Tooth count for 14" Vertical Band Saw

TideDancer

TideDancer

Registered
Registered
Joined
Feb 14, 2017
Messages
4
I have an old Craftsman 14" vertical band-saw that I want to cut mild steel and aluminum with. I know the speed of a wood cutting saw is faster than I should use, but it is what I have. So I will make do with it.
The blade size is 93 inches by 1/2 inch. What tooth count should I be looking to purchase.
Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.
 
I use Lenox 10-14 tooth variable pitch bi-metal blades and use it to cut everything on my H/V bandsaw. Highly recommend Lenox bi-metal blades.
 
If you allow your bandsaw to operate at woodcutting speeds, you will burn up your metal cutting blade in no time when cutting steel. You might get away with cutting aluminum at those speeds, but not for a long time.

As for your question, the 10-14 variable pitch bi-metal blades work great for general purpose work in metals, and as mikey said, the Lenox bi-metal blades are pretty tough to beat.
 
Thanks for the information guys.
Is there a way to slow down the speed of the blade on my saw?

I have a HF horizontal band saw that does a great job after a few tweaks. But sometimes I would like to use the vertical saw for some small work.
 
TideDancer said:
Thanks for the information guys.
Is there a way to slow down the speed of the blade on my saw?

I have a HF horizontal band saw that does a great job after a few tweaks. But sometimes I would like to use the vertical saw for some small work.
Click to expand...
You could slow the RPM down a bit by changing the pulleys but still not slow enough to cut mild steel, the most successful modification I've heard is done by installing a treadmill variable speed motor on the saw, that definitely works, I also have seen a few mods using reduction gearboxes (expensive) .
I thought Harborfreight bandsaws were capable of cutting vertically?
 
wood cutting saws are definitely running too fast for metal cutting. Also if cutting sheet metalon a vertical saw you will want a fine tooth blade otherwise you will be breaking teeth and jamming the saw.
 
Ken from ontario said:
You could slow the RPM down a bit by changing the pulleys but still not slow enough to cut mild steel, the most successful modification I've heard is done by installing a treadmill variable speed motor on the saw, that definitely works, I also have seen a few mods using reduction gearboxes (expensive) .
I thought Harborfreight bandsaws were capable of cutting vertically?
Click to expand...
Yes the HF saw will cut vertically but requires a change of parts to do this. Since I have a wood cutting vertical saw I thought it would be nice to be able to do that. But looks like we don't always get what we want. (Just ask a snowflake) hee,hee.
 
I cut aluminum and brass for many years on a wood cutting vertical bandsaw. Changed the pulley on the motor to the smallest I could find, and the pulley on the driving wheel to the largest I could fit into the belt guard cabinet. Ran everything from 1/8" wide blades to 3/8" and teeth from 24 to 6 depending on the thickness I was cutting. We made signs for buildings, and I cut hundreds if not thousands of letters and numbers this way. Material ranged from 0.032" brass to 1/2" 6061 and some copper every now and again. No steel though.

-frank
 
You can make a jackshaft to give you an additional reduction of blade speed. I would think about another 4 to 1 reduction would get you in the right range for steel. I run my bandsaw at 100 sfpm for cutting steel using a bi metal blade. I also like the Lenox brand blades == Jack
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top