Harbor Freight Band Saw

[gmhill33]

Greetings,

Hopefully someone will have a answer. I want to take my band saw that I bought at Harbor Freight and use it for cutting metal. What can I do to slow down the speed to be able to use it?

Thanks in advance for all of your thoughts,

Gary

 

[Jason280]

Which model bandsaw do you have?

 

[gmhill33]

which model bandsaw do you have?

101.22940

EDIT: That is the wrong number (different tool did,t look at the post heading), I will go out and look.

EDIT: http://www.harborfreight.com/14-inch-four-speed-woodworking-bandsaw-67595.html

 

[Super Mech]

You could try putting a DC treadmill motor on it. Put one on my Atlas lathe afew years ago and it works fine. You need the motor control from the treadmill also. Just google treadmill lathe motor conversions. You can vary the speed from a crawl to full bore with a pontentiometer. It's pretty cool, thou a bit loud like most DC motors. I found the treadmill in the garbage, found two actually.

 

[gmhill33]

You could try putting a DC treadmill motor on it. Put one on my Atlas lathe afew years ago and it works fine. You need the motor control from the treadmill also. Just google treadmill lathe motor conversions. You can vary the speed from a crawl to full bore with a pontentiometer. It's pretty cool, thou a bit loud like most DC motors. I found the treadmill in the garbage, found two actually.

Thanks for the info. Is there a specific treadmill motor?

Why can't you ad a speed control and slow it down?

Thanks again,

Gary

 

[Falcon67]

Because you need to be around 100~200 fpm to cut metal. If you try to speed controal a 120v motor, you won't have any torque to cut anything. By the time you convert that saw, you could buy their 4x6 metal saw. You need a DC motor and a control to run it that slow, or find a speed reducer, or build a set of reduction pulleys for it. I would not even try to run an inverter grade 3 phase motor that slow.

 

[gmhill33]

Because you need to be around 100~200 fpm to cut metal. If you try to speed controal a 120v motor, you won't have any torque to cut anything. By the time you convert that saw, you could buy their 4x6 metal saw. You need a DC motor and a control to run it that slow, or find a speed reducer, or build a set of reduction pulleys for it. I would not even try to run an inverter grade 3 phase motor that slow.

Thank you sir for the info.

Gary

 

[PECVD2]

I added this motor and speed controller from a treadmill to this 9" Ryobi just to cut thin (gummy) Aluminum for a project I was doing. It works ok but even on slowest speed I could only get 183fpm which was still a bit too fast for fine cuts.

I set this older horizontal saw into to the upright/vertical position when I want to cut thicker Aluminum at very slow speed.

For straight cuts on thick Aluminum I use a cheapo HF metal cutting circular saw with an upgraded Irwin 80T blade, cuts like butter.
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-1-4-quarter-inch-metal-cutting-circular-saw-8897.html

 

[gmhill33]

I added this motor and speed controller from a treadmill to this 9" Ryobi just to cut thin (gummy) Aluminum for a project I was doing. It works ok but even on slowest speed I could only get 183fpm which was still a bit too fast for fine cuts.

I set this older horizontal saw into to the upright/vertical position when I want to cut thicker Aluminum at very slow speed.

For straight cuts on thick Aluminum I use a cheapo HF metal cutting circular saw with an upgraded Irwin 80T blade, cuts like butter.
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-1-4-quarter-inch-metal-cutting-circular-saw-8897.html

I will be looking for a treadmill mill in the yards sales.

Gary

 

[srmofo]

big trash pickup is a great time to find them...if you can be the scrap vultures to the pile, which is tough to do these days.

 

[gmhill33]

big trash pickup is a great time to find them...if you can be the scrap vultures to the pile, which is tough to do these days.

Isn't that the truth. They seem to have routes that they run around here.

Gary

 

[Zeke]

The best way is to use a shaft and pulleys for gear reduction. And 100 fpm is a crawl when looking at the band saw wheels. AL should cut at a faster speed.

 

[gmhill33]

You could try putting a DC treadmill motor on it. Put one on my Atlas lathe afew years ago and it works fine. You need the motor control from the treadmill also. Just google treadmill lathe motor conversions. You can vary the speed from a crawl to full bore with a pontentiometer. It's pretty cool, thou a bit loud like most DC motors. I found the treadmill in the garbage, found two actually.

Well everyone, I'm on the lookout for a treadmill motor.

Gary

 

[PECVD2]

Well everyone, I'm on the lookout for a treadmill motor.

Gary

Craigslist is your friend. Look for treadmills in the free section they seem to come up once a week around here. there are also about 5 right now for $30 in the sporting goods section so a $15 offer will get you one quicker if necessary.

