Here is the HF saw blade with the size that works with my saw. I will look on Amazon and see if I find any saw blades in the right size. This link seems to have one in the right size. I will order it today and see how it works. I am looking for more on amazon supply of the right size and have not found many.


This is the saw going at it on a Tee.


1.6 kits ship tomorrow. I could probably do an EGT bung if requested.

 

McMaster 4179A157 or 4179A543. Those are Sarrett's. On the slowest setting with that same saw will cut thru a stainless 1.5" Sch 40 in a few min, mild even quicker Blades last a while, fail by cracking not by dull teeth. I try lowering the blade tension but the blade just slips then. Any WD or oil on the blade and it will slip a bunch. SO I cut dry.

 

I will order those 2 blades from McMaster today along with 2 Sarrett's from Amazon. I tried cutting with some oil and I also found it did not seem to work as well as when I cut dry.

 

what's a good carbide tipped blade run for these days?

Tim: cracking sounds like too much heat. Can you run some coolant that isn't oily? Or run the fluid and more tension? or less feed rate?

 

I ordered 4 different Starrett blades today. 2 from Amazon, 2 from mcmaster. They were all in the $24-$27 range. Blades are HF are $22 and $30, and the eBay blades I am using now were $45 for 3. Hopefully the new blades work better and faster.

 

bro, just use your cardsharp knife:

 

4 - 6 times bi-metal blades.

Usually, to get the full benefits of carbide the saw really needs to be capable of using it; 1. higher speed & 2. coolant (not a dribble but real coolant). Most industrial band saws are capable but you're at several thousand (new). Sometimes you can find well used for around a grand.

If you can get the size a bi-metal blade would be a good choice and aren't out of sight cost wise.

Decent little application guide by Simonds saw attached.

 

Good stuff Lars.

This is what I used on that machine:

Enco - Guaranteed Lowest Prices on Machinery, Tools and Shop Supplies

They're bimetal, 10/14 variable teeth. You can cut both pipe and thin wall tube with them. You can hang weight off the handle to speed up the cut on thicker wall pipe. Shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes per cut. Thin wall tube is a different story. I had to manually feed it or teeth would catch and break. Going to a 10/18 blade didn't help and only slowed the cuts. BTW, search retailmenot for codes if you decide to buy from Enco. They regularly run 20% and free shipping promotions. I think I ended up paying $12/ea for the blades.

One more thing, you should account for some shrinkage when cutting the log. It's not as bad as stainless, but mild steel shrinks, too. I usually leave an additional ~1/8" per joint.

 

Thanks for the encouragement Abe. One day I may finally get to the point of being able to weld as pretty as you and TurboTim, but that time is probably a long way off. I will place and order for a few of those blades also. I had previously looked on Enco but had never placed an order. How heavy of a weight did you use on the handle? I may give that a try tonight with what blades I have on now.

 

Seems like waiting for the saw with the current blades is the most time consuming part of fabricating these.


I know you said after the 1.8s were done and out the door. Just looking for a general time frame.

 

June/July/August maybe. I have something else in the works before the 1.6 gets started.

 

So yesterday I added some weights to the saw handle to help speed up the cuts. I got it down to about 4.5 minutes a cut, but my blade ended up breaking after several cuts. So I went back to no weights and just waiting for the cuts to take forever. New blades should be in tomorrow. So I am looking forward to trying those out and see how they do.

 

Cutting tube is hard, you need lots of teeth in the cut to help ease pressure on individual teeth. Without hydraulically assisted downfeed I'd stay with doing it by hand. The amount of pressure needed will decrease dramatically when the saw blade busts through and is only cutting two thin pieces of each side of the tube.

 

Not much weight. I'd hang an 8-12oz hammer off the end. The bimetal blades won't break. HF carbon blades are just junk. As long as you don't cut thin wall tube, a single blade will last forever.

 

Talk to an industrial supply house and they will mention who they supply blades from.

Then you can talk to that supplier and get something nice for what you do.



Im not going to give away what I use since its working so well (30 seconds I can cut a shed 10 pipe with no coolant) but i will suggest you talk to them about it.


My blades are $50 and you can get about 8-10 manifolds out of each blade. The time I save fitting up a manifold is well worth the extra expense. A manifold fit up goes from double digit hours to single digit hours.


That being said, I have a 7x12 saw with hydraulic down feed. I had a small saw similar to what you posted shuiend, it always cut slow because it was a small, cheap saw.

DO NOT use extra weight on the saw to cut... let the tool do the work, LOL.

 

Am I the only one that thinks that this is a dick move?

 

Shlammed has put the time and effort into finding a product that helps his business succeed in a free market economy. Sharing his trade secrets could be compared to Coca-cola giving out their formulation, or KFC's secret blend of herbs and spices.

 

I told you how to find your answer.
Ive given a lot of tips on the fabrication forum and in PM's. I usually share a good portion of my knowledge with people, even more to those who try. Something like this is a part of the trade that makes me proficient with my time to the point that I can offer the good prices on top end parts that I do... Its more or less my "edge"


Ive spent over a grand finding what works for me in terms of blades.

I told him he would be better off spending $ on a bigger, better saw than fancy blades for the cheap saw.

 

Scrubs.

 

As this morning I have enough pieces cut for 6 manifolds. In this batch I will be building 13 manifolds. First 2 are for me. Third is for the T2 mock up. Then I go down the list of who all ordered. I should end up with 2 extra ones for future orders.


I am working on getting a better band saw, but after the group buy is done I am not sure if I will really need it. Hopefully won't ever have this many orders backed up ever again. Below is what I am looking into. It is a great price, I just have to figure out how to move a 500 pound saw and where I would have room for it.


New NB axle back has been finished and the jig is almost done. NB mid pipe is about halfway done. Looking to finish that Friday. Downpipe has been extended to the new length. NA setups should be worked on this weekend to get the changes made.