What band saws are used for. Band saws: their application and application details

What are band saws for metal?

Such saws are designed for cutting metal workpieces. They can be used for straight as well as curved cuts. They are equally easy to cut cast iron, stainless steel, and carbide parts. They are multifunctional, and therefore often used for cutting plastic, Styrofoam and other materials.

Band saws are used not only at home, but also in mass industry, such as in manufacturing, factories and construction sites. The latter pay off faster if band saws are used, as they save working time, thus increasing productivity. Bandsaws make longitudinal, cross and shaped cuts with a straight cut.

Types of band saws

Bandsaw blades made of high quality high-carbon tool steel are designed for economical cutting of a wide range of alloyed and unalloyed steels with a tensile strength up to 80 kPa/mm?, but is technically and serviceably inferior to bimetal blades.

Bimetal saws, especially those with HSS tooth, are the most commonly used in modern band sawing technology. Cutting part of teeth is made of high-speed steel M42 (analogue of 11Р2М10К8). This steel, highly alloyed with molybdenum and cobalt, has high hardness (up to 950 NV) and red resistance. Specially selected spring steel of band saw blade base ensures its strength and durability, and reliable electric-beam welding of cutting teeth makes it possible to use these saw blades in the toughest conditions of production. Newly designed compound pitch saws are most suitable for cutting pipes, profiles and variable cross sections. Variable saw tooth pitch greatly reduces vibration, improves stability and efficiency when cutting pieces with variable cross sectional area.

Carbide tooth bandsaws are used for the most difficult cutting conditions. They are used on high-performance and rigid dual-column bandsaws to cut difficult materials such as iron castings, non-ferromagnetic alloys, rare-earth metals and alloys like Monel, Inconel, Hasteloy, etc. High nickel and titanium content, while significantly reducing severing costs. The design of the socket for the carbide plate ensures that it is firmly connected to the saw blade. Saw teeth are set to provide the necessary sawing clearance and chip removal. These saws are only suitable for cutting solid sections with a diameter of 60 mm or more.

Job safety

Band saws are equipped with a number of safety features, including:

  • Pulley covers
  • Adjustable saw blade guard in the cutting area
  • Saw guides to prevent saw breakage
  • Sawdust scraper brushes to protect the belt pulley rim from contamination
  • Adhesive fluid reservoir and installation to moisten the saw

Not only do they increase the safety of the saw operators considerably, they also help extend the life of the machine itself by minimizing the risk of breakdowns.

Overview of popular brands

Today’s metal band saw market is rich in offers of all kinds. Among the rich list of manufacturers, there are several brands that are popular with buyers.

  • Arntz manufactures solid carbide models of band saws. Products of the German manufacturer are robust, of high quality and are manufactured under the control of quality control at all stages of production.
  • American brand Lenox has a protective layer of titanium aluminum nitride on its saws. These models, though expensive, but especially durable and hard-wearing, they can cut metal with high abrasion.
  • Forezienne. French brand. Producing band saws made of ore steel. During shaping, hardening and tempering alternate, hot and cold rolling, making the company’s saws one of the best in their segment.
  • Lennartz. global manufacturer. Bandsaw specialist in the production of composite alloy saws. Techniques for the production of the saws include the execution of the blade and hardening of special hardened steel, as well as the welding of the toothed edge of high-speed steel.
  • “Rospil”. Russian manufacturer. Bimetal and carbide band saw blades for metal machining. Blades are made of high-speed steel, nickel and titanium alloys, as well as cold and hot-rolled constructional steel.

Types of band saws

Depending on the plane of the cutting surface, all bandsaws are classified as vertical or horizontal.

  • Vertical band saws.This type of machine equipment can be bought in Penza and under the name column band saws. They are characterized by the fact that the movement of the blade in the work area is vertical relative to the guiding surface (table). This version of the equipment is used for making beams, curvilinear sawing, rough sawing of logs.Г
  • Horizontal band saws. Usually have high power to produce harder materials. The saw blade in this type of machines is located parallel to the plane of the working table. These machines allow to obtain thinner products, they are often used for making boards, veneers, boards, sheets.

Band saws for meat, all you need to know

The meat band saw blades are designed for high-quality, even cuts in meat products with high productivity on vertical band saws. Not only chilled, but also frozen foodstuffs can be processed. This saw also cuts deep-fried meat very well. The advantage of the bandsaw blades for meat are: durability, no knucklebones, high output. These blades have found wide application in meat processing plants, public catering enterprises, slaughterhouses, markets and other food production facilities.

