Band saw question

[muddstopper]

Learn something new everyday. Did a quick search and found this site, http://www.starrett.com/docs/saw-resources/recommendations.pdf?sfvrsn=2
I plan on doing a little work on the down feed to see if I can get the feed rate more consistant and then I will throw on a new blade and see how she does.

 

[jwmorris]

Here is another one.

http://www.lenoxtools.com/Guides/LENOX Guide to Band Sawing.pdf

If everything is right you can get many thousands of parts cut from a single blade. The flip side is that you can ruin a blade making a single cut.

 

[ericher69]

Call Lenox for advice they are a wealth of knowledge-the tech on the phone would have talked for an hour if I didn't interrupt him. Very interesting topic when you get in to it with someone that knows what they are talking about.

They can guide you through feed pressures, tooth pitch for material, type of blade, blade speed etc etc.

I ordered a custom length 6/8 variable Diemaster II for my vertical saw and a similar shorter band for my 4x6 and could not be more impressed.

What a difference from the cheap 28tpi Chinese bands.

Sent from my iPhone 5s 64Gb using TractorByNet

 

[BXpanded]

There are about 3 things that can cause cut squareness problems. Down feed speed isn't one of them.
It's almost always the blade. Replace the blade and try it.
Next is blade tension. The blade needs to be tighter than you would think. If you can get the manual for your machine, it'll give some guidelines as to how tight.
Next is worn or misadjusted blade guides. The blade should be snug in the guides, no more than .001" clearance. The guides should be aligned and must hold the blade exactly vertical. Again the manual can help. Don't change these unless you actually have a reason to. It can take an hour or two to align them, even if you have some experience. The guides, whether carbide blocks or rollers, should contact the blade on their entire face. If they are worn, replace.
We use 10-14 pitch blades for everything. Larger pitch chatters on thinner materials. Thicker stuff doesn't cut as efficiently as with a larger pitch, but we don't spend time changing blades.

We have an Ellis 2000 that uses a 1" blade. I think it might be larger than your Carolina, but the set up should be similar. It runs about 4 hours per day. The cut is exactly square as long as the blade is good. You cannot tell whether or not the blade is good by looking at it. A blade will usually last for several weeks but one incident of a work piece not clamped tightly, or one piece of steel with a hard spot can ruin the blade instantly. We order 5 blades at a time and re-order as soon as we put the next-to-last new one on the machine. We order them from our welding supply house. They make the blades using Lennox blade stock and are cheaper than ordering pre-made blades.
The spring adjusts the down feed pressure. Using a fish weighing scale, raise the beam some and lower it while watching the scale. Lower the beam slowly with the feed speed completely open. The down pressure shown on the scale should be about 8 pounds just before the blade hits bottom. Again, the manual will probably give the correct reading. Too much down pressure will overstress the blade, too little will cause a slow cut and excess heating of the blade teeth.
The down feed speed doesn't matter much. It pretty much just controls how fast the blade drops to the material. Once the blade hits the material, the feed pressure, material being cut and the blade, control how fast it drops.