Homemade vertical bandsaw.

[tonyfoale]

Home made bandsaws are not new but it seems that the majority are built mainly for cutting wood and many are actually made of wood. Although I occasionally need to bandsaw wood my prime requirement is cutting metal, aluminium and some steel. The main difference between the two types is the optimum blade speed. Around 1000 m/min or more for wood and less than a tenth of that for metal. A wood only saw can easily achieve the required speed with a single reduction from the motor, but for a metal cutting saw a compound reduction system is usually more practical. Motor power is another consideration. Wood is easier to cut than metal but the high speeds demand lots of power.

Here I describe the ideas behind various features in my build with the hope that it might be some inspiration. No claim is made that this an optimum design because it was largely determined by what I had laying around.

A little while back I made a post describing how I modified a pair of moped wheels for use on a bandsaw.
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/m...bandsaw+wheels

Click thumbnail for full size

The saw is now complete except for a couple of minor details. For example I have hard bolted the motor in place because I want to see if it is man enough before I make a pivotted mounting for quick speed changes. I also need to add an on/off switch, which I had completely forgotten until I wanted to start it for the first time.

I have put build details into a PDF file and for completeness of that document I have also included the original wheels only post.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pveht1tyu8...ndsaw.pdf?dl=0

I have just uploaded the first of what will be about 4 or 5 parts showing more details of the build. Here is the YouTube link