Wood saw conversion

[C-Bag]

I can see where the only thing better than one of those would be two of them. We have been shocked here in our shop how fantastically useful the vertical saw is. I have had the ubiquitous horizontal 4x6 Taiwanese saw since 1989 and also have a Milwaukee porta-band but the vertical saw is a game changer for my small shop. It eats plastic, aluminum, steel, wood and even occasional cardboard . The well made old wood band saws need to be pried from the fingers of woodchucks everywhere and converted to real tools

Lol, and ditto on having a 4x6 since 1980. It had always been handy as a shirt pocket but doing small stuff and using it vertical was not great. My FIL had a cool ancient 12” cast iron vertical in the shop and I loved that thing but could never find one. I kept seeing HF verticals for cheap but were all for wood. In the forums old hands who’s main job was to use old DoAll‘s said 100fpm was the magic fpm so I got close, and they were right. I see no need for slower as blades literally last forever. The thing that kills them is cutting sheetmetal

Besides gearing it down the other most useful improvement is putting an air powered sled on it. Putting a 2”x4” block of 1018 on it, set the air pressure for the cut and let ‘er go, priceless.

 

[NC Rick]

Lol, and ditto on having a 4x6 since 1980. It had always been handy as a shirt pocket but doing small stuff and using it vertical was not great. My FIL had a cool ancient 12” cast iron vertical in the shop and I loved that thing but could never find one. I kept seeing HF verticals for cheap but were all for wood. In the forums old hands who’s main job was to use old DoAll‘s said 100fpm was the magic fpm so I got close, and they were right. I see no need for slower as blades literally last forever. The thing that kills them is cutting sheetmetal

Besides gearing it down the other most useful improvement is putting an air powered sled on it. Putting a 2”x4” block of 1018 on it, set the air pressure for the cut and let ‘er go, priceless.

My buddy in the "know" mentioned some difficult to saw materials , one I remember him telling me about was hardened aluminum bronze and as it happens, I have cut some on my saw, likely not even using the slowest speed because how hard can bronze be to machine? Right? Well I did it successfully but man that is surprisingly tough stuff. I only had to cut a few inches of it. +5 on sheet metal and around here on real thin wall tubes which strip teeth like there is no tomorrow!

I would be very interested in your power feed system! I thought of replicating a weight and chain arrangement but I do have a couple air cylinders in the scrap bin...

I did put a call in to Starrett and was given a number for a saw rep who is local to us. I left a message and am holding my breath!

 

[Ulma Doctor]

you might as well call Aluminum Bronze- Yellow Steel

 

[ThinWoodsman]

While we're extolling the virtues of those 4x6s, how do they fare in humid/high-rust environments?

I've occasionally considered getting one and leaving it in the barn, outside the shop - AKA the area where metal rusts and everything else gets mold.

 

[NC Rick]

While we're extolling the virtues of those 4x6s, how do they fare in humid/high-rust environments?

I've occasionally considered getting one and leaving it in the barn, outside the shop - AKA the area where metal rusts and everything else gets mold.

mine is a Taiwanese Delta and the castings are a little nicer than some I have seen. All the castings are pretty thick so I think you could get your money's worth before it rotted away. The sheet metal stands, "forgetaboutit". They are cheap used or on sale. Everyone should have one.

 

[C-Bag]

While we're extolling the virtues of those 4x6s, how do they fare in humid/high-rust environments?

I've occasionally considered getting one and leaving it in the barn, outside the shop - AKA the area where metal rusts and everything else gets mold.

The last 12yrs I’ve been in 1mi away from the sea, so yeah, it’s very high rust. Like Rick said, mine has been out in the garage and for 10yrs and it was in my FIL’s shop that used to be a hot house and the chemicals in there would eat stainless The 4x6 is all cast iron. Mines 40yrs old and looks it, but it keeps on keeping on. I think this fact is why I’m not that impressed with RF’s replacement. It’s sheet metal and 4x’s the cost. Is it perfect no, does it have shortcomings, yes. Mine is a HF, made in Taiwan. Think it was $159 in ‘80.