As the band saw cuts through food, it is made of stainless steel. Meat saw blades come in a variety of pitches, tooth shapes and dimensions. Below you will find recommendations for choosing a band saw blade depending on the product you want to cut.

Figure 1. Blade with standard tooth

Blades with standard tooth S. have a Hook tooth shape with a positive rake angle and a constant pitch of 3 or 4 TPI. These blades are highly versatile and suitable for chilled, frozen and boned meat. Step 4 TPI supports better cuts, with less bone breakage and fewer bone particles reaching muscle tissue, and has proven excellent for use with chilled foods. 3 TPI step allows you to cut frozen foods with higher productivity.

Variable tooth band saw blades W. There is a sinking tooth between the cutting teeth (10 TPI pitch). Such teeth geometry facilitates cutting operations, improves chip outflow, allows to work at higher feeds, which decreases time of one cut and leads to higher productivity. This blade type is suitable for cutting of chilled half-carcasses.

band, saws, used, their, application

You can order special blades, designed for food products and which meet sanitary norms and standards from the producer company “Golden Fleece, Ukraine”.

Why band saw blades rip ?

The advantages of the band saw technology compared to conventional sawmills are well known: accurate cutting, mobility, versatility and cost effectiveness. And yet band sawing, with all its unquestionable advantages, is connected with one technically inevitable “minus”, which irritates sawyers. We are talking about the band saw. specifically, it is about the fact that no matter how much they cut, they are ultimately destined to break or shrink.

Saw producers understand this problem and try to act on two fronts. On the one hand, to make the saw as strong as possible to increase its durability. On the other hand. to reduce its cost to the customer, because it is, after all, an expendable material, and treat it accordingly.

There are not many reasons for premature breakage of band saws. The main thing is to know them, and then, having analyzed them consistently, you can eliminate the cause of the gap and thus save a lot of money.We assume you are using quality band saws from well-known manufacturers such as UDDEHOLM. This rules out the possibility of the saw breaking because of metal defects.So, the saw is of excellent quality and yet it tears. What is the problem?

band, saws, used, their, application

How to Select Band Saw Blades

First check the condition of the saw rollers and pulley belts.The surface of the rollers in contact with the saw must not show any signs of wear and there must not be any deep scratches on the rim of the roller. Scuffing on rollers surface is dangerous because when the machine is working there is an increased vibration that leads to periodical changing of saw tension and this changing occurs with high frequency.There must not be any cracks, surface fraying or excessive sawdust on the belt. If the distance between the saw and the pulley is less than 0.8 mm when the saw is tensioned to operating pressure, the pulley belt must be replaced. Usually both belts are replaced at the same time. The point here is that if the belts are worn, the saw blade may come into contact with the pulley surface and the life of the saw is shortened.

Then check the clearance between the back of the saw and the roller skirts. This gap should be within the recommended limits for your type of machine (about 3mm) and should be the same for both rollers.Next the position of the saw blade on the pulleys is checked. This adjustment is often forgotten or only the idler pulley is adjusted. In fact, experience shows that up to 60% of machine tools that are more than a year old require adjustments to the drive sheave. Of course, this adjustment is not as easy as the adjustment of the idler pulley. If you are not comfortable with this, you can always ask the machine manufacturer for advice.

When sawing with blunt saws the saw blade tension is constantly dropping. Some sawyers “fight” this negative phenomenon by increasing the tension beyond the recommended tension. The result: fast wear on pulley bearings, roller bearings, pulley belts. But the main thing is. micro cracks form in the saw blade which then grow and cause the saw to break.Saws get blunt when sawing dirty logs. sometimes only 15-20 cm is enough. To solve this problem you need to use a debarker or clean the logs by hand.Do not exceed recommended cutting capacity with a single saw before sharpening.

If all of the above are in order on your machine, pay attention to the sawing technique of your operators. He may be cutting too fast in an effort to exceed his plan. Such sawing almost always results in overloading of the saw and a decrease in product quality.Just as important is how the saw enters the wood. Here too much aggressiveness is hardly justified. The entry should be smooth and only then is it possible to increase the speed depending on the wood type. The saw is also overloaded if its parameters (sharpening angle, setting, etc.д.) Not suitable for the task at hand (type of wood).

