Hacksaw machine

Yet another hacksaw machine, this one is built from mostly second hand parts about two years ago.
Capacity is 4 inch square, stroke is 3 inches and speed is 125 cutting strokes per min.
I prefer the linear motion type instead of the rocking frame variety as it gives a better motion to the blade, so this design is dictated by the materials I had available and the need to make it using only a lathe and pillar drill.
The traditional method is to use hexagon bar but I already had some ¾ square bar available some 4 X 2 inch box channel and some 10mm alloy plate so a way of using all this was devised.
The motor is from an old cement mixer as is the Poly V drive belt, there are 10 ball races in total (all pre used but serviceable for this).
As is oblivious from the pics the blade frame rides under the guide arms on 4 races which take all the weight and the blade frame is keyed, bolted and welded as there is a lot of tension on this part. As is also apparent the frame would drop out when lifted so this was solved by two bronze discs on the top face which do no work except to keep things in place, all assemblies are pinned after set up alignment.
I had just enough hex bar for the vice part which helped, the large pulley is multi ply, this was machined and coated with resin and re-machined and mounted on a hub as I had run out of material for this,(a temporary measure which is still in service). Extra weights can be added but in practice are rarely needed and I have found the best blades are Eclipse Plus 30 bi metal HSS used dry as any lubricant seems to slow the cut.
I have just sliced of a piece of 2 inch EN8 bar which took under three minutes and is pretty accurate for this type of machine as long as care is taken in manufacture to make all faces square, I added a top guard from a piece of plastic pipe and the only purchased item has been a NVR switch working through an end of cut micro switch. I really wish I had made this years ago.

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nice one Dan. There are many things that when we eventually make them we wonder why we didn't do it yonks ago. I have often though about one of these but most of my steel cutting is tube and I use an abrasive wheel chop saw for that, or Aluminium and I use a carbide tipped wood saw blade in a chop saw for that. So I tell myself that I don't need one, rightly or wrongly I don't know.

Thanks Tony
It sounds as though you do all right without one, I tend to work with steels of dubious origin including stainless.
I have heard that Rage saw blades will cut just about any metals or wood but not tried them myself.
regards
Olderdan

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Thanks olderdan! We've added your Electric Hacksaw to our Hacksaws category,
as well as to your builder page: olderdan's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-electric-hacksaw"> <img src="/uploads/164061/homemade-electric-hacksaw.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-electric-hacksaw">Electric Hacksaw</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/olderdan">olderdan</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/hacksaw'>hacksaw</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/motor'>motor</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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Nice work- the linear motion was a great choice plus building things from what you have "in house" is ace in my book.

Any chance of liberating your Sketchup file on this project?

JohnMTO

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Originally Posted by JohnMTO

Nice work- the linear motion was a great choice plus building things from what you have "in house" is ace in my book.

Any chance of liberating your Sketchup file on this project?

JohnMTO

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Thanks John
I have tons of Sketchup files to scale but they are to large to upload on HMT, the hacksaw one is 13.2MB.
I do not want a Google account or Dropbox for privacy concerns but would otherwise be happy to share if there is another way.
Regards
Olderdad

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Originally Posted by olderdan

I do not want a Google account or Dropbox for privacy concerns but would otherwise be happy to share if there is another way.
Olderdad

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Alan,

I don't think that there are privacy concerns with Dropbox and it is free up to quite a lot of storage.
Another option would be a free website.

A zip file is pretty straight forward. I suggested this (by PM) to olderdan along with my email address.

JohnMTO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnMTO

A zip file is pretty straight forward. I suggested this (by PM) to olderdan along with my email address.

JohnMTO

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File sent to you John, hope it it is of some use to you.

hi od i`m in a bit of a confusion right now as you say capacity is 4 inch but stroke is just 3 seems to me some teeth can`t evacuate properly as they never see the light or is 4 inch tube? hope it`s just me and this is a non issue for solid material :)
asking bc this one is on my list for my home shop, have a couple bandsaws and cold saw in my "business" shop. but it`s a few km from home... this little one would fit the small room i have at home.
thanks for sharing man.
pete

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Originally Posted by penca

hi od i`m in a bit of a confusion right now as you say capacity is 4 inch but stroke is just 3 seems to me some teeth can`t evacuate properly as they never see the light or is 4 inch tube? hope it`s just me and this is a non issue for solid material :)
asking bc this one is on my list for my home shop, have a couple bandsaws and cold saw in my "business" shop. but it`s a few km from home... this little one would fit the small room i have at home.
thanks for sharing man.
pete

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Hi Pete
I was talking about solid material and the blade seems to clear the chips without clogging.
Probably the best thing for you is to watch Myfordboy's video on YouTube of his machine in action (he sells the plans also).
Regards
Olderdan

thanks od, went to yt and just watched the videos of myfordby, i knew the kennedy power hacksaw and what a fine repro has he made! pretty well thought and his results are spectacular! hope to get that accuracy if i make mine.
thank you for clearing that about the solid, if it works it works and i won`t ask much after that hahaha.
sorry i`ll ask another question and that is about blade tension, would you say comparable to a hacksaw or much more?
take care
pete

