Hi All:
I hope someone out there has done something I am contemplating. I have a Jet 14″ bandsaw with a riser block and resaw blade. I do a lot of resawing, but the 1hp motor stalls sometimes, especially when I am impatient 🙂
Since upgrading to a more bigger bandsaw is not possible now, I am thinking of changing the motor to a 2hp unit. All I know now is that I’ll have to keep the speed of the motor the same. Does anyone know if I’ll encounter vibration problems, or anything else for that matter, with this increase in power?
Thanks.
Replies
I don't know what you re sawing but I would think that more HP would only make your resawing experience a more pleasant one. I think the vibration you are experiencing is the slowing of the blade as the motor is bogging down.
Tufenhundel,
I'm going to get accused of working for Timberwolf!
If you're not using Timberwolf blades, give them a try before going to the expense and time of changing your motor. They may just solve your problem. They run at lower tension than standard blades and that means that your saw will have more power where the blade meets the wood. Also, a thinner blade will do the job of a standard, wider blade.
One of their recommendations is to spray the blade with a lubricant, just like you would for any other operation where two surfaces need to pass by each other. They recommend ordinary vegetable "Pam," the stuff you spray the barbecue with to prevent foods from sticking. It works! After spraying, you notice a much less "stressful" sound during cutting. The lubrication lasts for many cuts. When you hear the sound change back to the unlibricated state, spra again.
Give them a call, they are very helpful.
But, hey, if you determined to put a bigger motor on your saw, go for it! MORE POWER!
I have no association with Timberwolf.
Rich
"They run at lower tension than standard blades and that means that your saw will have more power where the blade meets the wood."
How the hell, (excuse my French) does changing the strain (what you refer to as 'tension') on the sawblade effect power?
Power is transferred from the motor, through the belts to the drive wheel. If anything, a blade with lesser strain would transfer LESS power because it is more likely to slip on the wheels.
"Also, a thinner blade will do the job of a standard, wider blade."
I think you are confusing people with your use of adjectives. By "thinner" do you mean narrower (front to back dimension); or are you referring to "thinner" meaning reduced plate thickness and a smaller kerf.
A thinner blade will require less power because it is cutting less wood. A narrower blade will require less power because there is less blade to wood friction. The problem you run up against is that with either thinner or narrower blades you have less stablility (more likely to deflect either front to back or side to side). Also with less mass to adsorb heat from cutting friction, the more likely the front edge, with heat expansion, can loose its strain (tension) and begin to snake.
I sure would like to have somebody explain to me in basic wood machining principles why a blade with less strain (lower "tension") will out preform a comparable blade at a greater level of strain. And if they cannot explain it, then maybe they can provide me statistically determined study results showing improved sawing accuracy. If nobody can do either, then I think people should quit making that assertion.
And to finally get to the original question -- you have to determine why the blade is bogging down in the cut. Is it a problem of power or is it a blade tooth geometry question? Too many teeth can result in insufficient gullet capacity and very high levels of tooth to wood rubbing friction. Sawtooth rubbing (prior to actual cutting) creates a greater load then is actually required to do most cutting. That is to say that you have both rubbing friction and cutting forces that require power. Until you get to excessive bite levels, the frictional forces generally exceed the cutting forces. As such you might want to increase the pitch (tooth spacing).
Sharp blades are an absolute must -- and it a funny thing that with more teeth and more rubbing friction, blades dull more rapidly. Dulling/wear does not happen because of abrasion (unless you are dealing with wood with silica or other specific minerals); sawtooth dulling/wear occurs because of corrosion (wood is acidic) and because of plastic deformation induced by heat. And dull blades require more power.
I generally agree with what you said. I added a riser to my Delta and changed to a 1.5 HP motor. It cuts easier and faster. Blade selection is important. For resawing, 3 or 4 tooth/inch blade is needed. I don't think low tension has any effect on this.
Check out the motor before you buy. Mine has the terminal box on the side of the motor where it interferes with opening the lower door. This may not be a concern if you have a closed stand.
