An attempt to convert a large band saw into a vertical one

[Sergei Slovenija]

I took some measurements, and there is a good chance that I could get by with a spacer ring to give the saw blade a vertical position. Luckily, I found an old brake rotor and a lathe in my scrap pile. You may have to saw off the protrusion into which the bolt is screwed in to limit the lift of the saw itself, but the threads in the cast iron body should be sufficient. Or I'll make a different locking mechanism. There are a couple more ideas (I’m not happy with the factory design), and what needs to be redone. The conversion is reversible. Basically the saw works horizontally.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

So, the disk is cut and turned on a lathe. Remains of raised letters made it difficult to clamp the disk. I placed 3 large nuts inside the jaws, pushing the disk out of the lathe chuck to the distance I needed. The disc is slightly conical, rather than cylindrical, at the jaws' gripping point. After turning and measuring, I got a difference in the thickness of the disk within 0.01 mm. Now you need to dismantle the saw itself, dismantling half of its workbench in order to get to the nut that secures the rotation axis. Along the way, you need to test the coolant pump to see if it can lift fluid from the floor level. I want to completely remake the chip sieve, making it in the form of a retractable drawer and also for coolant, place it inside the workbench, making a door and a shelf.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

I cleaned the rust by etching the part in a hellish mixture of citric acid and EDTA. I didn't expect such a quick result. 15 min!!

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

The original pump can lift coolant from the level of the bottom of the workbench. So it will be redone. I will make a subframe so that the castor wheels stand wider and the height of the saw decreases. Wide rollers can be attached to the subframe to support long workpieces. Folding to reduce the size of the saw.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

I made a hole + rails for a retractable sawdust catcher. The inclination of the rails to the center is -3 mm. I hope the coolant will not leak past the box.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

I removed the wall, welded the amplifiers and installed the bottom.

I welded the lower fitting at the bottom of the old coolant tank. Inside the table there will be a canister and a pump.

The saw rotation limiters have been sawed off, you need to increase their length to the height of the spacer ring

 

[KemppiFrog]

Impressed...

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

I made a primary sieve from stainless steel and tried it on in place. Tomorrow I'll buy the right size screws.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Impressed...

Horizontally, the saw will cut as before. In a vertical position - only tests will show whether it was worth doing the conversion or not. I will need to make a lot of precise parallel cuts from the end of the angle profile, and angle grinders hurt my hands and it’s not very accurate. Repeatability of cuts is required.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Horizontally, the saw will cut as before. In a vertical position - only tests will show whether it was worth doing the conversion or not. I will need to make a lot of precise parallel cuts from the end of the angle profile, and angle grinders hurt my hands and it’s not very accurate. Repeatability of cuts is required.

Several of the lower end bandsaws I have been looking at will convert to vertical. Just swings right up and a small table is fitted.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Several of the lower end bandsaws I have been looking at will convert to vertical. Just swings right up and a small table is fitted.

I know. I only have a big saw.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

So, the stand ring gave its effect, but... For a greater vertical rise, I sawed off the tide on the foundation of the saw. I removed the triangular wedge on the band saw body; the thickness of the cast iron allows this. Now we need to change the sawdust filtering grid. Make a hole in it. Here I will think about whether to make this change, or whether the existing angle is enough.

The tapered bearings of the axle were dry, so I pressed the grease nipple into the housing. The bearings do not have any seals against coolant penetration.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Rise of 72 degrees. We need to decide if it’s enough or if we still need to trim the cast iron.

 

[Blobber]

Nice job as always

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

The nest is ready.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Enough for today.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Can you put some extra spacers on the main pivot mounting to get the extra height needed to make the blade verical?

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Can you put some extra spacers on the main pivot mounting to get the extra height needed to make the blade verical?

In order for the trunk to rise 90 degrees, you still need to cut off the cast iron, I believe that you need to stop in time while using an angle grinder. Changes to the hinge, it seems to me, will introduce too many changes to the kinematics of operation. I settled on 72 degrees. A band saw blade will also cut at this angle. I think that will be enough. There is an option to buy an old large saw and simply remake the mechanism for bending the band blade, removing the bending, like vertical factory saws. First I will work with this option and the disadvantages and advantages will be clear.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

It's good to have a granite square. Lots of stupid nut sizes, 15, 16, 18 mm hexagons. I noticed that this is a sign of equipment from China. Apparently, there is a noticeable saving on millions of pieces.

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

A lot of tedious little things have been done.

New custom coolant tank with fluid stabilizers, TIG welded from an old PC case.

Tray for catching chips.

Shower hose for washing away chips.

Tee for connecting a shower, the ability to shut off the flow of coolant in any position of the saw.

Plugs and grilles.