/g/4x6bandsaw

Re: Blade life

bill_1955@... (Bill Armstrong) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 13:18:35 -0700

All of them break beyond where they were ground.

The Irwins break at about the same place. If they are going to go, they will generally go where the heat got to them, be it ever so slight.

Re: Blade life

animal@... (mike allen) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 13:16:45 -0700

64 1/2

On 3/30/25 11:14 AM, Jack Dinan wrote:

Re: Blade life

vreededesign@... (John Vreede) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 12:31:54 -0700

Bill re: breaking next to the weld

You should take back any blade that breaks 'at', (within the area that's been grounded to remove weld flash), the weld. That's a weld fault, not annealed properly. Any reseller worth their salt will accept this as a genuine manufacturing defect.

The breakage from cyclic stress I was on about, happens anywhere else - jv

Re: Blade life

bill_1955@... (Bill Armstrong) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 11:35:50 -0700

It’s the correct blade for my Grizzly 5�� x 6��, and most 4�� x 6�� saws.

The dim’s are in the link. Check your dim’s, but that’s probably it.

Other Bill

Re: Blade life

jack@... (Jack Dinan) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 11:14:51 -0700

Bill: is the blade size that comes up in your link the correct one for our 4 x 6 saws?

Re: Blade life

bill_1955@... (Bill Armstrong) — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 05:56:32 -0700

Heed the Vreede! What he says is absolutely correct!

That said, I use these. https://lacuttingproducts.com/product/5-4-1-2-x-1-2-x-025-x-10-14-diemaster-2/

These are great folks at LA Cutting. I've been buying from them for several years. They also sell on eBay.

The Lenox blades hold up longer than the other brands I have tried, and are well worth the cost. I cut a lot of harder steel alloys. I use Lenox blades on my portaband saw as well.

When they do go, they are generally still cutting okay, but they break next to the weld, like most of them do.

Other Bill

Re: Blade life

mark21056@... (Mark) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:31:49 -0700

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 10:07 AM, davesmith1800 wrote:

When started I did not know all the little tricks like band saw

In my opinion too much downward pressure on the blade from the blade guide top bearing is responsible most blade breakage. The bearings need to barely touch the blade unless you are cutting.

Re: Blade life

davesmith1@... (davesmith1800) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:07:36 -0700

Thank you

The adjust can pain Starrett make bandsaw blade alignment jig.

I clamp a short piece of flat bar just above teeth on the blade and use a square.

I hate if any plays with the blade adjustment.

When started I did not know all the little tricks like band saw I thinking buying a new saw at one point till got adjusted.

Dave

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 07:04 AM, Mark wrote:

Re: Blade life

davesmith1@... (davesmith1800) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:30:09 -0700

Thank you everyone for your response.

I think this great saw for both shop and home use.

My first saw I purchased from ww grainger in 1970’s I would wear out the blades.

Today none ever make nob statistics.

Right I am trying Home Depot blades.

Not like the good old days .

Dave

FYI

This my third 4x6 so like size the other two was overly used 8 hours a day 5 days a week. All three saw was setup for sawhourse Hight and on 2 large wheels so we could roll the saw where someone was doing saw and work same time.

Use first two where motor was replaced .

When sold business the saw went and I purchased a new saw from HF in 2005.

Info I found out

For employees I found out the motor pulley was replaced with a single Grove pulley and the blade guide was locked too. Only used coolant for cutting aluminum just put hole saw in a big pan less coolant on the floor. Tips Less headaches for me and less playing by the employees.

Re: Blade life

mark21056@... (Mark) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:04:27 -0700

I've been using Imachinist blade from Amazon. The current blade on my saw is about a year old. After aligning the blade guides several years ago I have never had a weld break. I'm on my 3rd blade now and the only issue I have had is teeth breaking on their variable pitch 10-14 TPI. The current blade it 14 TPI and honestly it seems as sharp as it did a year ago. I wish there was a way to quantify how much steel I have cut. It not used in a business but it has cut a LOT of steel. The blade guides on these saws are not the best. They work well but they are not easy to set correctly. I had to mill the slot on the back of mine to achieve good alignment.

