Need help with bandsaw...

[Stomis]

Pretty furious, Ive gone through 4 blades in the last 2 weeks with my bandsaw. The blade that came with it lasted almost a year of constant use, now Ive been through $60 in replacements in no time. Granted I know the replacement blades at northern tool cant be very good because theyre the same brand harbor freight sells but seriously wtf. How do I diagnose whats wiping blades out?

 

[sweetk30]

to much heat / pressure / cut to fast / tooth count wrong for material .

i noticed chain store lenex port-a-band blades are 3 to a box @ xxx price . my local welding supply shop has lenex non white painted 5 to a box for around 10 bucks extra . i am going to try them next round . better price point per blade .

if they dont work these will be next . https://www.sawblade.com/

 

[Stomis]

to much heat / pressure / cut to fast / tooth count wrong for material .

i noticed chain store lenex port-a-band blades are 3 to a box @ xxx price . my local welding supply shop has lenex non white painted 5 to a box for around 10 bucks extra . i am going to try them next round . better price point per blade .

if they dont work these will be next . https://www.sawblade.com/

Its just killing me because my first blade lasted so long, now same feed and speed and theyre just evaporating...

 

[beags86]

Breaking them in first?

 

[Stomis]

Breaking them in first?

Nope, now Im reading.... This was my first replacement and I just kinda chocked wiping a couple out to me jamming feet and feet of 1/8 and 1/4 in down its throat vertical making rips. But tonight I was making standard horizontal cuts on 1/8 wall tubing and toasted 2 blades....

 

[beags86]

Well that's it then. Saw blades need to be broken in first.
Google will tell you the rest.

 

[Fordum]

What are they doing? Breaking, or teeth going away?
All my experience has been with bandsaws in a couple of machine shops. Those machines had small welders built into the machine its self. The shop bought band saw blade material on a roll. When one broke or wore out, they would roll out the right length, and use the welder to weld the ends together and make a new blade.

 

[Fordum]

I ran across this manual for a bandsaw that has pretty good info about blades. Picking the right ones, and how to treat them. I think it starts about page 23. Tells how to pick them, how to set the tension, break them in, and how to read the chips.
http://cdn0.grizzly.com/manuals/g8145z_m.pdf

That outfit sells blades, but for a bigger selection, you might try this outfit. I know of several professional shops that buy supplies from them.

https://www.travers.com/bandsaw-blades/c/297656/

 

[tRustyK5]

I spent years running the saw in a fab shop. If you broke in the blade right it could last months in a production environment. Skip that step and you could chuck the blade in the bin by the end of the night.

I prefer a solid round chunk of mild steel for break in. Make sure there is a ton of lube flowing, set the feed to "mind numbingly slow" and let her buck in excruciatingly slow fashion. I kept a chunk of 4" solid round stock just for breaking in blades...

 

[rhinoblzr]

My Amada and starret blades last forever. But yeah, trustyk5 is right super slow break in. Also you need the right blade for the job your doing. I have six blades I change out depending on what I'm cutting. Titanium etc.

 

[beags86]

I spent years running the saw in a fab shop. If you broke in the blade right it could last months in a production environment. Skip that step and you could chuck the blade in the bin by the end of the night.

I prefer a solid round chunk of mild steel for break in. Make sure there is a ton of lube flowing, set the feed to "mind numbingly slow" and let her buck in excruciatingly slow fashion. I kept a chunk of 4" solid round stock just for breaking in blades...

What kind of saw?
I ran a HEM saw. Boringest job ever.

 

[Stomis]

This all makes sense to be honest btw. When I first got the bandsaw me and my partner were using it super slow feed and super slow blade speed because we had no idea what were we doing and didnt want to wipe the blade. Then we realized we could go fast and slowly increased it until the thing was basically flat out, fastest speed and barely any spring taking arm weight off of it. And it ran like that for like I said almost a year. The real kicker here is I changed the original blade for no reason.... My friend said jeeze how long has that blade lasted and I decided it was a good idea to change it, then threw it out....

Im gonna order a couple of the 10-14 bimetal blades from the supplier k30 listed and see how they are. They seem like they take their blade science serious.

 

[beags86]

As you just learned, if the blade is cutting, no reason to change it.

Looks like your on the right path. I would guess the saw has a auto off.
I would set the thing to the slowest possible setting and walk away. Do that a couple times and you should be set. ( Depending on what's in there -- Cut something with some weight per foot to it)

 

[datmony]

Go to a local supplier, tell them your saw type, speeds, and materials as well as the type of cut and they will make you a blade. They are no more expensive and will be perfect for the material at hand. Completely agree as well on different blades per application. I have different ones for shapes versus straight cuts, different materials, etc.

 

[tRustyK5]

What kind of saw?
I ran a HEM saw. Boringest job ever.

I ran one similar to this:

https://www.doallsaws.com/sawing-machines/structural/400m

It isn't a high production saw, and most all the work I ever did with it wasn't production. It was a pretty accurate saw though, as long as everything was set up decently...

It was set up near a small receiving area so I'd get a cut started and then go back to logging mill certs and checking in and marking up materials while keeping half an eye on the saw. Kinda boring, but it wasn't full time.

 

[beags86]

Thankfully mine wasn't full time either. I was just a fill in if the saw guy wasn't around.

It appears that I ran one slightly bigger.

http://www.hemsaw.com/?page_id=1698&sid=72

Ours was also tied to a peddinghaus beam punch. We used the computer on the infeed to CNC the cut length.
At the time we set that up ('09) we were the only setup like that. Typically peddinghaus used the probe to measure on the outfeed side, the problem with that is, that stupid sh!t operators would occasionally cut the probe right off the datum line.
My bosses wanted to avoid that since we were setting up a brand system.
Peddinghaus had to develop some parts for our system, and have since started to build and market that setup.
Kinda cool to be part of the process and say you got to pioneer it I guess.