Band Saw Recommendations

How to have useful construction workshops.
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Pinewood Daddy
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

Stan Pope wrote:
Pinewood Daddy wrote:I designed and built an adjustable angle wedge cutting fixture for the band saw. The blade is always protected behind the wood and a built in stop keeps the blade from being exposed after cutting. Completely kid friendly! And fast!
Cool! Pix and plans???
I think I've posted these before somewhere.

Image

Image

Two drywall screws hold the car to the fixture, screwing into the slots. It will cut a 1/4" thick slab or any angle up to 1-1/4". The spacer will allow starting the nose at 1/8" high. You can see the stop in the bottom picture that keep it from letting the blade travel past the fixture.

If anyone PM's me their email address I'll send them a PDF of the drawing.
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Darin McGrew
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

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Stan Pope wrote:It appears that the cutting is the "pinch point" in the process. Would it be better to schedule folks through with staggered arrivals so that boys can do the job themselves with minimal waiting?
Yep. Once the blocks are cut, the kids can handle everything themselves until it's time to add weight.

Some years, we have our first workshop on a Saturday morning. That seems to cut down on the bandsaw bottleneck, because kids show up at different times, and we have 2 hours on Saturday. And the kids who don't show up on Saturday can get their cars cut at the workshop at the Wednesday club meeting with less waiting.

When our first workshop is on Wednesday evening during club, the bandsaw bottleneck is pretty bad. We have less time, and all the kids are trying to get their cars cut.
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Darin McGrew
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

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Pinewood Daddy wrote:I think I've posted these before somewhere.
Very cool! Thanks!
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Stan Pope
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Stan Pope »

Pinewood Daddy wrote: I think I've posted these before somewhere.
Thank you for reposting the pix.

I misunderstood the extent to which the blade was shielded from access. Your design effectively removes most of the motivation for a youngster to get his hands near the blade or to have a hand in the "risk zone".

One of the least controllable situations is force is applied to the workpiece to push it toward the blade... "leaning into the work" as it were. The fixture, properly used, eliminates that risk. (I see a hand in the "risk zone" but I don't think that Dad's hand is "pushing".) The same risk exists with many tools, including a scroll saw. The cure is teaching balance and use of leverage rather than brute force and allowing the tool to do most of the work. For instance, feeding a workpiece to a scroll saw is more safely done if the hand in front of the blade has a thumb extending below the table (to help us less coordinated folks keep track of our hands) and that hand is used to guide rather than to push.
Stan
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Pinewood Daddy
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

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Stan Pope wrote:One of the least controllable situations is force is applied to the workpiece to push it toward the blade... "leaning into the work" as it were. The fixture, properly used, eliminates that risk. (I see a hand in the "risk zone" but I don't think that Dad's hand is "pushing".)
The fixture stops just as the blade breaks through the wood and the blade is up against the fixture so the cutting edge cannot be touched. I have to find a picture from the other side.
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Littlejon »

I have a couple of bandsaws, one of which is a 14" that is way too big to move around. The other is a portable Delta model (Sorry, I am at work and can't remember the model number) that we used for our workshop last year. While we didn't let the boys cut theirs using the bandsaw, I did offer to cut out any boy's block provided they drew it on themselves. I only did the rough cutting, which still allowed them to use the Dremel tool or any other cutting tool their parent/guardian had and they still had to do everything else from sanding to painting.

As an avid woodworker, I would love for the kids to get into using some of these tools, but our Pack size (35 boys) and level of "expertise" among parents/guardians makes it difficult to allow them to do their own cutting. Now, if an older boy (I have a Webelo) wants to try to cut his own block and the parent/guardian is alright with it, I help them with is, but show them how dangerous the saw is at the expense of a hot dog to get the point across. I also get the block going into the first initial cut, back it out and let the kid take over from there, monitoring it all the way. When they get close to the end, I take over again. I also make sure they watch me and I help them with the proper pressure for pushing the wood through before letting them do anythign on their own. I usually take some scrap wood with me to let them "practice" on that is big enough that their hands aren't too close to the blade.

Thus far, it has worked well. I know we could do it differntly and allow the kids to use the tools, but time is usually our biggest problem. Since I also have a good Delta scroll saw, I may take it along this year and let some of the boys give it a try.
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by dstory »

Being an old middle school wood shop teacher, I can say that easily 90% of our injuries in the shop are on the band saw. Time after time, a kid will flick a small piece of wood out of the way and in the process also cut off a small piece of their finger.