Niemiec1,
Ok, calm down. A bandsaw blade under low tension will supply less cutting power to the wood if it slips, yes, but only if it actually does slip. My blades don't slip, thanks. A blade under higher tension disipates more power in friction in the blade itself and between the blade and the wheels, leaving less power for cutting. Have you tried Timberwolf blades?
I didn't mean to "confuse people" with my use of adjectives. I meant more narrow blades. But I believe that my Timberwolf blades are also thinner than my other blades of equal "width" (tooth to back of blade dimension). My thinner, narrower Timberwolves seem to give me much less deflection problems than other thicker, wider blades. If there is another mechanical, physical, chemical, nuclear, mystical explanation, well OK. I'm just happy with the superior performance, and apparent improved cutting ability.
Since the improvement was the result of replacing a sharp blade of other technology with a Timberwolf, thinner, narrower blade and lowering the tension, I accept that the reasons that Timberwolf gives for the improvement are correct.
Yes, sharp blades are an absolute must.
Rich
There are a couple of things I would like to say --
The first is that I also do not agree with those who wish to increase blade speed. I went through another extensive discussion about band saw blades and cutting dynamics about 2.5 months ago so I will only briefly reiterate what is necessary for this discussion.
There is a fundamental inter-relationship regarding sawing (all sawing) that states that bite is to feed speed as pitch is to blade speed. Bite is the actual penetration of each sawtooth cut and as I said earlier, pitch is the distance between sawteeth (point to point). With that covered, you will see that as blade speed increases, bite decreases (an inverse relationship). Yeah OK that sounds good because that means that you can now increase feed speed; but it is unlikely in my opinion that one will proportionally increase the feed speed. The real problem is that bite on bandsaw blades is way too low/small; meaning that most of the power is consumed by tooth rubbing frictional forces and not by cutting forces. The rubbing generates heat and the higher the temperatures the more hot corrosion and plastic deformation (dulling) of the tooth that occurs.
How hot is hot? A research study done at Mississippi State University using router bits machining MDF showed cutting tip temperatures can exceed 800 degrees Centigrade (>1400 degrees F). Sandy Stewarts stated "The visible physical features at and near the cutting edge showed plastic deformation, smearing, and rolling or beading of the tool material (HSS)."
I did some previous calculations concerning my bandsaw (a 14" Rockwell) and found the following results:
If you double the wheel speed by refitting your pulleys you will double both the blade speed and double the teeth per second. If I were to do anything to my bandsaw (either motor or pulleys), I would increase HP but at the same time go to a lower rpm. I want to cut so that I fill the gullet.
And specifically to Rich -- you wrote:
I sure as hell don't understand that statement one bit. I don't consider myself stupid having got a MS in Wood Science and Technology from Penn St, and I did work at the FP department at Oregon State University for seven years where I ran a continuing education program for sawfilers and sawmill personnel so hopefully I understand something about wood machining/cutting basics.
I cannot fathom the concept of friction in the blade itself other than that which exists due to bending/flexing about the wheels (or that it might be statistically significant). And the only friction that might exist between the blade itself and the wheel would have to come from the powered wheel having a greater speed than the blade resulting is a certain amount of slippage. By my thinking, greater strain levels would directly correlate to higher forces holding that blade to the wheel. And just to cover all factors, a blade with lesser strain would actually have less contact with the wheel because centrifical forces push? the blade away from the wheel at the end of the travel. The only thing this accomplishes is to throw the blade off-line (the line of tangency between the top and bottom wheels).
As I understand wood machining/sawing based on Peter Koch's book Wood Machining Processes (Ronald Press, NY, 1964, pp 530) power to the blade is consumed by first rubbing forces and then secondly cutting forces. Overall cutting and rubbing forces are dependent on such factors as wood density, tooth/blade geometry (the rake, sharpness and clearance angles), width of cut, depth of cut, bite depth, moisture content, grain direction, and feed direction (up vs down cutting). The only way that strain (tension) might become a factor is entirely dependent on how strain affects sawing variation (and therein width of cut).
