Metal cutting bandsaw

[Tom GullanParticipant @tomgullan59234]

[Tom GullanParticipant @tomgullan59234]

Hello,

Although I'm rapidly running out of space in my workshop I would like to acquire a small metal cutting bandsaw. Can anyone suggest one? I cut steel, aluminium and brass.

Regards

Tom

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Hi Tom,

I have a bandsaw like this and have had no problems. It is light and can be picked up with one hand . Bought mine on *-bay for less than A$250 about 3 years ago. Lots of copies sold under different names. A similar one was posted recently and was called a Femi 782XL.

Use Bi-metal blades, they cost a bit more but last much longer and can cut 100x10mm thick flat steel in under 1 minute. Have also cut 90mm round steel bar with no problems.

Paul

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

A lot depends on what you want it for; is it for cutting off bar stock or for cutting out shapes in metal or wood ?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Plus 1 for the Femi (Hemsaw in the US) will also cut sheet with the addition of an accesory table (could make one quite easily) as the boby goes vertical.

2" EN8 in just over 2 mins

45x 140 cast iron

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Like Brian, above, I wonder what you are looking for. There are so many for bar stock cutting, so easily found by a simple internet search by anyone, that I think you must mean one for cutting sheet.

Here is one – only about half a square metre floor space, but quite expensive.

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-bandsaws-metalworking-saws/57-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw.html

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Looking around as this cropped up on another thread the only people who seem to be selling the original chinese cheap horizontal bandsaw is machinemart / clarke. It too can be used vertically. Axminster do it on a different base. This chester one is not that dissimilar

**LINK**

This is the Clarke one.

**LINK**

Warco etc seem to be cheapest for more recent cheap ones but these may have brushed motors. Hard to tell from photo's.

That's the correct name by the way but sellers seem to have forgotten that in places. Horizontal bandsaw. Personally I would buy based on max capacity. Things can be turned over to increase the depth.

As not done mentioned real metal cutting conventional bandsaws are rather expensive and a joy to use especially if they have blade welding equipment built in. Even these though aren't really intended for cutting thick stock. A typical woodworking one at the cheaper end might state 10mm aluminium with the correct blade. Something like a Dewalt. They could cut thicker with care.

John

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[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

"A typical woodworking one at the cheaper end might state 10mm aluminium with the correct blade. Something like a Dewalt. They could cut thicker with care."

My old cheap Rexon woodworking bandsaw cuts 75mm aluminium with careless abandon with a dull wood cutting blade.

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

The motors clearly show the start and run capacitor housings. AC Induction as original CBS45 machines, just different colours!

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Posted by JasonB on 03/01/2017 10:16:13:

"A typical woodworking one at the cheaper end might state 10mm aluminium with the correct blade. Something like a Dewalt. They could cut thicker with care."

My old cheap Rexon woodworking bandsaw cuts 75mm aluminium with careless abandon with a dull wood cutting blade.

I only said might state Jason. What people choose to do with them is up to them and I'm pretty sure some would need care.

John

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[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

Maybe this is Jason's old Rexon.

From the days when it might have used steel guide supports etc. Lots don't. There used to be a made in B'ham brand about.Can't remember the name. One versions used a simple thick steel plate for the table. They were reckoned to be pretty good all round but used prices were pretty high.

John

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[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

I have one of the Clarke CBS45 ones, and it's really very useful. It paid for itself on the job I bought it for, cutting a steel box section instead of buying 2 Catnic lintels for my house. The steel + paint + saw was less than the Catnic lintels, ever since it has been 'free'. Admittedly, it was half that price when I got it… The lintel I used it for was 100 x 100 x 6 box, and it took maybe 5 minutes. Since then it gets dragged out every now & again. The sheet metal vertical orientation table is dreadful: make a better one if you get one. Also I put the legs on the other way round when assembling it from the Machine Mart photo, that way when tilted the main weight is over the wheels not at the handle, and is much less effort to move.

Regards,

Richard.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

For small work I bought a Proxxon bandsaw at the 2016 Midlands ME exhibition. It is variable speed and has so far cut loads of 1/16 brass, 1/8 brass, 1/16 steel, 3/32 steel and 1/8 steel, all with the supplied blade.