The scroll saw may vibrate more and be a little slower, but it would definitely be my choice if kids are going to use it. If it will be used solely by adults, the a band saw would be the way to go.

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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

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I ran 20 scouts through a workshop Saturday. 4 tigers, and dads with no woodworking experience. Set it up with 6 stations: Design station, drill press with fosner bit to hollow out the bottom, (already preset to depth), scroll saw station for cutting, body sanding station, axle polishing station (2), and wheel sanding station. Never had a back-up because we just skipped around stations needed. EVERY scout ran the drill press, (dad or adult holding the block), EVERY scout cut out their own car on the scroll saw, (four hands on the wood at all times, either dads or mine (clamps and rubber mat and it was quiet and slow)), including one "special needs" child, I don't know who had a bigger smile, him, me or his mom! EVERY scout filed/sanded the axles and wheels. Weights checked, told how much to add at home, tips on alignment. (My oldest actually complained that I was giving away all of our tricks!

Every station was a discussion about what was happening and why. All of those kids will know that the car running down the track in a few weeks is there. As to the ones that didn't show up, I don't know. Lasted from 10-2. I was exhausted. Will I do it next year? Absolutely!
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by quadad »

Stan Pope wrote:
Pinewood Daddy wrote:I designed and built an adjustable angle wedge cutting fixture for the band saw. The blade is always protected behind the wood and a built in stop keeps the blade from being exposed after cutting. Completely kid friendly! And fast!
Cool! Pix and plans???
Not that my request carries 1/1000th the weight of Stan's, but I would like to see a picture of this too !

Enco (one of your favorite places) has a 14", 3-speed, 3-wheel on sale for $180 and I am very tempted. It has a rip fence, which I don't have with my cheap Scroll saw (and really miss).

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAK ... TPG=INLMK3
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

quadad wrote:
Stan Pope wrote: Cool! Pix and plans???
Not that my request carries 1/1000th the weight of Stan's, but I would like to see a picture of this too !
Here's the in use picture. I'm sure I have more but I don't know where.

Image

PM me with you email address and I'll send you a PDF. I can't seem to convert the drawing to a graphic and shrink it without it not being unreadable.

The saw in the Ryobi BS902, replaced by a newer model. $99 at Home Depot. It works great for me.
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Stan Pope
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Stan Pope »

Pinewood Daddy wrote:Here's the in use picture. I'm sure I have more but I don't know where.
I found enough pics in your Jan 02, 2008 post in this thread to build one! Now, if I had a functioning bandsaw! :)
Stan
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Pinewood Daddy
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

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Stan Pope wrote:I found enough pics in your Jan 02, 2008 post in this thread to build one! Now, if I had a functioning bandsaw! :)
AH! That's the picture I was looking for! Did you make a notched pivot pin?

I emailed you the PDF.

I can't help you with the band saw!
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Stan Pope
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Stan Pope »

Pinewood Daddy wrote:
Stan Pope wrote:I found enough pics in your Jan 02, 2008 post in this thread to build one! Now, if I had a functioning bandsaw! :)
AH! That's the picture I was looking for! Did you make a notched pivot pin?

I emailed you the PDF.

I can't help you with the band saw!
Very nice!

Thank you.
Stan
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Nitro Dan »

Pinewood Daddy wrote:The saw in the Ryobi BS902, replaced by a newer model. $99 at Home Depot. It works great for me.
I just purchased this saw myself. I have it setup and it cuts, but by no means straight. I think it just needs to be adjusted, but unfortunately I don't know enough about ban saws to do this properly. Did you do any special adjustments to yours after setting it up out of the box?

-Nitro Dan
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Re: Band Saw Recommendations

Post by Randy and Son »

Nitro Dan wrote:
Pinewood Daddy wrote:The saw in the Ryobi BS902, replaced by a newer model. $99 at Home Depot. It works great for me.
I just purchased this saw myself. I have it setup and it cuts, but by no means straight. I think it just needs to be adjusted, but unfortunately I don't know enough about ban saws to do this properly. Did you do any special adjustments to yours after setting it up out of the box?

-Nitro Dan
You should refer to your users manual for specifics, but in general there should be a couple of adjustable guides or stops on either side of the blade. These need to be set very close to the blade (almost touching) to prevent it from twisting as the work piece is fed through. In addition, the blade guide apparatus should be adjustable (up and down) and should be set very close to the height of the piece you are cutting. Then don't force feed the wood into the blade and you should start to get straighter cuts. Also make sure the tension on the blade is adequate. A too loose blade isn't going want to cut very straight either.

Your best resource though would be to refer to your users manual if you have one.

Randy
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