wrustle
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2006
- Location
- Massachusetts
Well, the time has come to make some drastic improvements in the sawcutting department! 
I have had this Enco bandsaw (please, spare me the insults for buying a piece of crap saw....just read, you'll understand) for over 8 years now, and despite it being an "Enco" it has served me quite well for nearly the last decade with virutally no big problems, other than the blatantly obvious,......it's small, no power, low to the ground.....did I already mention low power?
Fast forward back almost 15 years ago.....(WTH?? "fast forward back"
.....yeah, let's roll with that) to where it all began........
Being the sole employee of my company and working out of my basement I needed a "small" saw to fit in right where it would be most accessible which was right next to my Lagun milling machine.
Always trying to think in an efficient manner, I could run the mill (had power feeds) and the saw at the same time.
My first saw was a "Ramco", at least I think that is what it was called, anyways I got it for "free" for doing some drawings for a guy in cad on some parts he needed made out of graphite. He gave me the parts to reverse engineer and I provided him with the drawings, and he gave me the saw. So I guess it wasn't really free......but what the hell.....I love drawing in cad so to me it was like playing in the sandbox when you were a kid.....I was in heaven!!
It was a great saw at the time and in excellent condition and best of all it filled a "need" I desperately wanted.
At the time I was buying all my material cut into blanks.......very costly for material, but what did I know.....I was just happy to be making chips and getting paid!.....besides.....I didn't have a saw!
So along comes this new toy and it fits right in snug as a bug right within a step or two of my Lagun and for years and years it worked perfectly.
Then as time went on little things here and there started to go wrong.
The coolant on/off knob broke off (brass needle pin) so I replaced that.
The hydraulic feed piston started leaking so I had to replace that. Next was the coolant pump!! Geez....one thing after another......welcome to self-employment! Ok....new pump comes in the next day, and we're back in business!
I was happy again, cutting and milling at the same time feeling as if I'm getting paid double time doing two things at once.......and let's face it......I was, and life was good! Best of all, I could buy material in bar length now reducing my material costs on repeat jobs, increasing my profit!!
But all good things as you know must eventually end, and so it did.........
I had a large 6" dia. bar of nylon in the saw, but did NOT have the proper blade in stock to cut it.........aw, what the hell......it will still work, right?
We've all been there, yes?.......make the best with what you've got on hand to do it and consequences be damned!! So that's what I did......damn the consequences, full speed ahead!!
The job was due in a couple days and I HAD to get it done, but poor planning on my part (coupled with a heavy dose of procrastination) left me no time to order a new blade with the proper TPI (teeth per inch) so I was forced to cut it with a blade made for steel......as in fine teeth.....no deep gullet.........no way in hell this is going to work..........just wasting my time...........what are you trying to do, you know better than that.............why didn't I order that blade when I thought about it the other day..........I hate my life!!
Yup, all those thoughts ran through my head in the first few seconds as the blade just there on top of the nylon just rubbing, and rubbing, and rubbing, and rubbing........you get the idea.....it ain't "f-ing" cutting!!
I cranked open the valve on the feed piston a full half a turn (any other material and the blade would have jammed itself stuck) but no progress was being made.
Well, I "say" no progress, but there was.....slightly......as in maybe a few thousands deep per revolution.....OMG, I'm going to be here for two weeks just cutting this crap!!
In the mean time there's quite a stringy gooey mess of nylon accumulating on the material where the saw blade was trying in vain to enter the piece, but it just was NOT going to happen. With the fine teeth on the blade it just could not dig into the material.
After nearly ten minutes of sawing I managed to make a groove about an eighth of an inch deep into the nylon. No matter how much pressure I put on the saw it just didn't cut.....even leaning on it!
Time for a new plan of attack!!
I slid the bar of material out of the saw so the sawcut groove was a foot or so sticking out of the saw now. Thinking I was some sort of evil genius now, I went out to the shed and grabbed my buck saw.
You know what a buck saw is right......a hand held saw shaped like a "bow" as in bow and arrrow. Made for trimming limbs or cutting small saplings......and best of all, it had DEEP TEETH!
"Oh yeah".....I thought to myself...."This baby has gullets about a quarter inch deep."
Heading back to the shop I couldn't help but think to myself how smart I was! No.....really......I honestly thought that too......and there was no alcohol involved either!
Approaching the nylon bar, I grasped the buck saw firmly with both hands and lowering the saw onto the nylon, I thought I had better make my first cut drawing the saw back to me to get the teeth lined up with the groove, and in that very instant as the teeth touched the material and I drew the blade back.......I felt success was mine!
The teeth on the back draw slid right into the sawcut groove and though it was tight, it was good and I knew I had to saw fast! With teeth that far apart it was imperative to keep the speed as fast as possible to prevent it from snagging and skipping along........but it did not matter, no sir......I may as well have been trying to sawcut cement........as soon as I tried to push forward, I almost ripped the material from the saw vise.
