Band saw.

phat46 · February 17, 2016, 05:15:11 PM

I am helping move the die shop where I used to work to a smaller location. They are selling excess equipment very cheap ( they sold a nice medium sized mill for $150) I am buying a 12" bandsaw and a 4" belt sander for $30 ea. The bandsaw was setup to cut wood, if I can slow it down it would work o.k. for metal, correct?

papastoyss · February 17, 2016, 05:45:55 PM

There have been several discussions about this over on the Hamb.One poster said he used the speed controls (reostat) from a treadmill he found in a dumpster to regulate blade speed.

chimp koose · February 17, 2016, 05:46:02 PM

might have to change the blade as wood saws usually have a lower tooth count I think . How big was the mill?

kb426 · February 17, 2016, 08:07:23 PM

I put a dc motor with vfd drive on mine. You can use pulleys but if you do repeated speed changes you will be wanting something else.

phat46 · February 17, 2016, 08:20:06 PM

Quote from: "chimp koose"might have to change the blade as wood saws usually have a lower tooth count I think . How big was the mill?

Yeah definitely have to change the blade, luckily they have miles of steel cutting blade too, there used to be 6-8 guys at bandsaws all day cutting 2" 4140. I don't know how to size mills, the one they sold was smaller than the big ones we had but bigger than the typical ones you see in home shops. Our machinist bought it for his home shop.

chimp koose · February 17, 2016, 09:55:14 PM

Usually size a mill by the size of the table . I am looking for a mill but keep finding stuff that would cost more to ship than to buy . nearly bought an excello 48x9 mill from the west coast until the shipping quote came .Some exercise equipment have fairly powerful motors that are single phase. The ideal mill for me would be 48x9 2HP single phase w/pwr feed on x axis and a digital readout. R8 taper and a long quill feed. head that tilts and nods.The tools that come with are the real deal makers . Vice . collets , boring head and a carbide face mill sweeten the deal if included.I have considered getting a horizontal mill and adapting a vertical head to it but would rather USE the machine than reinvent it. Nice thing about the vertical mills is that they usually have power feed in x.y.and z . Not too practical if not converted to vertical . Horizontal mills with vertical adapters do not allow the vertical head to nod

chimp koose · February 17, 2016, 10:02:29 PM

Most drill mills as they call the small ones only have a couple of inches of quill travel . The entire head must be raised or lowered rather than the table. good for little stuff

UGLY OLDS · February 17, 2016, 10:13:23 PM

Joe .... Sent you a PM ...

Bob ..

enjenjo · February 18, 2016, 12:20:35 AM

My mill is a Bridgeport J2, 9 by 48. I paid $500.50 for it on a blind bid. I just bought a set of boring heads, straight shank to fit in my R8 collets, and a precision boring head for the fine work.

Sawblade .com has a good deal on custom blades with free shipping over $150. I received 9 bimetal blades, custom length, for just over $150

phat46 · February 18, 2016, 09:23:59 PM

Quote from: "UGLY OLDS"Joe .... Sent you a PM ...

Bob ..

Thanks, got it.

phat46 · February 19, 2016, 01:34:46 PM

We still have one bigger mill left at the shop, the one I loaded on a truck bound for Canada the other day weighed about 4500lbs, this one is a little smaller. The bed on it measures 15 X 74. They are asking $3000 for it, but they have to move soon, I know they would take $2000. Shipping would be a killer, I'm sure this thing weighs 3000#. They sold a surface grinder today and gave me enough stuff to fill a pickup. The stuff that is going to scrap nearly made me cry, I watched three surface plates, one freshly ground, go in a dumpster...I got no room.

chimp koose · February 19, 2016, 05:17:08 PM

Isnt it a shame to see good equipment go to waste.Shipping from your area to mine would be way more than the mill. I just keep looking , I would like a mill at home before I retire and that seems to be a few years away yet so no rush.

phat46 · February 26, 2016, 04:11:27 PM

I think I got lucky. The band saw I bought has a box on the back to access the upper pullies.
When I opened it I saw there is another, Larger pulley above the ones being used. A little investigation, turning the saw on, shows this pulley spins at about on tenth the speed of the others....all I need is a belt long enough to go over this pulley and it will go plenty slow enough for metal. 👍