[SpurryParticipant @spurry]

Not sure how accurate the tracking is on those upright bandsaws, but I have one of the little Femi ones. It has no trouble cutting off a slice 0.5mm thick.

Pete

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

There is more on the best way to cut stock thread on these things including some work done with a 6×41/2. The machine mart one is 3 speed. Think mine may be 2. That might be useful for harder materials. I've just cut aluminium and mild steel with mine other than a failure on quickly chilled cast iron pipe.

John

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[steamdaveParticipant @steamdave]

Posted by Ajohnw on 03/01/2017 10:59:57:

Maybe this is Jason's old Rexon.

From the days when it might have used steel guide supports etc. Lots don't. There used to be a made in B'ham brand about.Can't remember the name. One versions used a simple thick steel plate for the table. They were reckoned to be pretty good all round but used prices were pretty high.

John

This looks like my cheapo Aldi/Lidl one. Can't get it to cut straight no matter what I do to adjust the various settings.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

[mark smith 20Participant @marksmith20]

I bought bought this off ebay when i was looking for a good solid small bandsaw ,But i found a much better (for my purposes) one later so this has sat in a corner. It has no table on it or tilting mechanism. The motor was totally wrecked.

Would this make a decent small metal cutting bandsaw. The whole thing is small but cast iron(even the wheel doors) . The guides are all there.

[bodgeParticipant @bodge]

Hi Tom

I bought a Clarke / Machine-mart variant couple years back , works Ok,…Though i think the Warco one is better priced and has a bit bigger motor fitted to it,

One the worst aspects of the clarke is the belt tension adjustment is not as good as it could be ( have not got around to doing anything about it as yet, other than cutting a couple of hard wood wedges to apply pressure between the gear box & the motor casing ), ..the tension bolt is not really in the right / ideal place…. will do some thing about some when , needs a better motor carrier plate / frame making .

I did think the stand was a bit flimsy , so cut four bit of angle iron so as to make a frame to stand the stand in , then drilled two 6.5mm holes through the end pieces of angle and the tin ends of the stand, and secuerd it with 6 mm bolt each end, which firmed it all up, and put some better wheels on

As for the tin table supplied, i didnt even bother ! ..that was very first mod, made a small sub plate out a bit 6 x 4 x 3/8 inches ms then used 1/4 inch thick ally plate 11 x 12 inches bolted to the sub plate using 8 mm c/s allan screws

The one thing i would change , would be to fit braked casters to the corners of the angle iron frame , as its still a bit of a pig to move easily using just two wheels at the heavy end. though a trailer type jockey wheel might be an option !

I think the motors used on these m/c are just the standard type capacitor run type ,ie the capacitor is permanently in circuit , not the type that has c/f switch fitted internally so not cap start / cap run.

Beats the hell out hack sawing…………………b

Saw a bit on you tube where the chap was hard soldering blades, might be worth a look if any ones interested ……..

 

Edited By bodge on 03/01/2017 16:24:22

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Ajohnw on 03/01/2017 09:58:45:

Looking around as this cropped up on another thread the only people who seem to be selling the original chinese cheap horizontal bandsaw is machinemart / clarke. It too can be used vertically. Axminster do it on a different base. This chester one is not that dissimilar

**LINK**

This is the Clarke one.

**LINK**

The Chester one is rather more lightly built and is the type that is commonly featured in articles about various mods and improvements including ones by Mike Cox and 'Stub Mandrel'. I have one (not sure where I got it) and it's been one of my best 'bang for buck' purchases.

Neil

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

I'm pretty sure mine is powered by a 1400rpm cap start motor as I can hear the click. Low torque start so maybe no run capacitor.

It has proved to be an excellent purchase. Bought not long after they appeared from Grahame Engineering in West Brom.

Mods? I suppose I could investigate why it cuts a little out of square. Personally I feel a lot of mods for all sorts of things like this are done 'cause some one has nothing to do / that's the hobby. Bit like me playing around with old lathes now and again.

Mine has the simple lever switch cut out. I lift it up and the saw knocks it off when finished. It's one of the switches with an elongated tear drop shaped metal lever. Nice and simple. No NVR to go wrong.

