Are you plagued by breaking band saw blades? This unfortunate event often occurs with brand new blades. Sharp new blades need to be broken in before attending their first job.
Band saw blades break when you are not treating them correctly. In order to break in your new blade, reduce the feed pressure to half of the normal band speed. Do this for the first fifty inches of material being cut (150 inches if you are cutting low or mild carbon steel). Do you need to know what your correct band speed is? Read on to learn how to calculate the correct band speed for your blade.
You need to learn your SFPM (surface feet per minute) in order to calculate your band speed.
Go to http://vintagemachinery.org/math/sfpm.aspx to calculate this easily. You will need your motor rpm, your motor pulley diameter, wheel pulley diameter, and band wheel diameter.
If you have issues with inaccurate cuts, it may be the aforementioned improperly broken in blade. Here we site some other reasons your cuts come out incorrect: dull blade, the guide arms stationed too far apart or not properly aligned, damaged roller or carbide guides, a heavy feed rate, a slow speed, or the vise grip being out of square. Dull teeth can be caused by an improperly broken in blade, inconsistent flow, improper speeds, coolant concentration, or incorrect tooth pitch. All in all, it takes some practice to use and care for band saw blades.
Don’t hesitate to ask us if you need some advice.