Blade Welder

[Welderpaul]

Anyone used one? Pondering buying one to try and make bandsaw blade replacments a bit cheaper, and avoid having to wait 2-3 days while they are delivered. Ours take a 30mm wide blade..a lot of the blade welders don't seem to cope with ones that big.
Are they much cop?

 

[KemppiFrog]

Dunno, but were I used to live, every shop had a welder and auto sharpener. Mostly from pre-history. But they were woodwork places. Also lathes run off shafts.The guy got it going by flipping the belt on to the drum with a stick.
H&SE, eat your heart out!
KF

 

[madkayaker]

it will be some kind of resistance welder i guess. would you then get in long length of blade and make your own up?

 

[awemawson]

My Startrite bandsaw has a welder built in. There is quite a bit of art to getting it 'just right' and quite a variation in results in differing types of blade stock. All high carbon seems most reliable to weld but I've had a few issues with bi-metal blades. First you dress the blades ends to be 90 degrees (mine has a guillotine built in), then you heat them to white heat, then squash them together a preset amount, then you anneal the join, then you remove the blade and grind both sides on the inbuilt grinder.

The amount of pre-heat, quash and anneal are variable so need experimenting with.

I also have a jig that I made years ago to silver solder blades. Simple clamp that holds the ends together in free space to give torch access and grind the blades to a scarf joint
Somewhat more predictable than welding though not as convenient.

 

[pedrobedro]

A friend of mine had some given to him which were too long and he cut them down and silver soldered them back together with good results. He ground the blade ends on a belt sander and held them in a contraption made with a piece of flat bar with a piece cut out of it and two vice grips.

 

[Hitch]

Why not just keep some in stock...?
Out of the box, 2 mins and up and running again....
Can you get gert long reels of it then? I guess so, the blade people must have it

 

[Welderpaul]

Yeah, you can buy long reels of it, make em up to whatever length you need. make a few up at a time.
I've just bought a second bandsaw which takes a different length blade to the big one.
Cheaper to knock them up yourself, plus..you know the score... get down to the last couple, no one has the sense to ask for some more to be ordered. Just ask where the blades are. Make em to suit either saw as needed. No more waiting around...

 

[Drains]

We've got one for the vertical bandsaw. Handy bit of kit, easy enough to use as ithas all the pre-sets on it.

But for a horizontal saw, surely you should just get some spare blades in stock, tightwad.

 

[Welderpaul]

Vertical bandsaw? Whatcha got one o them for?

 

[madkayaker]

we have a vertical bandsaw at work its very good for cutting fancy shapes. only problem is its a modified horizontal so it has wheels on it so it moves around as you cut!

 

[Drains]

'sin the machine shop, used for cutting all sorts of things, though mostly plastics, which we use a lot. I've a smallwoodworking one too which has a metalworking blade in (lots of tpi), which I mostly do ally with. Very handy.

 

[Welderpaul]

Vertical bandsaw blades last longer than horizontal i guess?...

 

[Drains]

Vertical bandsaw blades last longer than horizontal i guess?...

Wouldn't say so. Our horizontal blades last for ever unless some nump has been cutting unistrut at full feed - that knocks the teeth off. Otherwise the thing's at work halff the day cutting through bar stock for the lathes.

Vertical blades die more often through people using too fast a speed on steel etc, or cutting ally without oil and blocking up the teeth, then forcing through and burnishing them off.