My suggestion for mastering the annealing is to try it in dim
light and get a feel of how long and how frequently you need to
push the button to get the blade to start to turn dark red: when
you get the weld at that temperature, you start decreasing the
time/frequency of your pushing the anneal button for at least
twice the time you feel is necessary.
Start with a chunk of an old blade (even if it is not circular,
it does not matter, unless in real life you're trying to weld
20-30" long blades - i.e. even shorter than what is used by a
portaband): anneal a portion and try to bend it. If it doesn't
break, bingo! Try to remember what you did and repeat it.
Paolo
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I think the plans are from a Popular Mechanics book my father
had 60 yrs ago, so it's pretty old technology.
Recently I got given a relatively new stand alone band saw
blade welder that had some faults and got it fixed by
electricians at a welder-service shop, but, alas, haven't had
much luck in getting good welds, mostly from my inability to
control the annealing.? I am assured the welder is as its maker
intended. It's not the first instance of blade butt welders
being difficult to get good results from, that?I've heard of.
My point is that you're maybe going to build an old design
welder that will be difficult to get all the right pieces for,
and then probably just as difficult to get working properly.??
I think you'd be better off spending a bit more time jigging
the blade for brazing, and then using the right braze (I'd be
using 630*C melting point silver solder). There are some neat
grinding jigs on YouTube to get the scarf right - jv