Barring harmonics, a blade with greater strain requires more force to deflect it (side to side). If a blade hits a particular harmonic, a standing wave will develop and deflection with increase greatly. The are multiple harmonic points at both high and low strain (tension) levels. If blades are of the same material, blade rigidity (resistance to deflection) will increase with increasing thickness. Also a more rigid blade material will deflect less than a less rigid blade but a more rigid blade (less flexible) has greater difficulty bending over the wheels and if too rigid, the flexing of the blade over the wheels can cause cracking and breakage.
No I don't own a Timberwolf blade because I don't believe their sales hype. It just does not make sense to me, and I do not purchase products from companies that are feeding me a line of ____. Maybe they have study results to prove their point (which I would love to see). Without either a theoretical basis or supporting test/study results, I am skeptical of marketing ploys. I would certainly welcome a Timberwolf representitive who wanted to enter into this discussion
If you chose to believe marketing claims, that's your perogative. Placebo medications have also been known to actually improve the condition of some patients with various maladies. Some people even believe in UFO's, a flat earth, and what they see and hear on TV.
I am not ragging on you per se just to be nasty and vindictive. I have been attempting to get woodworkers to understand wood machining basics for years. I approached FWW about writing such an article but they felt it would be too technical and I guess therein over the heads of its readers. As such, the only means of actually instructing a wider audience is to reply to specific threads.
NIEMIEC1,
Whatever your name is,
I always enjoy learning, and I would be glad to discuss this issue with you. But you seem to have an awful lot of axes to grind. You're angry at FWW, you seem to be angry with me, to wit,
("How the hell, (excuse my French) does changing the strain (what you refer to as 'tension') on the sawblade effect power?"),
you're angry that once again, you apparently find the need to re-educate us dummies here, you're angry at woodworkers, and you seem to feel that it is your crusade to pound your points across to the great unwashed, who once again have strayed from the path that you have indicated. I'm not a bit surprised that FWW turned you down. I don't think that it was the highly technical bent of your information, rather your pounding of your fist on the table to emphasize every point.
Since you choose not to believe Timerwolf's marketing "hype" and refuse to test drive one of their blades, I guess that you will never: 1. experience the superior performance of their product, and 2. never have actual data with which you might be able to prove your point.
I really can't make much out of what you're saying because you're presenting it in such an angry way. If you're right, fine. But you don't get to that point by screaming that the other guy is full of ____. I chose to believe the Timberwolf explanation because it makes a lot of sense and because I have experience with their blades.
Do you want to provide a reasonable explanation for the fact that as the tension, oops "strain" is increased that it becomes increasingly difficult to turn the bandsaw by hand? Am I hallucinating. You don't think that there are frictional losses in the blade as it flexes in its travel around the hemi circle of each wheel, changing from a straight path to a curved? You don't believe that there are frictional forces as the blade comes off it's straight path to meet the curved wheel?
You've got a lot of theoretical information. But when fact and math disagree, the math has to change. So far, the fact is that my Timberwolf blades at lower tension run easier, cut faster, quieter, with less distortion than some "standard" blades that I have (various sources). Why? I'm listening.
Rich
i'm going to have to agree with rich, niemiec1. i don't think anybody here attacked you, and most people seem more than willing to listen, so why the tone? i can understand if you're heated from other discussions, but you certainly aren't going to get anyone to listen to you when you write everything in such a condecending tone. i, for one, find all of this info very interesting.
and not being willing to try a timberwolf blade because of their sales hype is like me saying i won't buy a ford over a chevy because they used a queen song in a commercial that i didn't particularly like. calculations and theories are fine, but sometimes you have to do a little hard science in the matter, no? i'm also of the scientific nature, and to tell you the truth, that makes me want to test their blades to try and DISprove them. anyways, i'll probably try a timber wolf blade because so many other woodworkers in here seem to be more than satisfied with it's performance. if i don't like it, it was $30... i certainly shouldn't have to break the porcelin pig for a replacement.
Oof Da!
I think you are way off.
If you think I am angry or have axes to grind at you, timberwolf, FWW or god knows who or what else, you are truly wrong. Just because I make a statement about something that happened in the past does not necessarily mean that there are any emotional connotations associated with it. You might feel anger from such an event; do not suppose those same emotions exist within me. I would suggest that you base your assertions/assumptions on facts rather than personal feeling -- whether it has to do with my emotions or bandsaw blades.
