My Homemade 18" Band saw

**kbalch** · Jun 19, 2015, 12:01 PM

This thread has been moved to the Must Read subforum. Congrats (and thanks) to mr95gst for making such a valuable contribution!

**mr95gst** · Jun 19, 2015, 12:20 PM

The saw runs pretty smooth. Since is has a DC motor, it is very quite. The only thing you really hear is the metal blade running against the bearings. The rubber is 16" bicycle inner tubes. It tracks well. I have not had any problems with that. However, my wheels have somewhat of a pointed crown. I kept reading that people were putting a 5 degree crown on the wheels for tracking and I misunderstood what they were inferring. I see what they mean now and plan to grind more of a radius profile on the outside of the wheels.

The bottom wheel is fixed with a bolted plate. I did this so I could shim the back of the plate to adjust the tilt of the axle. I found that the blade tension wants to fold the two wheels together like a taco. I can counter that by shimming the axle plate.

The top is a little more complicated. The entire carriage assembly at the top is removable from the main saw frame. The mounting hole are slotted to allow for the carriage to move left and right. This will allow me to square the blade to the table. The upper axle is welded to a plate that is hinged. Above and below the hinge are bolts for adjusting the tilt. It is similar to small bandsaws you buy at the store, but mine has a bolt above and below the hinge. I can tilt it by loosing the bottom bolt and tightening the top (and vise versa). I will try to find a better picture. The carriage glides up and down against 1" square tubing on either side. It is retained with 1/8" flat bar attached to the front and back sides of the 1" square tube. . The unpainted frame pictures only show the 1" vertical tube, but you can see the retaining pieces in the pictures with the painted frame.

**Paul Jones** · Jun 20, 2015, 05:57 PM

Hi Matthew,

Wow! Terrific homemade tool posting with lots of tool making details and great photos. Thank you!

Regards, Paul

**kbalch** · Jul 1, 2015, 09:31 AM

Hi Matthew,

Fantastic photo essay! There are more facets to documentation than text alone. Your 18" Bandsaw is our 'Best Documented Build' for June, 2015!

You'll be receiving a $35 online gift card from GiftRocket.

Just send me (via PM) your email address and we'll get things processed directly.

Congrats!

Ken

**Jon** · Jul 1, 2015, 09:51 AM

Congrats from me too Matthew

.

"More details" is our most common feedback, and you certainly delivered.

This is a tough award to win, because you need to build a good tool and document it thoroughly. You're in good company too. We've only had this award for two months now; last month's winner was rgsparber with Reducing X and Y Axis Backlash on a RF-30 Mill/Drill.

Looking forward to next month...

**mr95gst** · Jul 1, 2015, 02:34 PM

Thanks guys, That is fantastic. I might have just peed my pants a little bit out of excitement.

**aganser** · Mar 19, 2016, 03:32 PM

That is a great build. Is it true that you did not incorporate an upper blade guide? I don't see one. Thanks much for your posting.

**sawswood** · Mar 19, 2016, 04:49 PM

Great job. I really like homemade tools like this. Keep up the good work.

**The sawdust maker** · Mar 19, 2016, 09:37 PM

A great and very professional looking bandsaw Matthew.
I too was hoping to build Mathias bandsaw but unfortunately decent timber is scarcer than hens teethhere in Thailand believe me.
Metal for me would be the obvious way to go and your pics look great but I think realistically I would need a little more detail in the way of dimensions.

**mr95gst** · Mar 22, 2016, 06:52 AM

The saw does have an upper blade guide. It is hard to see in the pictures since it is in the up position. The upper guide construction is very similar to the lower guide. It is attached to a tube that can be raised and lower. There is a wooden hand knob on the back that locks the height of the guide.

Saw Dust Maker, the most critical dimensions, in my opinion, is the distance between the wheels and how much cutting height you want. The cutting throat is dictated by the diameter of the wheel. Everything else is just built around that. I looked to see what blade lengths were most readily available and sized my saw that way. The top wheel has a lot of up and down travel so that I can use blades between 131" - 140". I mainly use the saw to cut metal, but a family member makes guitars so I wanted to be able to resaw lumber around 12" tall. I do have a AutoCad drawing with dimensions that I made before I started fabrication. It is not exactly what I ended up building because I tried to use material I already had and in the lengths I had. That required me to make changes and concessions.