coolant to mess everything up. I'd like to see a pic of yours.
Aaron

I like the idea if an air blade cleaner. The brushes just don’t do a good job and they don’t last.
I think you have inspired me to fabricate an air brush.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Hadn't seen that. Just looked but don't need anything there.
You?
I need to save my $ actually. Would like to find a good drill press. Solberga? Arboga? Alzmettal?
What are some other comparable brands?
I want a gear head.
Had a couple of belt drive jobs in the past but sold them.
Not too big. MT 3 would be nice.

 

[AGCB97]

I like the idea if an air blade cleaner. The brushes just don’t do a good job and they don’t last.
I think you have inspired me to fabricate an air brush.

Here's a pic of what I made.



And an action shot showing the coolant and chips being evacuated.



Before doing this, the back side of the table, below where the blade returns, was always full of chips and wet with coolant drips, even though there were multiple brushes. Now it is always dry and clean.

Not in the picture are the 110-volt solenoid valve and a 1/4" ball valve to regulate the air flow.

Hope this helps your own designing process.

Aaron