If my crude language offends you, what can I say other than for the majority of my life, working in woodshops, finishing operations and with sawmill personnel, I might just have picked up some of the extant terminology often used. I could care less about the language an individual might utter; what impresses me are an individual's skills and expertise, their work ethic, and their morality.
If you think I was condesending, then why would I waste an hour of my time preparing a detailed explanation of sawing theory. I did it because I thought you (and others) might actually want to learn something and appreciate the specific and specialized information I was sharing. Please read what I say; do not read into it issues and ideas that are not there. I admit that my writing is direct and to the point, primarily because it is technical and because it is the style of most professional trade journals.
I made no judgement about your opinions other than I feel you are misinformed and likely not aware of wood machining principles. Yet you feel confident enough to schlep Timberwolf blades to others. I am neither pounding my fist on the table nor attempting to pound anything down someone's throat. I do not recommend specific products; I instead try to provide individuals with enough information so that they can make an informed choice. It appears to me that your choice has already been determined; and since you don't like the message, you attack the messenger. If anything, I find you exorting Whitehead's fallacy of misplaced concreteness.
I never indicated that there were not within blade frictional forces; if you read what I said you will find that I do not consider those forces to be statistically significant relative to power consumption when compared to the primary variables of blade to wood rubbing and cutting..
You fault me for my terminology -- that I use strain instead of the word tension (which you prefer). I use that term because the technical literature is written that way and because the word tension (relative to sawblades) refers to an entirely different concept. Tension is the prestressing of the metal at various regions of a blade (done by either rolling and/or with hammers) to increase saw plate stiffness. Without tension in a blade (circle saws 10" or greater and bandsaw blades wider than 4") the circular blades would wooble and the band would not stay on the wheels. You also seem to be willing to ridicule me for that use of this terminology -- perhaps you in fact are being condescending to me.
Someone indicated that a Timberwolf bandsaw blade is about $30 and that in purchasing one, I would not break the proverbial porcelein pig. I am self employed; my entire income is derived from woodworking so that paying 3 to 4 times more for a blade is significant. While it might be no big deal to a hobbiest with a daytime job, I cannot waste money to try something on some whim. And it is truly misguided to suggest that I should make such a purchase and then invest time and money to conduct a sawing accuracy study to attempt to confirm results you believe exist when cutting theory cannot support that supposition.
If in fact Timberwolf has made some breakthrough, I am certain that the primary mills of the PNW would value it. The high levels of strain carried on these mills results in bearing wear and failure. The downtime (sometimes calculated at >$1000 per minute) associated with these repairs is extensive primarily because the mill needs to be re-aligned. Needless to say removing a 10' diameter cast iron wheel involves considerable risk to the workers performing such tasks that they would prefer to avoid. I am surprised that such breakthrough technology has not been published in the professional journals of the industry.
If you actually knew anything about me you would immediately know that I am very receptive and supportive of truly innovative technology and ideas. But saying that does not in any way imply that I am gullible to marketing jive. I still await the presentation of relative theories or empirical data.
OK,
You are the best at everything, and you know more than anyone else. My humble apologies.
Thank you for the compliment! I am hardly the best, but instead just darned good. I worked hard to acquire my trade skills and education, and I am rightly proud of those attainments. I am likewise very thankful of the opportunities I was afforded and I appreciative the recognition from various peers.
If you have nothing to add to this discussion, I will assume my answers/comments have provided a sufficient explanation and therein will move on to another thread.
. . . forgot to mention . . . you really should do something about that vein that's pulsating on your forehead. It could burst.
How have you furnished your ivory tower?
Rich
I have a Timberwolf blade on both my 14" with riser bandsaw & on my 12" bandsaw & they both work great much better than the standard hardware store blades I was using & not all the expensive either.
I know that you are highly educated in your trade. But do you suppose that there might be someone that has access to information or could possibly know something you or I don't know.
Something I learned a long time ago is that what you or I don't know will make a lot bigger book that what we do know. Someone out there will always have knowledge or abilities you & I don't have.
So be brave & purchase a Timberwolf blade & put it on you Bandsaw & set the strain. Give it a try maybe you & I could both learn something new from your observations.
