Extension Support for Horizontal Band Saw

TDubs · Tue Aug 29, 2017 1:10 pm

Hi Everyone,

In order to build up my welding chops, I'm planning to build a 21" tall support for my horizontal band saw. The cutting surface of the saw is 21" above the floor. I have a couple of ideas for how to build this. But I'm wondering if maybe I'm reinventing the wheel. Has anyone else fabricated a support for longer material to cut on their saw? Any pics?

Thanks,
Terry

pgk · Tue Aug 29, 2017 3:40 pm

I just bought a new band saw and just bought a adjustable roller stands to feed longer material, works perfect..

Pete

TDubs · Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:07 pm

I was thinking of that too. The problem is the height. I have a Grizzly G4030 horz/vert bandsaw. The table height for the horizontal feature is only 21" tall. I have some rolller stands but the lowest that they'll go is 28". I've thought about donating one to the cause but I use them with other tools.

I'm thinking of fabbing up a foldable A frame stand from some square tube that I got from a scrapper.

Thanks,

Terry

pgk · Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:17 am

Can you cut the ones you have down to size for your saw?

Louie1961 · Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:35 am

I have a Harbor Freight band saw that is tippy as heck. I am am going to build a new stand for it and in the process raise it up to a more useful (for me) height. I hate having to bend over to work on that saw. depending on which grizzly saw you have you can do the same.

pgk · Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:44 pm

I just replaced my 4 x 6 with a Ellis 1600 and it is taller than the old saw. When I had bought the 4 x6 years ago I made a rolling stand out of 1" angle and welded 4 locking swivel castors to it, never measured but I'm sure it raised it at least 3"

TDubs · Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:59 am

My bandsaw is a Grizzly G4030. It's around 250 pounds. I don't think that I want to put it on a stand as it would be very top heavy and a pain to move around. I bought it used for a couple hundred bucks a few years back.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-1-2-x ... dsaw/G4030

There is a reason that I'm looking to just build a separate support for it. I received a Wellsaw Model 8 from a friend last year. It needs a single phase motor as the current motor is 3 phase and my shop is single. Plus I need to replace some of the bearings and do other work. Other than that, it's in good shape. And the price was right! The problem is that I don't have time to refurb it until mid-October as I currently have several jobs in our shop.

The reason for all of this is that I'm building a powder coat oven that needs a welded base. I have some 10' lengths of recycled 1" steel tube and a bunch of angle in different sizes that I want to use for the base but need to cut them down and properly support them. Hence my dilemma.

MFleet · Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:21 am

A "pipe stand" is what I see local fabricators using. They are generally made with an acme thread and nut. If the stand needs to accommodate a wide variety of height, there will be a tube inside of tube. The tubes are drilled at increments to accept a pin and the acme thread is used for fine adjustment. Picture an old pin through car jack stand with a nut welded on top. The big shop bandsaws have a roller conveyor feed surface.

The 3ph motors are generally very good quality and you may want to look at a good brand, used VFD with good amperage overhead before you replace the motor. You can work out the blade speed with the VFD specs and a little math. Then, the VFD will give you control over the material type cut speed with very few touches of the buttons.

noddybrian · Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:11 am

A cheap stand of variable height is easily made from recycling an office chair available from a skip near you ! just unbolt the chair part & you have a stable base with an adjustable height post - add a plain or roller top to it - if you see the size of some office workers you know they are built to take some weight !

TDubs · Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:19 pm

Great ideas guys! I like th pipe stand with the threaded rod for adjustability. The chair base sounds good too.

MFleet, if I use a VFD with the current 3PH motor, will that do a single phase to 3 phase conversion without requiring a rotary or solid state converter? I like that idea too!

Thanks Everyone,

Terry

MFleet · Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:42 pm

Yes, the VFD does that very well and would be the better solution for this. What is the HP spec. of the motor?

Take a look at this video to give you a basic idea of how the conversion works. Just the first one that I found with a quick search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeeutHA7n78

TDubs · Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:30 pm

Thanks MFleet! Since watching this vid and a couple others, I'm seriously considering a VFD. You're right, much easier to convert and control. I have a CNC mill that has a Fuji VFD on it but it's 3 phase to begin with. Unfortunately it's in a separate building and running off of a rotary.

My Wellsaw Model 8 currently has a 3/4 HP 230 volt 3PH motor on it. I also have a 1HP and a 2HP 3PH motors in the storage building. Wellsaw currently sells this model as their #1016 with a 2HP motor. With a VFD and single sheave pulleys, I should be able to get some good performance no matter which motor I go with. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the 3/4 HP on it and seeing how well it does with a VFD. I can always swap out a motor as they're all the same frame size.

Thanks again!

MFleet · Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:50 pm

You're most welcome. You have the idea and maybe it is a good decision to have just one that accommodates the largest motor that you have. A VFD is well suited to manual machines that can take advantage of variable cut speeds.

CNC equipment is a different requirement. Some of it is tolerant of a rotary and some not. If you plan on running reliably, look into the "phase perfect".

I'm somewhat envious of your location when I'm looking into good machinery.

Jeff

TDubs · Fri Sep 08, 2017 11:46 am

Yeah, we're pretty lucky with the selection of good used gear up here.

Hope that your weathering the floods and staying dry!

Terry

shady · Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:37 pm

Might have missed part of this BUT - I'd bet there is always more than one way.

Jack your saw up and put blocks (or what ever) under it use your rollers for support. I love my saw at a raised height.
I believe once you see how much more comfortable and productive you become you will find some way to make that height permanent.

Don't like it --- kick the blocks and bend your back.

: raised saw.jpg (110.83 KiB) Viewed 2636 times

Coolidge · Fri Sep 15, 2017 8:19 pm

I'd buy these and cut them down. I own a pair of these for my zip miter band saw, inexpensive for what you get, super easy to adjust the height on these and heavy duty. My local industrial supply had them in stock no shipping.

https://www.zoro.com/sumner-v-head-pipe ... /G4415512/