4x6 Bandsaw Tips

Making your bandsaw work for you!

At the Yahoo! e-group for the 4x6 bandsaw, there has been a great deal of neat info posted and I figured I would collect some of it into one place here. By all means this is not complete, but hey, it's a start.

One of the first things to do after assembling your saw is to drain and refill the gearbox oil. While the oil is out, visually inspect the worm gears for any nicks or damage that may be in there. Finding them early saves replacing them later (if you fix them).

If your blade is bouncing in the cut, and the spring tensioner is loose, try adding some weight to the end of the blade housing casting. I use a 16oz. claw hammer, and that helps quite a bit. A more permanent solution should be looked into.

Make sure and re-tension your blade between cuts. After cutting a few sets of 1" bar I noticed the saw wasn't working as well, and the tension handle took a couple more turns to make it come back. If the tension isn't there you can also have the blade bounce out of the tracking wheel. Another tip I've found on tensioning is to tighten down most of the way with the saw powered off. When you turn the saw on before you start cutting, tighten the handle once more to ensure it's tensioned. In order to get the 25k# deflection necessary, you have to crank it extremely hard.

Using a quality blade instead of the cheap one that's included can help a great deal. A bi-metal blade with a 10/14 variable tooth per inch setup seems to be the most popular choice. If you are routinely cutting large sections of metal, a lower tooth count blade may be in order. 6tpi, or the 6/8 tpi bimetal blade may work better.

Clamping you work down tightly with the built in vise can occasionally be a challenge. For round stock, an automotive hose clamp can be used to hold the material on the cutoff side of the blade.

Fluids, waxes, oils and cutting:

When cutting aluminum, you can skip out on fluids entirely if you wish. However, I've noticed that the saw cuts a bit better when I spray the blade with WD-40 right in front of the cut. Beeswax or Paraffin wax is also a good blade lubricant, I use an old candle and rub it along the side of the blade every minute or so, switching sides. This helps as well, and may be used with steel or brass as well.

There are a couple of commercial stick-wax type products that you can also get. These are applied similarly to the candle method, press against the blade for a few seconds. I've never used one but have heard that are a help.

For steel, some folks like to cut dry as well. Go slow, and monitor the cut to ensure it's not getting to hot if you do (you should always do this, btw). If you do want to use some fluid, cutting oils are the way to go. If you've modified your saw to use a coolant pump setup, I'd love to see a picture of it, so send it over! In any case, there are a number of commercial fluids you can get to try. Look for one that you can get rid of without calling out a Hazmat team. If you do a search on google you can find the commercial as well as home-brew solutions (which may or may not work, and may or may not kill you). The consensus is that fluid can help make your blade last longer when used correctly. If you have used a 4x6 saw and regularly use a cutting fluid with it, please let me know here or at the yahoo! 4x6bandsaw group. thanks.