Band Saw

I like so many others here are preparing my workshop (read that as garage) to begin building my RV-7A. I plan on ordering my tail kit in the next couple of weeks or so. One item I am still lacking is a band saw. What should I watch out for? I am firm believer in "you get what you pay for," but I have to believe a reasonably priced band saw can do the job. I see all these 9" models for $100-$125, but then they jump to 14" for $175-$200+. What's necessary vs what's gravy?

Mike
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Mike Frazier
RV-7A
Ft Worth, TX

try converting a wood band saw

I've got a cheat band saw. What a waste of money. Your right about a big jump in prices to get a proper 14" band saw. Check out Jet band saws. There are from China but make a very sturdy band saw that you can get a three speed kit for. Most band saws under 1500.00 are for wood and single speed. By converting a 14" saw to three speeds it makes an acceptable saw for under 500.00.

Mike,
Depends what you are cutting.
A basic $99 Delta 9 inch one (single speed) will work well for aluminum with a fairly coarse wood cutting blade. This gives a quick cut, won't clog the teeth with alum., but won't give a smooth cut.
This saw, even with a so-called metal cutting blade, won't work on steel parts. The coarse blade makes it lousy for thin sheet, so use your snips (or a cut off wheel in an angle die grinder) instead.

The goal is to get a quick, rough cut in 1/8 angles and equivalent alum. parts, and then use a sanding disk or belt to get it smooth and to the final size, and then a quick polish on the grinder mounted scotchbrite wheel.

This 3 step process is quick and easy, and I made it even easier by mounting all three tools on a small square table... you can just move around the table from one tool to the next.
Since the saws are designed for wood, frequent vacuuming is needed to remove metal chips from the innards...

...hope this helps ...gil in Tucson

I bought my band saw from Lowes. It is a Delta and cost $89. I did buy a new 15 tooth per inch blade which makes cutting through aluminum very easy. You will definitely appriciate having a band saw when it comes time to cut your stiffeners.

Well it sounds like a good 9" will work.

Gil, I would love to see your 3 station table. Sounds like a good economical way to get it done, and that's always good.

Mike

The best way to cut the stiffeners is to get some AL Vice jaw protectors and clamp the stiffeners in the AL jaws and scribe them with a Stanley utility knife with a good sharp blade. Scribing 4 or 5 times, they will snap apart. Any AL sheet parts (up to 0.040) with straight cuts can be done this way. Then just dress them up on a 5" sanding disc. I did all my rudder and elevator stiffeners in about 1 hour this way. The Delta 5" disc with 1" belt sander is a great tool and is fairly cheap ($75). The shaping you can do with this tool is amazing.

Most of the AL you will be cutting is the bar stock and angle. I used a cheap chop saw with a cutoff wheel from Home Depot ($75). Very fast and straight. The band saws tend to drift through the AL and does not cut very straight. Long pieces are hard to cut 'cause the throat of the saw is never deep enough. Once cut, the sanding disc, belt sander, and scotch brite wheel finishes them up.

Sorry about my messy shop. Too busy flying!!!!

Hope this helps,

Roberta

$10 14" band saw

I got lucky and found a cheep three wheel 14" band saw at a gragage sale for $10. That and some 18TPI blades from www.ebandsawblades.com have worked out great.

The more you pay for a band saw the the stiffer it is, for cutting thin stock like our aluminum, that isn't so important, throat depth is the biggest problem for us.

The key is slowing the blade down and getting some fine blades. The above mentioned 18 TPI blades in 1/4" width seem to work very well.

When I finish the -9 I figure it will be ready for the trash but the price was right and it works good.

As for cutting the stiffners, I mark the line with my pen then just sand them down on the disk sander. Some times I cut them on the band saw first but either way they go really quick.

Tsquare

My recommendations are if you're going to buy a bandsaw, get one with more than a 9" throat. Several times, I wished I had done so. I do like Roberta's techniques. Clever!

On the subject of band saws......

I recently bought a Ryobi @ Home Depot, which is an equivalent of the Delta that most people are mentioning...about $90-$100.

