My 14" Bandsaw Fix

[astroracer]

I have been using my converted 14” vertical metal cutting bandsaw for 6 yrs with no issues until this past weekend. The lower blade guide pickle fork broke, which left the left side of the blade unsupported.

You can see how the front of the guide that the bolt threads into broke off. I think this has been on the verge for a while. While adjusting the guide blocks I would notice that bolt never tightened up as it should. Anyway this put the saw out of commission for a couple of days.
Monday I did some looking for replacement parts. I had wanted to upgrade to roller guides for a while and this was the perfect opportunity. I found Hamilton Tool and Supply http://toolsupermarket.com on eBay and gave them a call. They had exactly what I needed for a very good price (much cheaper than everybody else….) and fast delivery!
This is the lower roller guide asm. Both upper and lower guides have a micro-adjust on the backup roller. Very handy and it works well.

This is the upper guide asm

I had to do a little relief grinding on the upper blade guard but that was the only mod I had to do to bolt this to my old saw.


The test cut, ¼” steel plate, nice and straight with no walking.

I will do a little more tweaking on the adjustments but it runs real nice right now. Should have done this years ago! If you need anything at all, tool wise, look to these guys. I ordered the kit on Monday at lunchtime and it was delivered to my door Wednesday morning
Thanks for looking
Mark

[parsonsj]

Great find! I'll be ordering one up too to see if I can adapt it to my converted Ridgid.

[Nine Ball]

We need someone to do a write-up on buying a currently available band saw (under $500-700) and what parts are needed to convert it to a metal saw. If someone came out with a conversion kit for a popular brand saw, that would be even better.

[astroracer]

Give them a call John, I am sure they can help you out. Do your guide forks look anything like mine?
Here is the link to my saw conversion. Do a search also. There is a lot of discussion here about this.
https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...saw&highlight=
I lucked out on this as you will see. I didn't have to do all the jackshaft stuff John did with his saw.
The key is to get a saw with a gearbox then you don't have to jump through so many hoops to get it slowed down.
Mark

[exwestracer]

We need someone to do a write-up on buying a currently available band saw (under $500-700) and what parts are needed to convert it to a metal saw. If someone came out with a conversion kit for a popular brand saw, that would be even better.

I've used a HF 14" wood band saw to cut all types of metal (including a lot of 1/4" 4130 chrome-moly plate) for the past 10 years. The "conversion" consisted of buying 1/2" Lenox bi-metal blade stock. I TIG weld the blades and anneal them with the TIG torch (takes some practice). It's never broken anything. Your results may vary...

[parsonsj]

Mark, I think my forks look very much like yours. My saw goes through guides very fast, and as the blade ages, it tends to walk the work one way or another. I've been thinking that a roller guide would be the way to fix that. I'll let you know what I find.

[astroracer]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if they were. I had the same walking problem but got used to it. The saw cuts like a champ now, nice and straight and I wish I would have done this a long time ago. The breakage just forced me to do it.

[parsonsj]

I ordered mine today. They guarantee their roller guides will fit a 14" saw -- meaning if it doesn't, they'll take it back for a full refund. Can't wait to try it out!

Thanks Mark!

[astroracer]

Yep! That's what they said. I hope it works. Take photos! I was using my saw all weekend and it is like a brand new machine!