 

[brownbagg]

my harbor freight bandsaw has step pulley on it, just change the speed on the pulleys

 

[gmhill33]

Craigslist is your friend. Look for treadmills in the free section they seem to come up once a week around here. there are also about 5 right now for $30 in the sporting goods section so a $15 offer will get you one quicker if necessary.

Thanks for the info. I will start looking. Is there a big difference in treadmill motors or are they pretty much equal?

Gary

 

[gmhill33]

my harbor freight bandsaw has step pulley on it, just change the speed on the pulleys

If your talking about the factory pulley that it comes with, it still doesn't slow it down enough. If you have changed the pulley's to step it down enough I would like to see some pics and know what pul;ey you used.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[pattenp]

May be I missed where you said what kind and size of metal you want to cut and how much or how often. I cut thin steel (1/4" and less) with my band saw and it only goes down to 1200 fpm. It's not often I need to cut metal but a bought a quality metal blade and it has lasted years and cuts with no problems at 1200 fpm. So I'd think at 600 fpm you could cut a modest amount without problems.

 

[gmhill33]

May be I missed where you said what kind and size of metal you want to cut and how much or how often. I cut thin steel (1/4" and less) with my band saw and it only goes down to 1200 fpm. It's not often I need to cut metal but a bought a quality metal blade and it has lasted years and cuts with no problems at 1200 fpm. So I'd think at 600 fpm you could cut a modest amount without problems.

Just thin stuff and not very often. I thought that even at 600 it would dull/burn the blade up.

Gary

 

[blasto9000]

May be I missed where you said what kind and size of metal you want to cut and how much or how often. I cut thin steel (1/4" and less) with my band saw and it only goes down to 1200 fpm. It's not often I need to cut metal but a bought a quality metal blade and it has lasted years and cuts with no problems at 1200 fpm. So I'd think at 600 fpm you could cut a modest amount without problems.

Same here, full woodworking speeds on aluminum, and the same with steels with coolant, or at least careful feed (feed, pause, feed, pause).

DO NOT CUT ROUND PIECES IN A WOODWORKING BANDSAW!!! A former colleague of mine cut his thumb off that way. He was feeding a piece of rod using his thumbs to push. The blade caught the piece and spun it... and in went the thumb.

The emergency room doctor examined the ****** stump and all he could say was, "hmm, clean cut." Fortunately the thumb was reattached, but I'm pretty sure if he went back in time he'd have done it differently!

 

[Falcon67]

The best way is to use a shaft and pulleys for gear reduction. And 100 fpm is a crawl when looking at the band saw wheels. AL should cut at a faster speed.

For doing good in aluminum, you should be around 1000 fpm. And with some kind of lube on the blade to prevent clogging.

 

[pattenp]

I'm not whipping out cut metal at production pace. I just use a little cutting oil and go slow and easy. Beats the hell out of trying to cut with a hacksaw. I believe cutting at the high fpm does shorten the blade life, but that's why I take it easy when cutting metal. I don't cut chrome-moly tubing or any thing of the such, just flat stock. Just get a good blade for thin stock.

Try it, you'll be surprised. And do watch those fingers.

Just thin stuff and not very often. I thought that even at 600 it would dull/burn the blade up.

Gary

 

[gmhill33]

Same here, full woodworking speeds on aluminum, and the same with steels with coolant, or at least careful feed (feed, pause, feed, pause).

DO NOT CUT ROUND PIECES IN A WOODWORKING BANDSAW!!! A former colleague of mine cut his thumb off that way. He was feeding a piece of rod using his thumbs to push. The blade caught the piece and spun it... and in went the thumb.

The emergency room doctor examined the ****** stump and all he could say was, "hmm, clean cut." Fortunately the thumb was reattached, but I'm pretty sure if he went back in time he'd have done it differently!

Thanks for the info.

Gary

 

[gmhill33]

For doing good in aluminum, you should be around 1000 fpm. And with some kind of lube on the blade to prevent clogging.

I'll keep that in mind.

Gary

 

[gmhill33]

I'm not whipping out cut metal at production pace. I just use a little cutting oil and go slow and easy. Beats the hell out of trying to cut with a hacksaw. I believe cutting at the high fpm does shorten the blade life, but that's why I take it easy when cutting metal. I don't cut chrome-moly tubing or any thing of the such, just flat stock. Just get a good blade for thin stock.

Try it, you'll be surprised. And do watch those fingers.

Thanks for the info and advice.

Gary

 

[PECVD2]

gmhill33, did you ever obtain a metal cutting bandsaw?

I wanted to post these pictures way back but figured I bring tread back and get your update at the same time.

 

[gmhill33]

gmhill33, did you ever obtain a metal cutting bandsaw?

I wanted to post these pictures way back but figured I bring tread back and get your update at the same time.

Yes sir. I got one similar to the one in post.


Thanks,

Gary