I bought new blades for the aluminum stock, and it works fine. HOWEVER, my saw is only one speed: fast.

Question: Shouldn't I be able to hardwire in some sort of speed control? Similar to say, a light dimmer? Rotate a little bit to slow down the speed? I am fairly knowledgable about basic electricity (wired my own home, etc.) but when it comes to deviating away from standard 110 or 220, I ask questions before acting. Can anyone help? Thanks!

Roberta, Cool idea, love the chop saw. That would be a lot better/ faster/ straighter than a band-saw, I might pick one of those up.

TxAviator, I'm just a couple steps ahead of you on the subject of electricity but I'm pretty sure that its bad news to put a motor on a dimmer. The dimmers make square waves and the motors will burn up pretty quickly. Having said that, when I wired up my darkroom I got a special "motor control" dimmer to put on my exhaust fan. It was about $25 at Lowes by the bathroom fans. So it might be possible.

Jeff

Mike,
The work table idea for all three tools I mentioned (and the drill press I didn't mention) is a Tony Bingelis idea from one of his books.
A Google search found this nice picture...

http://mthobby.pcperfect.com/ch601/chtools.htm

It's the first picture down. I made my table just a few inches wider than the one in the pic.

Long, thin items (such as angle stock) can easily be cut on a 9" band saw... it just takes two steps. First cut is oversize at an angle, with the excess against the band saw on the left side.. Then the good part is easily handled, with the long part hanging out to the right, making a nice, easy second cut.
Takes longer to explain than to actually do it...:^)

The chop saw is a neater idea, but adds more $$$$

...gil in Tucson

I made a similar tool cart, but a little larger and I put it on wheels. I even mounted a power strip to one leg. Very handy. I got the idea from someone else, I think Jim Piavis.


As you can see, I have the Delta band saw and picked up a metal blade for it at Lowes. It's worked great so far.

A chop saw would be handy for cutting chunks off of the long angles. In fact, I tried using mine at one point, but didn't have the right blade for it.
http://www.dualrudder.com/rv7/2005/02/22/530

If you're building a slow-build fuselage, there are numerous intricate cuts that need to be made. If I had to choose between a chop saw and a band saw, I'd go with the band saw.

Dave

Just a word of added caution. I used a chop saw with a cutoff wheel with great success, but it can be dangerous when cutting small parts. A smaller piece can get launched by the wheel. A good band saw is a lot safer, but also has some limitations in the size of the pieces you need to cut, as the throat limits your length of cut. I used both when making the parts for my RV. I found that the band saw tended to drift and skew when cutting thicker bar and angle stock. That is where the chop saw was a better choice. Also angle cuts were easier using the chop saw. Not everyone has both. Forced to make a choice, go for a "QUALITY" band saw with "QUALITY" metal cutting blades. Feeding slowly will help alleviate drifting and skewing of cuts.

Again, a disk/belt sander with 60 grit on the disk and 100 on the belt will be very handy for shaping parts. Have a bucket of water close by to dip hot parts in and always wear leather or cloth/leather gloves and safety glasses or goggles when cutting and shaping metal.

Keep those fingers and eyes where they belong and happy building and happier flying,

Roberta

Band saw size

Check the availability of blades. You need 10tpi - 14-tpi. Some models use odd lengths which are harder to find (wiht 10-14 tpi) or are more costly. My 12" sears uses a 80" length only available from Sears locally. Harbor freight and other local tool houses don't have it. Blade price is also higher for the larger model saws but may last a little longer with a longer running length. I pay about $12-$14 a blade. So a 9" model blade might be 1/2 that. Any band saw is great, 9", 12", 14" , but the large saws do take up more room. My 12" takes up same space and a 14" would not fit as well for the room I have. For the most part you are cutting small pieces as I recall, and the throat depth was rarely a problem. I picked up my 12" sears at a garage sale for about $80 is of good quality, has lots of adjustments and parts should be easy to get. Although I have had it about 15 year and the blades are the only thing to wear out. I think the band saw is a MUST HAVE and 9" is OK, but when it comes to tools alwasy get the best you can afford. You will get your use out of it. George