Remember we here at this forum are all ears to hear what you learn about Timberwolf blades. As the old saying the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
So for crying out loud get a Timberwolf blade & give it a try. I guarantee you will never be able to give a real good objective evaluation until you do. Don't answer this post until you get a blade & test it.
Stnley-
Doing psychological profiles at a distance is pretty much a mugg's game. I don't know if you are angry or calm and serene, and it doesn't make any difference to me. I read this forum for the information, and you have for a long time provided some very good information which has benefitted me. Your contributions to this thread continue that pattern. Keep it up, please.
Hi, I just read the discussion, I think that many opinions can help a new woodworker like me to understand simple things, so, I have a General 15" bandsaw with 1 HP motor, since four months, my tension spring was set too high (near maximum), just wrong reading of my tension indicator (stupid mistake from myself but I'm here to learn...), so, when I cutted 6" wide Pine, it's liked that the motor doesn't had enough power to cut, feeding was very, very slow and my 3/4" carbon blade was dull rapidly, I sharpened my blade yesterday and I will retry resaw today (with good tension), I started my machine yesterday and it's seemed that the motor turned more rapidly! Hmmm..., does my 1 hp motor lost 1/2 HP in the friction between wheels since four months? Probably yes, I'll have probably more luck today with resawing!
Thank you for your information in the discussion,
Peter
AMEN!
AMEN!
I too have an MS in Forestry and Wood Science from Michigan Tech. I don't know a thing about these blades, but here are a few thoughts.
Concerning speed: With your mill experience have you never run across comparisons of optimum effiecency and safe operating speeds for machinary? Is changing the speed of the blade good, bad, right or wrong? I don't know, but I am confident that the suggested out of the box speed is based on a balance of saftey and effiecency and not optimum cutting speed alone. Granted, as optimum cutting speed is approached it is at the expense of saftey. So, is the gain really worth it?
Blade Tension: As with all systems devised on a "train of parts" input power is disapated all along the system. a 3/4 hp motor is not delivering 3/4 hp at the point of cutting. Any variance that will change the disapated power along the system will change the power delivered at the point of cutting. Does the stress created on the bandsaw wheels by blade tension effect how much power is disapated at the belt, pullys, wheels and the point of cut? I'm sure it does as is often shown with improperly tensioned chain saws.
Just my two cents worth.
Speed? That's why they make pulleys that come off. If it don't work, then put the old pulleys back on. Good grief!
PlaneWood by Mike_in_KatyPlaneWood
Are you saying the safe operatingand or optimum efficeint speed is only defined by when the pullys (shives) fly off?
By the way, a riser block is a height attachment for some bandsaws. It's an extension that fits into the "C" frame of the saw. For the delta 14 inch saw it allows the cutting of stock up to 12 inches thick, but requires new blades at 105 inches long.
Edited 8/19/2002 12:21:33 AM ET by Don C.
Edited 8/19/2002 12:50:07 AM ET by Don C.
Jeez -- Michigan Tech -- Talk about desolation at the end of the world. I tried to spent part of one winter there (first snow about Sept. 25th, snow covering the ground after about Oct. 5th and they were holding classes when it was -42 with a full gale blowing off Superior).
I worked with and talked to some very skilled sawfilers in the big mills of Oregon (both East and West side) and did studies in many as well. As near as I can determine there are 19 variables related to optimizing band saw performance (wood species, grain direction, moisture content, depth of cut, plate thickness, side clearance, horsepower, blade speed, feed speed, tension, strain, guide pressure, rake angle, sharpness angle, clearance angle, gullet capacity, pitch, tooth profile (swaged or set design) and the length of time between blade changes. There are others as well relating to log grade (and therein the presence/frequency of knots), whether the log has been debarked, blade/tooth material, and the type of lubricant used on the blade. This also assumes that there is consistency among saw blades, within/between blade sharpenings and within/between sawyers.