Quote:

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Originally Posted by penca

thanks od, went to yt and just watched the videos of myfordby, i knew the kennedy power hacksaw and what a fine repro has he made! pretty well thought and his results are spectacular! hope to get that accuracy if i make mine.
thank you for clearing that about the solid, if it works it works and i won`t ask much after that hahaha.
sorry i`ll ask another question and that is about blade tension, would you say comparable to a hacksaw or much more?
take care
pete

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Hi Pete, glad the video helped.
Regarding blade tension I just tighten the blade adjustment until it seems to not want go any further and the blade is resistant to twisting, tried the all hard blades but they break too easily so bi-metal is the way to go.
Regards
Olderdan

Looks great
It will save on cost of band saw blades

Dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by olderdan

Yet another hacksaw machine, this one is built from mostly second hand parts about two years ago.
Capacity is 4 inch square, stroke is 3 inches and speed is 125 cutting strokes per min.
I prefer the linear motion type instead of the rocking frame variety as it gives a better motion to the blade, so this design is dictated by the materials I had available and the need to make it using only a lathe and pillar drill.
The traditional method is to use hexagon bar but I already had some ¾ square bar available some 4 X 2 inch box channel and some 10mm alloy plate so a way of using all this was devised.
The motor is from an old cement mixer as is the Poly V drive belt, there are 10 ball races in total (all pre used but serviceable for this).
As is oblivious from the pics the blade frame rides under the guide arms on 4 races which take all the weight and the blade frame is keyed, bolted and welded as there is a lot of tension on this part. As is also apparent the frame would drop out when lifted so this was solved by two bronze discs on the top face which do no work except to keep things in place, all assemblies are pinned after set up alignment.
I had just enough hex bar for the vice part which helped, the large pulley is multi ply, this was machined and coated with resin and re-machined and mounted on a hub as I had run out of material for this,(a temporary measure which is still in service). Extra weights can be added but in practice are rarely needed and I have found the best blades are Eclipse Plus 30 bi metal HSS used dry as any lubricant seems to slow the cut.
I have just sliced of a piece of 2 inch EN8 bar which took under three minutes and is pretty accurate for this type of machine as long as care is taken in manufacture to make all faces square, I added a top guard from a piece of plastic pipe and the only purchased item has been a NVR switch working through an end of cut micro switch. I really wish I had made this years ago.

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This gives me an idea...what if one was to make a hacksaw blade adapter for a reciprocating saw? I often use my saw for cutting metal and its tough to find blades with that many TPI

What I am looking is the cost of blades.
Using a standard hacksaw blade is cost only $.010 per blade in a Package of 50
12 in. 24 TPI HCS Hacksaw Blades 50 Pk.

Same place for a band saw blade is $8.99 each
64-1/2" x 1/2" 18 TPI Metal Cutting Bandsaw Blade

Dave

Error same post

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smithdoor

What I am looking is the cost of blades.
Using a standard hacksaw blade is cost only $.010 per blade in a Package of 50
12 in. 24 TPI HCS Hacksaw Blades 50 Pk.

Dave

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Dave,
There is a good reason why those blades are so cheap, and why you need 50 in a pack.
Get Starett or Lenox, they are much cheaper in the long run, and you will retain your sanity.

I just found the blades just cost. My father got them about 30 years or more. Be for HF was around
They work great and only use them when nothing else works.

I am tired of buy band saw blades for high price and with five life supply hacksaw blade looks like some place to hacksaw blade .

Dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonyfoale

Dave,
There is a good reason why those blades are so cheap, and why you need 50 in a pack.
Get Starett or Lenox, they are much cheaper in the long run, and you will retain your sanity.

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Have you tried buying bandsaw blade in a roll, cheaper and you can cut to size and butt weld them.

Might be difficult to operate but there's only one way to find out, give it a go

I did for years
At one time my life I had 5 band saws they 1/2 or 3/4" blade
I just got tire of making blades it did pay.
So low cost hacksaw blade looks good today

Dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by olderdan

Have you tried buying bandsaw blade in a roll, cheaper and you can cut to size and butt weld them.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by smithdoor

I did for years
At one time my life I had 5 band saws they 1/2 or 3/4" blade
I just got tire of making blades it did pay.
So low cost hacksaw blade looks good today

Dave

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Sorry Dave, I agree with Tony Foale, Cheap blades are false economy unless your cutting wood.

Cheap blades do not even work with wood
At one time in life I have the best and the lowest cost some how the price per cut was the same.
At one time in life I would purchase over 300 tons a year in steel. I had lot steel to find the right blade.
This looks so good for cutting cost. I may try a better blade for the band saw.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by olderdan

Sorry Dave, I agree with Tony Foale, Cheap blades are false economy unless your cutting wood.

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