The band saw is used for cutting wood, metal, and other hard materials, such as heavily frozen foods (meat). Performing tasks with a band saw provides the manufacturer with profitable savings and significantly increases the quantity and quality of the resulting products.
To increase the working coefficient of the tool and its service life, it is necessary to correctly select the belt blade in accordance with the tasks and materials to be worked with.
Choosing a ribbon web: what to pay attention to?
A properly selected belt blade for cutting wood guarantees a high-quality smooth cut of the workpiece, without hooks, cracks, and chips. This is also important for the sharpness of the saw, accordingly, the selected products will remain sharp for a long time with correct operation. When choosing a saw for a woodworking machine, learn the following aspects:
- band saw parameters;
- pitch, frequency and sharpness of the saw teeth;
- thickness and density of the web;
- the density of the material to be cut.
We will analyze each of them in more detail.
Width of the ribbon web
The parameters of the band saw, as a rule, are specified in the instructions for the band saw machine, and it is absolutely impossible to violate these requirements. The wider the band saw, the smoother the cut line will be.
Therefore, if there are no strict instructions, choose the widest possible band blade for the saw, which is allowed by the machine.
The allowed size range is from 14 to 80 mm. More often than others, they buy a cloth for a band saw on wood with a width of 31-41 mm. If you need a contour saw with cutting out shapes or corners, then on the contrary, you need to choose the narrowest saw.
Saw teeth
Pay close attention to the teeth of the band saw, as their characteristics are of great importance in the work. There are several parameters that need to be explored:
- prong layout – means that they look outwards to extend the cutting lines of the ribbon web;
- the sharpness of the saw teeth;
- • size – height and width;
- • the number of whole saw teeth per inch required to determine the tooth pitch (the distance between the teeth);
These criteria are selected based on the material to be worked with. For working with workpieces of small thickness, as well as for cutting out shapes, corners, contours, small saw teeth of standard sizes are suitable, for deep cuts of thickened material – large teeth, for cutting thin sheets – low small teeth.
For sawing thin sheets, use band saws with a high frequency of teeth to avoid breakage. Blanks with large parameters, on the contrary, are cut with a saw with a large interdental distance. The pressure force of the belt blade is evenly distributed over the number of teeth of the cutting part, so the fewer of them, the better they penetrate the wood structure. The wide interdental space, meanwhile, gives enough space for the formation of chips from sawing and does not allow it to accumulate, which significantly improves the quality of the saw and the speed of production.
The interdental space of a band saw is of two types: permanent and variable. Constant pitch – when the teeth of the web of the same size are located at the same distance from each other. Variable – when different frequency and size of the web teeth are combined. For example, one inch has one step size, the second inch is another, and so is the striping. The web for a band sawmill has the first version of the interdental space as standard. The variable is mainly used for cutting metal.
The divorce of band saws (prongs) is of three types:
- wave-when the saw teeth are arranged in a wave and all have different angles of retraction, suitable for workpieces of small parameters;
- standard-when one tooth is drawn in one direction, the second in the opposite direction, and the third is located in the center. This is a universal type of web layout, equally suitable for machines with horizontal and vertical feed;
- group-teeth with a branch in opposite directions alternate one after the other. This type of web divorce gives the cleanest and smoothest cut, and sawing is faster.
Of course, band saws for cutting wood, designed for band saws, must be sharp. There are two types of saws: which can be sharpened after they are blunted, and which can not. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages, it is impossible to distinguish which is better, which is worse, each manufacturer chooses for himself.
If it is possible to sharpen band saws on wood, then during this procedure the machine is idle and suffers losses. The high quality of the web and the correct re-sharpening will increase the service life of the product and benefit the owner.
Saws that work without sharpening until they are completely worn out last longer, but after the teeth become blunt, they need to be replaced, and this is an expensive task. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a cloth made of high-quality material and use it according to the operating standards in order to maximize productivity and delay the replacement time.
If you decide to buy band saws for a sawmill for woodwork, be sure to specify whether they can be sharpened, and if so, how many sharpens are allowed. For each saw, it is fixed.
What material should band saws be made of?
It must be said at once that any canvas in the course of service acquires a degree of wear, passing the limits of which it breaks. The band saw for wood cutting that you intend to buy must have an equal ratio between the wear rate of the steel and the service life of the teeth. Balancing these values implies maximum working time with high-quality performance.
The belt cloth, equally hardened over the entire area, has high wear rates, but loses its sharpness faster. Flex Back technology, in which the cutting part is subjected to heat treatment, while the back remains uncoated, provides excellent tooth resistance. Thanks to the soft base of the alloys, which compensates for the increased carbon standards, the webs have a good service life.
Webs with Hard Back technology, which also have a hardened base of the cutting edge, also have high resistance. These webs can be subjected to numerous sharpenings, and even after grinding the material treated with high temperatures, they continue to serve in the same way as webs with a constant hardness.
Remember that the density of the alloy from which the blade of the belt sawmill for processing wood is made should be the higher, the harder the structure being cut.