DoAll Bandsaw for Brian

[Brian Rupnow]

Friday I drove to Toronto and bought a DoAll bandsaw and a new VFD to drive it from a used machinery dealer. It fit nicely into my F150 pickup truck, and with many tie down straps it rode happily 100 km. from Toronto to my house in Barrie. It is HUGE compared to my old bandsaw, and the tricky part was getting it offloaded from my truck. I had a really bad experience with machinery movers when I bought my lathe five years ago. I had unloaded it from my truck and called the movers. Two giant men came, moved my lathe in about fifteen minutes, and charged me $500. NOT going to do that ever again. So---Today I spent an hour welding up a machine specific device to attach to the end of my engine hoist and unloaded it by myself. Everything went fine, I didn't get hurt, I didn't damage anything on the machine, and it's in my garage. It's 90 degrees outside, and my digital camera fogged up instantly when I took it outside to take pictures. I don't know a lot about this machine yet, but the place I bought it from did turn it on and show me that it did work on three phase. I will post more about it as I learn more about it myself.---Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

First question---The new saw has wheels 1.010" wide x 16" diameter, and the blade on it was 1/2" wide. Can I safely run 3/4" wide blades on it. I don't cut curves, and the 3/4" wide blades are what I have always ran on my smaller converted wood cutting bandsaw.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

My wife took some pictures with her phone camera. Bloody thing works better than my digital camera!!

 

[Brian Rupnow]

After scrambling around unloading the machine from my pickup truck, I finally got wound down enough to look for the model number. It is a model 1612-U with 16" wheels. Although many places like ebay are trying to sell manuals for these machines, I found a manual for this machine put out by the USA army that seems to be free. My new VFD is being shipped to me on Monday or Tuesday, and I have to figure out how to wire it up and get the machine running. There definitely is a connection between the blade guides and the width of blade that can be used. I need to buy a new blade, but have to research this more ---I don't want to buy a bi-metal blade that won't run on this machine because it is too wide.

 

[Chiptosser]

you'll love it, looks like a 16" Mine is a military model from Canada, came from Ingelis (spel) they made appliances.

 

[cds4byu]

My new VFD is being shipped to me on Monday or Tuesday, and I have to figure out how to wire it up and get the machine running.

Brian, if you haven't done a VFD conversion yet, I'd be happy to help you with it. Basically, you need to run the VFD output directly to the motor, and connect all the controls in the saw to the DC control inputs of the VFD.

Carl

 

[almega]

Nice looking machine. Yes you can use wider blades, probably up to 1" to 1-1/2" as long as the blade guides will adjust to accommodate. I had an old Boice Crane band saw with 20" x 1" wheels and tires and I used to use 1-1/2" blades to resaw figured wood for marquetry projects that I did in my misspent youth. Never had a problem as the guides are what impacts the blade alignment at the point of the work piece nor did I have any problems with excess stress on the blades due to the wheel over lap. Do be sure you have clearance in the enclosure so you don't contact that and cut a hole in it.

 

[Gordon]

Interesting. With this conversation on Brian's saw I took another look at mine and discovered that the saw is two years older than I am. Saw built in 1938. The fact that it is still working says something about how well the saw was made.

I have only ever used 1/2" blades. If another size is used you are supposed to change the guides.

 

[almega]

If another size is used you are supposed to change the guides.

I am not so sure about changing the guides so much as resetting their adjustment. That is all I ever had to do with mine and I used blades from 1/8" up to 1-1/2". Perhaps your saw is different and a complete change is needed, though I would think most manufacturers would design their equipment to be somewhat flexible in that area.

 

[Gordon]

I am not so sure about changing the guides so much as resetting their adjustment. That is all I ever had to do with mine and I used blades from 1/8" up to 1-1/2". Perhaps your saw is different and a complete change is needed, though I would think most manufacturers would design their equipment to be somewhat flexible in that area.

The parts list shows different guides for different blade width. This is the hardened friction guide which is set at 45° to the blade. I have always used 1/2" blades and the guides which I have never changed are marked for 3/8". I am not sure how critical this is. I suspect that a lot of saws are being run with different blade width without changing the guides. The guides seem to be rather expensive at about $20 each and four are required. I am sure that most folks here would just make their own.

 

[almega]

My saw actually had bearings as guides with one on each side that could be adjusted for blade thickness and moved forward and back to keep clear of the teeth. There was a third bearing that was at the rear of the blade to prevent it moving back when pressure was applied to make a cut to keep the blade from drifting back to the point where the teeth could contact the side guide bearings and that bearing could be moved forward and back to accommodate varying blade widths.

 

[Gordon]

This is what is on my saw and what is shown in the parts manual. There are other aftermarket blade guides that I have seen.

 

[almega]

Gordon - I see what you mean. There is no adjustability on your guide so you have no choice but to use different guides when you change blades. Mine was similar to this Rockwell set up with one below the table and one above that was adjustable up and down to accommodate material thickness.
https://www.sawblade.com/product-de...BWRiZGaox2Zj6feg_hUvK0sYSeNrWvH4aApBaEALw_wcB

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Gordon---My saw has the same set up, but I think the bearing is seized up on mine. I am still in "finding things out" mode here.---Brian

 

[Gordon]

Gordon---My saw has the same set up, but I think the bearing is seized up on mine. I am still in "finding things out" mode here.---Brian

My bearing failed so I just put a new standard bearing in. Apparently the original uses as standard bearing with a hardened cap over the bearing. Mine did not have a cap as least when it failed. The bearing I used has been installed for a couple of years and I have a spare so I will probably be OK. Others apparently have made a cap.

FYI The guide is .500 wide x 2 7/16 lg x .510 thk for 5/8 blade and .620 thk for 3/4 blade. They should be fairly easy to make from tool steel.

 

[SpringHollow]

My wife took some pictures with her phone camera. Bloody thing works better than my digital camera!!

You never told us you were a wizard capable of levitating your machines with your red magic wand!

 

[almega]

He must be a wizard because he seems to have worked his magic on his wife to allow him to make all these fancy purchases.

 

[trlvn]

It is HUGE compared to my old bandsaw

Just curious what you had before and why you were looking to upsize?

Craig

 

[Brian Rupnow]

trlvn---my old bandsaw is a 16" wood cutting bandsaw which I have modified to cut metal by adding a third jackshaft and pulleys to, so it will run slower. It works, and works very well, but if you "lean on" the metal at all, the belts slip. I've been going to tighten the belts up for the last three months, but never got to it. I got a surprise engineering design job with about two weeks work in it, so decided to take my "windfall" money and buy a real metal cutting bandsaw.

 

[awake]

Brian, if you haven't done a VFD conversion yet, I'd be happy to help you with it. Basically, you need to run the VFD output directly to the motor, and connect all the controls in the saw to the DC control inputs of the VFD.

Carl

If I am seeing correctly, there is a blade welder on this machine. Would that need 3-phase, or would it run off of single-phase?