Tried looking for Mike Cox web pages. Not sure if I found the right one – big wheels, quieter ? etc . Not sure if I trust Stubmandrel. I think he abuses small lathes and peers through telescopes.

One thing I should do to mine is paint over some of the rust.

John

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[bodgeParticipant @bodge]

Posted by Ajohnw on 03/01/2017 17:35:08:

I'm pretty sure mine is powered by a 1400rpm cap start motor as I can hear the click. Low torque start so maybe no run capacitor.

It has proved to be an excellent purchase. Bought not long after they appeared from Grahame Engineering in West Brom.

I think i might inclined to put that down to a sign of the times, things just aint done how they used to be !……..i am pretty sure mine dont click, will try it over the next day or so with belt off ,and no load , see if it clicks or not, it would seem to be a much latter m/c as it is fitted with NVR, …though it would be fair to say it does do what its supposed to do , and as you say an overall excellent purchase

Note for Neil…………Warco market a smaller one as the CY 90 which i think is the same the small Chester , but Chester got the edge for price

Have got Mike Cox original article some where but may take a bit of finding, mods i made were pretty similar though ………….b

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Ajohnw on 03/01/2017 17:35:08:

Mods? I suppose I could investigate why it cuts a little out of square.

It's worth doing, John. With a little effort you can get these things cutting surprisingly accurately such that a quick dress on the mill is all you need. In fact, the finish from mine is not bad either so for some jobs you can use as-is.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

For what they are worth, these are my experiences.

Some years ago bought a small bandsaw from Warco (small enough to lift up and use on a bench) It was a disaster!

Cost about £100 in broken blades before I sent it back under complaint. (No arguments about it)

The replacement had paint in a crack on the main casting, so that went back to be traded against a cheaper 6 x 4.5". (Visually similar to the Clarke/Machine Mart machine with NVR)

That functioned fairly well for some time until the thin steel tube between the wormshaft bearings escaped through the bottom one and the oil seal. Bought new bearings and seal locally, and made up a brass spacer. Have had no more problems in that area since. Removed the drive and Idler wheels and trued up the running surfaces, and added brass spacers to improve the alignment. Careful attention to the guide roller adjustments, and careful tracking (Not ideal, but better than before) Blades seem to last longer, and gave a reasonably straight cut, as long as the feed is not forced. Fairly recently made up the blade tensioning meter illustrated in another U K M.E magazine. Having used this to set the tension, performance improved further. A trial cut showed about 0.001" difference in thickness across a a thin slice. BUT have no illusions that this has turned it into a precision machine, or is likely to be repeatable.

The sheet steel base is pretty flimsy, but flexed, resulting failure of one of the wheels. It now has a piece of 30mm x 30mm angle iron bolted on to the sheet steel to carry the axle. The wheels are "rubber" tyred plastic, from a D I Y store, and have survived for at least as long as the originals, despite having been used more to move it around.

The vice components have been checked for squareness, and where needed, machined to improve squareness and adaptability.

In conclusion, it it is now a useful machine, saving LOTS of hard labour while producing a far better cut than I could with a hacksaw.

Hope that all these ramblings will be of some help.

Howard

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

In a previous thread(s) you will see my link to an excellent PDF on setting up one of the smaller saws.

Common mistake is to set the tension too low, also many people don't understand how the tracking adjustment works (i.e. don't realise it can be adjusted!) Without the tracking right you will be lucky not to regularly throw blades.

Neil

[AjohnwParticipant @ajohnw51620]

What I noticed on mine is that the blade wandered and then tended to come off because it was cutting at an unnatural angle. So I just tightened the blade. Some time later it did the same thing again as it was wandering about again. I suspect much of this was down initially to the leverage being a bit on the low side – needs a bigger handle and blade stretch later.

It also pays to set the guide sensibly. No need to have them wide open unless the stock needs it. I'd say where I usually have those would  take 3" dia stock. Maybe 4.

The wheels are still on mine but it doesn't get moved very often. If I was doing the sort of thing Ian does with his I'd buy some adjustable height rollers to take the weight. For my usual 2ft max lengths the legs have been find and anything else such as angle iron which has been longer I find something to support the stock or just hold it square to the machine while I'm closing the vice. I set that up square to the blade.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 04/01/2017 20:19:43

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