Mark

Re: Blade life

crs6951@... (MrWhoopee) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 06:52:52 -0700

I've had good luck with these. Never a broken blade.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071L256X6

Re: Blade life

vreededesign@... (John Vreede) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 02:58:55 -0700

Sorry Dave, blades that don't crack first don't exist. Unfortunately its actually built into the design of 4x6.

Engineering-wise, repeated stress cycles induce cracks in any tensioned member, if the stress is high enough or its cycled long enough.

Bandsaw blades get put under repeated stress cycles when they:

bend around the bandwheels and straighten out again,
bend across their width when tracking onto the top wheel and
are twisted through the guides,

This happens whether the blade is cutting or not!

The critical thing is how much the blade bends in relation to its thickness, the thicker the blade the worse it gets for a given bandwheel diameter.

There used to be (pretty sure it doesn't exsit now) an industry association called the 'Hack and Bandsaw Manufacturers Association of America' who published minimum recommended bandwheel diameters for each thickness of blade. For our 0.025" thick blade, the minimum diameter bandwheel is supposed to be just under 12"! Most 4x6's run 7 3/8" to 7 1/2". That means the 4x6 bandwheels are less than 2/3 of the size they should be for blades to last.

As a consequence they all crack. Doesn't matter whether they are bimetal or carbon steel (though maybe carbon steel might last a wee bit longer as the steel is not as hard - I haven't tested that)

And they crack in a surprisingly short time. I set up tests with 6 identical brand new bimetal blades, tracking properly on one of my saws that had its guides removed, so the only cyclic stresses were the bending around the bandwheels and tracking on the top wheel and varied the tension from 15000psi to 27500psi (lowest recommended tension for carbon steel to mid-point tension for bimetal blades) in 2500psi steps and ran continuously until they failed.

I was expecting more than a week, but the longest lasted 56hrs and the shortest 21hrs! I dye-penetrant crack tested them; each blade had 20-40 cracks, all starting from the gullet of the teeth.

These were cheap Chinese manufactured BiChamp brand, So I thought maybe its because my saw is so old (1987) and the blades are Chinese, so I bought a US-made Starrett blade and ran it, at the tension that gave 56hrs result before, on a new saw (yr2000 RF128). It lasted only 8hr (eight hours) of continuous running and did not break at the weld. This could have been a defective blade (but I'd paid top dollar for it!).

I have not been able to find any set of conditions or adjustments or any modification that significantIy extends blade life.

This sucks, but its a fact - jv

Re: Blade life

animal@... (mike allen) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 22:48:54 -0700

I hace a Bosch blade from LOWES ON MY 4 X 6 FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW & shows no sigh of giving it up yet .( Damn caps lock )

I think it was like 13.99 when I bought it

animal

On 3/28/25 8:59 PM, davesmith1800 wrote:

Re: Blade life

shepherd4421@... (Sam Shepherd) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 22:24:37 -0700

Sure how soon do you need it?

Re: New stand and coolant added

jhframe@... (Jim Frame) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 21:23:46 -0700

It looks like it's capable of poppin' a wheelie, though. After that happened to me -- fortunately nothing broke -- I set my rear wheels back far enough that a runaway blade lift won't flip the saw over.

Re: New stand and coolant added

vreededesign@... (John Vreede) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:59:53 -0700

I like it! Wide enough RHS and long enough to all catch drips - jv

Blade life

davesmith1@... (davesmith1800) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:59:19 -0700

Does anyone make saw blade that last before breaking and Low cost

Dave

Re: New stand and coolant added

tangell@... (Tom Angell) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:01:18 -0700

Kudos! Great work. I’m envious!

New stand and coolant added

alned03@... (Old Boilermaker) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 17:44:27 -0700

Re: gear box on a Dayton

crs6951@... (MrWhoopee) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 21:13:35 -0700

Straight 30wt. as God and Ferry Porsche intended.

90 wt. for the saw, tranny and reduction boxes. I can smell that sh*t in my sleep