Ryobi Band Saw From Homedepot

Maybe I've never known exactly what I'm doing, therefore I don't know exactly what bandsaws are really capable of. But my experience has taught me not to expect any precision from bandsaws. For me, the blades walk worse and worse the duller they get (as mentioned) but they also walk a little brand new. You can do these things to help it cut straighter:
  • install a wider blade (not talking about thickness; talking about the dimension from cutting edge to trailing edge) - If you can cut small circles with it, it's too narrow.
  • Tighten your tracking adjustment rollers
  • tighten your blade tension
  • decrease your feed force
  • Use sharp blade
But even after all that, you're going to square it up in a lathe or mill. Or at least, I would. I'm sure somewhere there's someone who can bandsaw cut parts with machine tool accuracy, but it ain't me.
 
Oh yeah, and use coolant. If you're getting too hot, you get the workpiece heating up (and hardening) right in front of the cutting edge, which encourages the blade to track off to softer metal. Or at least that's a theory of mine to explain what I've seen,
 
ralph915 said:
Sounds like you are losing the set on the teeth..
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Ralph

Could be or may be the blade teeth were slightly worn. Main reason was the number of teeth per inch. I was using the original blade that came with the bandsaw - 24 teeth per inch, for cutting aluminum. It was cutting OK but I read elsewhere that I should better use blade with lesser teeth per inch. I have replaced it with 6 teeth per inch blade. It is working OK now. I have ordered another 6 tpi blade.
 
strantor said:
Maybe I've never known exactly what I'm doing, therefore I don't know exactly what bandsaws are really capable of. But my experience has taught me not to expect any precision from bandsaws. For me, the blades walk worse and worse the duller they get (as mentioned) but they also walk a little brand new. You can do these things to help it cut straighter:
  • install a wider blade (not talking about thickness; talking about the dimension from cutting edge to trailing edge) - If you can cut small circles with it, it's too narrow.
  • Tighten your tracking adjustment rollers
  • tighten your blade tension
  • decrease your feed force
  • Use sharp blade
But even after all that, you're going to square it up in a lathe or mill. Or at least, I would. I'm sure somewhere there's someone who can bandsaw cut parts with machine tool accuracy, but it ain't me.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have done all excepting your first bullet point. The blade I use 3/8" appears to be the widest recommended by Ryobi for this bandsaw.
 
A while back a thread appeared here on converting the Harbor Freight hand held metal band saw to a little bench unit . I did my own version of this and can report I have had good results. I did replace the HF blade with a good US one. An example of how well this little devil will cut...I needed some 1" wide x 18" strips of mild steel for a car seat frame. All I had was 90 degree angle stock, about 1/16" thick. Being cheap and stubborn I decided first to try eliminating one side completely with my HF mill drill/carbide face mill. Yikes, it worked, but took forever (probably cause I am a newbie) Anyway I did piece 2 and up with my little band saw and the 3 pieces were done in 1/10 the time !! I fitted an HF foot pedal to the little band saw so that both hands would be available for guiding the stock. I used the waste (vertical) side as a kind of guide and only had to do a little touch up /debur with a pedestal grinder. FYI

Edit: I hope this is not a "hijack." Just trying to relate to the general subject.
 
visenfile said:
A while back a thread appeared here on converting the Harbor Freight hand held metal band saw to a little bench unit . I did my own version of this and can report I have had good results. I did replace the HF blade with a good US one. An example of how well this little devil will cut...I needed some 1" wide x 18" strips of mild steel for a car seat frame. All I had was 90 degree angle stock, about 1/16" thick. Being cheap and stubborn I decided first to try eliminating one side completely with my HF mill drill/carbide face mill. Yikes, it worked, but took forever (probably cause I am a newbie) Anyway I did piece 2 and up with my little band saw and the 3 pieces were done in 1/10 the time !! I fitted an HF foot pedal to the little band saw so that both hands would be available for guiding the stock. I used the waste (vertical) side as a kind of guide and only had to do a little touch up /debur with a pedestal grinder. FYI

Edit: I hope this is not a "hijack." Just trying to relate to the general subject.
Click to expand...

No, you did not hijack. It looks interesting to me except that I did not buy the HF portable band saw. I believe it comes with speed control too.

My Ryobi is now fine. I am able to cut properly without any drift. There is only one catch - it can cut only aluminum stock. Its speed to too fast for steel. Is there any project where someone added a variable speed drive to this motor?

Thank you for sharing your experience
Prasad
Eastern PA
 
prasad said:
Is there any project where someone added a variable speed drive to this motor?
Click to expand...
I doubt it. I don't know exactly what kind of motor you're dealing with but it's probably a single phase induction motor, for which there is no good method of speed control. You could upgrade to a DC motor or a 3ph AC motor if you want speed control.
 
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