Bandsaw Blade Flash welder help needed please…

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

Hello there,

I hope someone can help. I have rescued an IDEAL BS1 blade welder from a scrapheap here and am trying to get it working again. I realise it is quite an old machine, but it is in good nick, very clean inside and worth the effort. I am after two things – first a user or operators manual, and then some info on setting up/calibrating the internal mechanical mechanism. The 'right hand lever' is internally connected to a cam driving the left hand blade clamp.This lever drives the cam via a threaded interface that has has come loose and I have no idea how to set the lever position relative to the cam detents. Can anyone help with this? Maybe I can derive this from the operators manual somehow? I hope I can succeed as this is a very fine unit albeit a little old!

I have emailed IDEAL in Germany and the USA about a week ago, but no response..I find no info on this unit on the web at all.

Front view of unit to help place it:

View from rear of front panel – shows location of the right lever cam and its spring loaded detent mechanism – the dark round thingy in the center of the image. There is a cam that fits there, driving a long strip steel lever, that pushed the left blade holder back for different blade widths, but the number of detents do not tie up with the inscription on the front panel, so I am a little lost..

Regards

Joe

[Joseph Noci 1Participant @josephnoci1]

IDEAL BS1 Bandsaw blade welder user manual and mechanical setup

[Chris Evans 6Participant @chrisevans6]

I can't help you but it may be worth looking at the bandsaw companies manuals. Try Lathes UK. That does look very similar to a unit I once used but do not remember the saw make, maybe Startrite ?

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

The welder fitted to my Startrite bandsaw is made by Ideal. A simpler unit than yours but pretty sure it works in the same manner.

When welding bandsaw blades on this sort of machine the blade has to be fitted into the jaws with the ends butted together and a suitable space between the jaws. During welding the jaws are pushed together by spring force ensuring that a solid weld is made. The jaws move closer together during this process. Both the projection of the blade during initial set-up and the spring force applied during welding vary depending on the size of the blade.

On mine the left side lever is labeled Upset Way and the right hand one Upset Pressure. Like yours the right side jaw is fixed and the left side one moving.

My Upset Way lever has detents defining the clockwise and anti clockwise movement end stops. The anti-clockwise detent is un-labeled, the clockwise one operates the weld power switch and is so labeled. The lever swings freely between the detents, shifting the left side jaw back and forth as it moves, with calibration markings for different blade sizes. This lever enables the correct initial projection of the blade to be set ready for welding.

My Upset Pressure lever has several blade sizes marked with detents for each size. It pushes the jaws together with increasing force as the blade size increases. I would expect yours to have detents for each size of blade too unless the faceplate is common to several machines and some variants are unable to do some sizes. Might be easier to omit detents than do a whole new faceplate.

Basic operation is simple enough. Cut the blade square. Mount in the jaws with appropriate projection as set by the Upset Way lever. Set Upset Pressure for the appropriate blade size. Set Weld Current switch, top left on mine, to the blade size. Turn Upset Way lever to the weld position for the specified time to make the weld. When the blade has cooled release the jaws and take the Upset Way lever back to the un-labeled anti-clockwise end detent. Adjust the balde position in teh jaws so the weld is central then do an anneal cycle with several short heats to cherry red followed by a short cool down. Anneal switch is top right on mine.

Finish by grinding off the weld flash so the blade is a constant thickness.

Clive.

[Paul White 3Participant @paulwhite3]

Hello, I have an even older version of the" Ideal" unit, also saved from the scrapyard. This saving was one of the best such actions I have made, it is a very usable and useful addition to my workshop.

I found a company -VOLLMER UK LTD , Town st. Sandiacre, Nottingham NG10 5BP. that were very helpful and moved my project in the right direction, they did send me some documentation but not giving the sort of detail you require. If you still have no luck with what you want, I could copy my stuff to you.

Please do not let this bandsaw butt welding machine stuff interrupt the very interesting ELS log.

regards Paul.

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