I know of no statistical design that can realistically handle those number of variables so at best we were guessing as to which were the most important to evaluate to control sawing variation. The mill management was also reluctant to do even the most basic studies because of the time and workforce expenditure and the effect the study had on production. As an opinion I will also state that a lot of the time, they simply were afraid to know what might be wrong -- as long as they were making a profit and meeting production quotas, everything was simply hunky dory. You cannot fathom how many times I heard repeated the line -- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
When it comes to dryline resaws (of which the small shop band saws are included) I know of no study that even begins to cover the basics of saw blade performance and optimization. In an above post, I welcomed the comments of a Timberwolf representative to at least attempt to explain or justify their contention and apparently no one has contacted them or they have chosen not to become involved.
"Concerning speed: With your mill experience have you never run across comparisons of optimum effiecency and safe operating speeds for machinary? Is changing the speed of the blade good, bad, right or wrong? I don't know, but I am confident that the suggested out of the box speed is based on a balance of saftey and effiecency and not optimum cutting speed alone. Granted, as optimum cutting speed is approached it is at the expense of saftey. So, is the gain really worth it?"
I have in fact never run across comparisons of optimum efficiency vis a vis safe operating speeds. Less than 50 years ago, sawfiling was a true black art; saw doctors would stop working when "inappropriate" individuals entered the filing room. They were guessing as to what worked best and in my opinion they are still guessing. Part of a very real problem faced by mills is when they have to replace the head filer -- they never know how it will affect overall mill performance. And I have long felt that academically trained engineers will soon begin to replace head filers because of the sophistication of the machinery and the need to improve performance, yield and recovery.
Blade speed is a variable and whether it is an independent or dependent variable is unknown. No determination can be made about changes other than the measureable results that ensue. The problem is if you take no measurements both before and after such a change there in absolutely no way of determining the good/bad, right/wrong of it.
I do not agree that optimum blade speed is approached at the expense of safety. It is my contention that with dry line band resaws that optimum efficiency will be obtained by reducing blade speed and therein will improve safety (and potentially reduce machine wear and maintenence as well).
I have had some experience working with individuals who had purchased portable sawmills that employed horizontal band saws. It is my belief that the machines were designed and made without any consideration of blade performance parameters and cutting optimization. It appears to me that they built the machines and then applied stock blades -- and therein from my perspective these machine centers do one terrible job of sawing. The sawing variation is horrific, the feed speeds abysmally slow and the blade wear excessive. And based on what I know about dry line resaws, I doubt if any more application of sawing theory was applied when these were/are manufacturered.
And to those individuals who attempt to demean me with twippy ivory tower remarks, you should know that my "blue collar", trade experience was likewise demeaned and degraded by the professors where I was last employed. But then again, I doubt that even half of the academic staff could use a hand saw to cut a board in half and get an edge that was ever close to square. If I were not likely to be sued, I could relate some very funny stories about some of their brilliant ideas that in reality were more than a hundred years old and already commercially available -- talk about being out of touch with reality. Therein it is my belief that ignorance is an individual attribute that exists in too many people -- here, there and everywhere!
I will also reiterate my position that unless someone can realistically disprove my theoretical assessment of low strain blade performance (either theoretically or with pragmatic data) I will not waste my money on a Timberwolf blade and will hope that others will trust my expertise in this regard. But then again there are always those that implicitly believe marketing hype.
aww hell... lol
it's only woodworking!!!! put on whatever blade at whatever speed and go cut some damn wood!! ;)
*Whew!*
Thanks!
Picture having to work day after day in the same shop with that.
Rich
Well said and I agree 100% although I am kind of surprised you havn't seen any charting or normal curves of feeds and speed for different species. Heck, with the modern, computerized merchandisers, this is all sensor controled. But what I was getting at had more to do with the home shop saw rather then a mill saw. Generally these are one speed saws with no feed except for the hands of the operator. Granted it just an assumption on my part, but I have believe that the speed of these saws is based on a balance of saftey and blade speed since it is the manufacturers only control over what is going to be fed in to the saw. If they started building saws for Pine and Poplar and another for Oak and Hard Maple, I believe the operating specs of the machines would be very different. I don't know, I could be wrong.
Don
PS...loved those first early blizzards and more then once the kid's Haloween costume was hidden under the snow suit! Still have a place up in Calumet.