Once again, the human factor

So you have checked all the adjustments of the machine. Now you are 100% sure about him. Now we have to check how the saw is sharpened. In fact it is in the wrong sharpening of the saw one of the causes of its premature breakage.A few words about the sharpener. Candidates for this position must be selected with the utmost care. It must be a diligent and conscientious worker, trained, meticulously fulfilling all the points of the sharpening instructions. If you have such a person, then the problem of saw breaks you know only by hearsay. If you can not find such an employee we suggest to buy a sharpening machine with a borozone (diamond) disc. it will reduce the dependence of the sharpening quality on the notorious human factor.

The first thing to check. is the correct setting of the sharpening machine (position of the sharpening blade relative to the saw). There is a special device on the sharpening device for this purpose. If you do not have it, it is necessary to check perpendicularity of plane of the sharpening disk to the saw, and what is very important. alignment of the disk and the plane of the saw.Sharpening of the saw is not only necessary to make the cutting edge sharp, but also to remove numerous micro-cracks that have formed in the grooves of the teeth. Most often, the greatest number of them are formed in the place equidistant from the ends of the teeth. For saws, this place corresponds to the narrowest part of the saw.When sharpening it is important to remove as much metal from the tooth flanks as is necessary so that the micro-cracks are removed along with it. And the metal must be removed evenly throughout the tooth profile. Failure to do so, apart from increasing the risk of saw breaks, also leads to changes in the parameters of the saw (saw profile and tooth height).If you have been working on the saw longer than recommended by the machine manufacturer, increase the amount of metal removed per sharpening. When performing this operation, make sure that the pressure of the sharpening disk on the saw blade is not excessive. Otherwise the cut-off saw blade would anneal, reducing the strength of the cut-off saw blade. And it is absolutely unacceptable to sharpen the saw without using special coolant in the sharpening device.Sometimes, even if a small amount of metal is removed, the annealing still occurs. If this is the case, the working surface of the sharpening blade must be cleaned of metal particles that have covered it during sharpening using a dressing stone. This operation should be repeated after the saw has gone through one sharpening cycle.After sharpening the saw, check the result (profile, geometry), using the new saw as a yardstick. If the saw is properly sharpened, its profile does not change, the tooth height remains unchanged, in tooth cavities and on tooth tips there are no rough risks from abrasive particles of sharpening stone, there are no traces of metal annealing, burrs are completely removed, cutting edge of the tooth has regular shape and sufficient sharpness.Sometimes you can see recommendations that it is not necessary to carefully remove burrs after sharpening. This is not true. The fact is that apart from distorting the setting result, burrs cause the formation of micro cracks in the saw blade.A few words on the sharpening blade. Cost saving is not the point. Using cheap sharpening discs you lose a lot of money on torn saws. The fact is that cheap sharpening discs wear down very quickly and therefore cannot remove metal evenly within one cycle. Saws that have been sharpened with such discs can be readily identified because their tooth height and profile change as they move from tooth to tooth. By the way, changing the settings of the sharpening machine during sharpening leads to the same result. A simple rule of thumb: after making the necessary adjustments, cut one lap of the bandsaw and only then make adjustments.

Not only the quality and power of the saws, but also their reliability influences the service life. The most popular and reliable manufacturers of band saws:

  • Arntz. saws from the German manufacturer meet all quality standards, as experienced technologists carefully monitor the quality of every detail;
  • Lenox saws of the American brand are durable and wear-resistant because they are coated with nitride-aluminum-titanium;
  • Wikus. characterized by a large model range, so the potential customer has a great choice;
  • Forezienne (France). some of the toughest saws, made of high strength steel;
  • Doall (USA). thanks to high-strength steel and adherence to all high-tech processes, the saws last a long time.

Which band saw blade is better depends on purpose and density of material.

Service life is affected not only by the quality and power of the saws, but also by their reliability. The most popular and reliable band saw producers:

  • Arntz. saws from the German manufacturer meet all quality standards, because experienced technologists carefully monitor the quality of every detail;
  • Lenox. American brand saws are strong and resistant to wear because they have a coating of nitride-aluminum-titanium;
  • Wikus. characterized by a large model range, so the potential customer has a great choice;
  • Forezienne (France). some of the strongest saws, made of high-strength steel;
  • Doall (USA). thanks to high strength steel and compliance with all high-tech processes the saws have a long service life.

Which band saw is better depends on the application and the density of the material to be cut.

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