Bandsaw blade

[fla jim]

Well. I got my blade stock in from Wholesale tool yesterday afternoon.
Here's my sojourn into the wounderful world of bandsaw blades
I followed the directions from the Beaumont sight.
After I cut the blade stock to 64 1/2", I clamped the two ends together with the teeth facing opposite directions.

[fla jim]

Then I ground and tapered the ends at an angle.

[fla jim]

Here it is clamped in the jig.

[fla jim]

I used a O/A torch with a #2 tip

[fla jim]

I brazed the first side.

[fla jim]

I turned the blade over, reclamped it and brazed the other side

[fla jim]

I ground excess filler off of both side of the blade with a dremel tool

[fla jim]

Here's the blade cutting off a piece of 1.75" d pump shaft

[fla jim]

Finally here's the cut piece.
This worked out much better than I thought it might. A neautral flame on the torch, melting flux coating from the rod into the joint, prior to applying filler worked good the filler sucked right into the joint:cool2:
I can say that can't I Franz?:blush:

[cutter]

Looks like you done good, Jim. I'm sure you'll keep us posted on the durability.
What kind of steel is it?

[fla jim]

I got a 100' roll of Starrett 1/2" x .025" x 14TPI "Flexback". I figuired that for what I do 14TPI would be a good compromise.

[Wareznorth]

Hey jim can I have permission to put together a bit of a lesson with your pictures on My web site?

[fla jim]

Go ahead, I don't have any problem at all.
But!! in the interest of truth of advertising, I got the idea from this sight;
http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/index.html

[1911Man]

Jim-Nice job. Looks like tth jig and process worked just as you thought. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up. If the test piece is any indicator you're home free.

[gnewby]

Jim nice project, I am planning on buying a bi-metal varible pitch blade as the next blade for my bandsaw. I was wondering what pitch most of you are running on these blades 10-14 or 14-18?

I was in TSC today and looked over their bandsaw blades as I was pretty sure a few days ago that the price there was quite a bit higher than at my local hardware store. At TSC the same Olsen brand blade was $10.00 higher than it is at my local hardware store. I looked over the package good to make sure it was not a bi-metal blade it wasn't. Sure a lot of price difference on the same blade. A week or two ago I was in the local hardware store, TSC and Orscheln's all in the same day and was surprised there was so much difference in the price of this blade. $9.95 at the hardware store. $14.00 at Orsheln's and $19.95 at TSC.

[fla jim]

Blade pitch depends on what thickness your going to cut. You should have at teast 3 teeth cutting material. If all you cut is solid material use the 10-14. If your cutting 1/4" or 3/16 wall tubing use the 14-18. Ideal, but expensive would be to have several different pitch blades.
I would recemend the 14-18 pitch for general use. Watch your blade and chips when cutting if cutting thick stock and the teeth appear to be filling with material. Slow down the feed, by screwing the feed rod, and putting more tension on the spring.
For most cutting I leave the speed at 120 FPM, the middle pulley.

[gnewby]

Thanks Jim, I have my saw set on the slowest pulley speed, and I have taken off the factory feed control and went with one I purchased off of e-bay it works good. Most of the steel I cut is about 1/8" to 1/4" so I would think that the 14- 18 would be the right blade. The original blade was 14 tooth and I have tried 18's and one 24 since then.

[Pat]

Jim,

Thanks for the photo's and description of your process. Now that I see the blade clamp you made, I am going to throw the cheesey piece of garbage I conjured up into the scrap bin and start over.............Good Job!

[Banzaitoyota]

Any chance of making/selling the blade clamp?

[7018]

Jim have u ever looked at the blade welder from HF 150.00 i wonder if its any good? thanks

[Dman033189]

Can I get a link from were you bought the blade from?

[Mike W]

Jim, try silver solder. You will like it better, trust me. :o