Speaking of Bang For Your Buck

[Bob La Londe]

Some years back Grizzly advertised a wood and metal vertical bandsaw.
The title said 3 phase, but when I read it the thing was powered off
single phase using an internal VFD for phase conversion and speed control.

I thought I "needed" a vertical metal cutting saw in the shop so I
bought it. I admit I have cut metal with it. With the right blade it
is okay for aluminum, and marginally capable of mild steel cutting. I
have managed to make some cuts in alloy with it, but the torque at lower
surface speeds is so low you work harden it pretty quickly with the
light cuts you are forced to make and not stall the saw.

The last couple years when I needed a vertical for metal cutting I
tilted up one of the Harbor Freight horizontals. Even the little 4x6
horizontal band saw was a better vertical band saw than that much more
expensive Grizzly.

I sold that saw today for half what I paid for it to somebody who just
wants to cut wood with it. The most bang for the buck I got out of that
saw is the recovery of a few square feet of floor space.

[Jim Wilkins]

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:vg0t6n$2rop8$***@dont-email.me...
...
I thought I "needed" a vertical metal cutting saw in the shop so I
bought it. I admit I have cut metal with it. With the right blade it
is okay for aluminum, and marginally capable of mild steel cutting. I
have managed to make some cuts in alloy with it, but the torque at lower
surface speeds is so low you work harden it pretty quickly with the
light cuts you are forced to make and not stall the saw.
...
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

--------------------------
I had two nice Walker-Turners in the Mitre model shop, both with broken
gearboxes so they ran only at wood speed, and there was no budget for
repairs. The few times I put a new blade on some highly educated idiot would
soon try to cut a lawnmower blade or such with it. I discovered that the
toothless blade would still cut steel by friction heating.

At Segway at least there were no Ph.Ds who broke things in the shop, though
to stay on the shop manager's good side I usually had to clean up for myself
and everyone else who had used the machine before me.

My 4x6 is an older Delta from when they did things right. That's what I look
for in old machines.

[Bob La Londe]

Post by Bob La Londe
...
I thought I "needed" a vertical metal cutting saw in the shop so I
bought it.  I admit I have cut metal with it.  With the right blade it
is okay for aluminum, and marginally capable of mild steel cutting.  I
have managed to make some cuts in alloy with it, but the torque at lower
surface speeds is so low you work harden it pretty quickly with the
light cuts you are forced to make and not stall the saw.
...

I used to run a lot of communication cable in schools, net, phone,
video, tv, telemetry, etc. Often we would have the master keys working
at night or on the weekend. Except for a few dedicated teachers we
would have the place to ourselves. I recall in one maintenance shop
they had a gigantic old Rockwell (just said Rockwell I looked) vertical
band saw. I couldn't help but turn it on and make a couple cuts. Oh,
that was a serious machine. Nothing stopped it. I told the head IT guy
if he ever saw it at auction let me know. It sounded like it might have
had a bearing going, but for a machine like that I wouldn't care about
fixing it.

[Jim Wilkins]

Post by Bob La Londe
...
I thought I "needed" a vertical metal cutting saw in the shop so I
bought it. I admit I have cut metal with it. With the right blade it
is okay for aluminum, and marginally capable of mild steel cutting. I
have managed to make some cuts in alloy with it, but the torque at lower
surface speeds is so low you work harden it pretty quickly with the
light cuts you are forced to make and not stall the saw.
...

I used to run a lot of communication cable in schools, net, phone,
video, tv, telemetry, etc. Often we would have the master keys working
at night or on the weekend. Except for a few dedicated teachers we
would have the place to ourselves. I recall in one maintenance shop
they had a gigantic old Rockwell (just said Rockwell I looked) vertical
band saw. I couldn't help but turn it on and make a couple cuts. Oh,
that was a serious machine. Nothing stopped it. I told the head IT guy
if he ever saw it at auction let me know. It sounded like it might have
had a bearing going, but for a machine like that I wouldn't care about
fixing it.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff

------------------------------------------
I take it he never called.

Segway had a good bandsaw that I used to cut up chassis castings to make
mutants.

I disposed of older equipment from Mitre that I would have loved to own but
couldn't, a 14" South Bend long bed lathe and HP spectrum and vector network
analyzers. It was USAF property and schools got first pick. Now small cheap
SDR digital radio tuners can do the spectrum and vector analyzer functions
and I found a 10" SB that fits better in my small house.

My first bandsaw was a used 10" Sears whose lower bronze bearing had never
been oiled, so it wore egg-shaped and scored the drive shaft. A new shaft
was my first lathe project in night school, a simple job of threading one
end and cutting a keyway in the other. Then it worked well enough that I
converted it into a sawmill, which cut oak logs into clear lumber at the
numbing rate of half an hour for a 10" x 8' board.

When the neighbor parted out a damaged Kawasaki I grabbed the wheels for the
current sawmill, a rolling horizontal bandsaw with 24" wheels, a 16' long by
1-1/4" blade and the capacity to cut a beam 21" square and 20' long. The
hard part was lifting and moving that much wet wood, the round log weighed
4500 Lbs.

[Bob La Londe]

Post by Bob La Londe

Post by Bob La Londe
...
I thought I "needed" a vertical metal cutting saw in the shop so I
bought it.  I admit I have cut metal with it.  With the right blade it
is okay for aluminum, and marginally capable of mild steel cutting.  I
have managed to make some cuts in alloy with it, but the torque at lower
surface speeds is so low you work harden it pretty quickly with the
light cuts you are forced to make and not stall the saw.
...

I used to run a lot of communication cable in schools, net, phone,
video, tv, telemetry, etc.  Often we would have the master keys working
at night or on the weekend.  Except for a few dedicated teachers we
would have the place to ourselves.  I recall in one maintenance shop
they had a gigantic old Rockwell (just said Rockwell I looked) vertical
band saw.  I couldn't help but turn it on and make a couple cuts.  Oh,
that was a serious machine.  Nothing stopped it.  I told the head IT guy
if he ever saw it at auction let me know.  It sounded like it might have
had a bearing going, but for a machine like that I wouldn't care about
fixing it.

I usually get a happy "holiday" text from him for Christmas,
Thanksgiving, and Father's Day.

I bet they won't ever scrap that saw.

[Jim Wilkins]

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:vg62sm$3t2d5$***@dont-email.me...

I usually get a happy "holiday" text from him for Christmas,
Thanksgiving, and Father's Day.

I bet they won't ever scrap that saw.

Bob La Londe
----------------------------

Not those who know how to use one and value mechanical production skills at
least.
https://www.thoughtco.com/post-industrial-society-3026457
The fragility of it bothers me.

I wanted one with the blade welder on the side until I ran out of space. At
night school I soon became the assistant who maintained the bandsaw and
surface grinder. Another student whose father had a machine shop took care
of the lathes and Bridgeport. I was between high tech jobs and could come in
during the day as well, to work on restoring my AA lathe.