Learning About Bandsaws15

Learning About Bandsaws

Bandsaws have a long, circular, flexible band blade. The blade moves around two different pulley type wheels. The bandsaw blades are serrated and the teeth span the circumference of the band. A bandsaw can be powered by many different types of power supplies. It can be used for cutting wood, metal, or a variety of other materials. It is also good for cutting radial curves or odd shapes and designs.

Automated bandsaws are used in mass production environments. There are advantages to this automation. All feed rates, returns, falls, part clamping and part feeding is preset and automatic. In many manufacturing facilities it is neither possible nor cost effective to have an operator to run each saw. In the case of automation, one operator is capable of overseeing many saws at one time. Many automated saws use CNC or NC controls to perform precise, accurate and faster cuts.

Loggers and mills often use headsaws, which are large bandsaws that make the initial cuts into large logs. The tooth spacing on the bandsaw blades are usually about two inches on the cutting edge and the back side of the blade has sliver teeth. The sliver teeth do not cut; they wipe the splinters out of the way as the band backs out of the log. Resaws are used in cutting logs along the grain to produce boards or veneers. The bandsaw blades used for cutting veneers are larger, averaging about three inches. Double cut saws have teeth on both sides of the blade and are generally very large saws.

Most logging mills prefer large bandsaws for ripping boards because the bandsaw blades are thinner than those of circular blades and result in less waste from the cutting process. The blades on these saws can range in size from four inches to sixteen inches wide. The bandsaw blades are stretched very tight across the circumference of two wheels. The men responsible for maintaining the saws and blades in a sawmill are the saw doctors and the saw filers. The saw filer is responsible for determining and maintaining the shape and depth of the teeth, as well as the sharpness of the bandsaw blades.