Uh...who would've thunk that my question on motor change would start something like this.
Well, I got my 1740 (1725?) rpm motor from ebay. Stay tuned for the result when I change the motor out.
In the meantime, if you guys want more action, go over and jump in on the "Got Hacked" thread or somethin'....
;)
Don't pick on the UP! Contrary to what many folks believe, snow is good for you. Think of all those Finlanders up in the Copper Country running out of the sauna and rolling around in the snow or jumping into a hole chopped through the ice. Remember all the 80 and 90 year-olds out shovelling 150 days a year? If you recall the hospitals up there are very small. It's the snow. It's good for you my friend!
BTW, -40 degrees isn't too bad if you're dressed properly. What I've never figured out is what one does when its 100 degrees. Can't dress to keep cool.
That reminds me, I'd better go change the oil in the snow blower.
Suomi sisu!
Jeff
Edited 11/22/2002 9:41:58 AM ET by Jeff K
2 years ago I upgraded my 14" Delta from about 1980 with a rised block and began resawing. The 3/4 HP motor was insufficient. Then I changed out to a 1.5HP, with a power twist best, and have resawn 12" Spanish Cedar, and 9" hard maple without too much strain. I use the bi-metal Lenox, 1/2" blade for this. BAldor is a good choice. I also changed the pulley size to increase blade speed, per Iturra's recommendation. I would go to a 2 HP. if I had it again to do.
I increased the speed on my old Sears 12" by changing the pulley ratio and by going to a 1.5 hp motor. That, and a Timberwolf blade really helps. I increased the speed of the blade about 25%.
And, what is a riser block??
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
PlaneWood
Man, I love this place....bless the Internet. Thanks everyone for your inputs. I'll be working eBay for a new motor, and getting some Pam, and looking at changing some pulley ratios...cause...you know...you can never go fast enough when resawing ;)
Peace.
I'd would like to pass on some advise, not about bandsaws but life. Ignore the ignorant they will go away!
Mr. Tufenhundel,
I don't often respond to these inquiries although I enjoy some of the responses. I emphatize with your position and, too, had to increase the HP of my 14" bandsaw. You will find that with heavy resawing, which is what I did with mine, the motor will not support the operation. The speed of the blade slows down as it passes through the wood thus taxing the motor. I've tried all the blades...Timberwolf, Highland Hardware, Lennox, etc....and must say that the Timberwolf is the best; however, your problem may prevail with a lot of resawing. Pulling a blade through 12 inches of wood takes a lot of power.
I replaced my old 3/4 HP motor on my Delta (with riser) with a 2 HP model. I also upgraded my pulleys to a double pulley. Fine Woodworking had an excellent article on this in the Fall of 2000. You will want to maintain about 2700 to 3000 fpm and the article gives you the method of calculating the fpm.
The increased HP and the pulley upgrade (double belts) helped immensely.
Bobby D, can you be more specific as to which issue? I am interested in the "double belt" upgrade you specified. After changing the motor for a 2hp unit, I get vibrations in the cut. Motor speed is the same, and the saw is pretty well tuned. It's just that the resulting cut surface undulates from the vibration of the blade.
thanks.
Tufenhundel
it could be your belts that are causeing the problem.
I have found when working with a dual belt you realy cant match two belts together,theres always slop (one belt is always slightly longer or shorter than the other)
I suggest geting a dual belt , its one belt that is precut , the belts are made as one then you cut them apart,so thay are exactly the same size.
that may stop your viberateing .
good luck.I hope that fixs your problem. if not check your barrings.
Again Good Luck.
C.A.G.
It's been a long time since ot happened so I can laugh about it now but what happened was I put a 2 horse motor on my bandsaw without thinking to check the motor speed.
I switched it on and it threw off the blade with a big bang.I figured I just screwed up with installing the blade so i flicked the switch with no blade installed and the wheel spun fast enough to throw off the tire with centrifical force. I figure it was around 8500 fpm or so.Fortunatly it never wrecked any flesh just the little catch that keeps the door closed and a new blade.So I have it down to a reasonable speed now and it works great and I have another lesson learned the hard way. hoo haww Rik
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