The long pointy teeth would do nothing but dig in stopping the saw in a herky jerky motion making me flail around like some sort of macabre puppet with broken strings.............
I was angry and devastated at the same time.....I thought for sure this would work!! The problem is, I just can't saw fast enough to get the teeth to cut without digging in and jammimg the saw.
I stood there for a while feeling totally defeated, and forlorn. I "need" to get this cut......no.......I "had' to get this cut, and cut now, but how??
As I stood looking around the shop shaking my head in disbelief at the outcome of this endevour, my eyes fell upon my trusty Craftsman chainsaw sitting under my workbench............
Yup......you know what's next........
To be continued............
I have had this Enco bandsaw (please, spare me the insults for buying a piece of crap saw....just read, you'll understand) for over 8 years now, and despite it being an "Enco" it has served me quite well for nearly the last decade with virutally no big problems, other than the blatantly obvious,......it's small, no power, low to the ground.....did I already mention low power?
Fast forward back almost 15 years ago.....(WTH?? "fast forward back"
.....yeah, let's roll with that) to where it all began........Being the sole employee of my company and working out of my basement I needed a "small" saw to fit in right where it would be most accessible which was right next to my Lagun milling machine.
Always trying to think in an efficient manner, I could run the mill (had power feeds) and the saw at the same time.
My first saw was a "Ramco", at least I think that is what it was called, anyways I got it for "free" for doing some drawings for a guy in cad on some parts he needed made out of graphite. He gave me the parts to reverse engineer and I provided him with the drawings, and he gave me the saw. So I guess it wasn't really free......but what the hell.....I love drawing in cad so to me it was like playing in the sandbox when you were a kid.....I was in heaven!!
It was a great saw at the time and in excellent condition and best of all it filled a "need" I desperately wanted.
At the time I was buying all my material cut into blanks.......very costly for material, but what did I know.....I was just happy to be making chips and getting paid!.....besides.....I didn't have a saw!
So along comes this new toy and it fits right in snug as a bug right within a step or two of my Lagun and for years and years it worked perfectly.
Then as time went on little things here and there started to go wrong.
The coolant on/off knob broke off (brass needle pin) so I replaced that.
The hydraulic feed piston started leaking so I had to replace that. Next was the coolant pump!! Geez....one thing after another......welcome to self-employment! Ok....new pump comes in the next day, and we're back in business!
I was happy again, cutting and milling at the same time feeling as if I'm getting paid double time doing two things at once.......and let's face it......I was, and life was good! Best of all, I could buy material in bar length now reducing my material costs on repeat jobs, increasing my profit!!
But all good things as you know must eventually end, and so it did.........
I had a large 6" dia. bar of nylon in the saw, but did NOT have the proper blade in stock to cut it.........aw, what the hell......it will still work, right?
We've all been there, yes?.......make the best with what you've got on hand to do it and consequences be damned!! So that's what I did......damn the consequences, full speed ahead!!
The job was due in a couple days and I HAD to get it done, but poor planning on my part (coupled with a heavy dose of procrastination) left me no time to order a new blade with the proper TPI (teeth per inch) so I was forced to cut it with a blade made for steel......as in fine teeth.....no deep gullet.........no way in hell this is going to work..........just wasting my time...........what are you trying to do, you know better than that.............why didn't I order that blade when I thought about it the other day..........I hate my life!!
Yup, all those thoughts ran through my head in the first few seconds as the blade just there on top of the nylon just rubbing, and rubbing, and rubbing, and rubbing........you get the idea.....it ain't "f-ing" cutting!!
I cranked open the valve on the feed piston a full half a turn (any other material and the blade would have jammed itself stuck) but no progress was being made.
Well, I "say" no progress, but there was.....slightly......as in maybe a few thousands deep per revolution.....OMG, I'm going to be here for two weeks just cutting this crap!!
In the mean time there's quite a stringy gooey mess of nylon accumulating on the material where the saw blade was trying in vain to enter the piece, but it just was NOT going to happen. With the fine teeth on the blade it just could not dig into the material.
After nearly ten minutes of sawing I managed to make a groove about an eighth of an inch deep into the nylon. No matter how much pressure I put on the saw it just didn't cut.....even leaning on it!
Time for a new plan of attack!!
I slid the bar of material out of the saw so the sawcut groove was a foot or so sticking out of the saw now. Thinking I was some sort of evil genius now, I went out to the shed and grabbed my buck saw.
You know what a buck saw is right......a hand held saw shaped like a "bow" as in bow and arrrow. Made for trimming limbs or cutting small saplings......and best of all, it had DEEP TEETH!
"Oh yeah".....I thought to myself...."This baby has gullets about a quarter inch deep."
Heading back to the shop I couldn't help but think to myself how smart I was! No.....really......I honestly thought that too......and there was no alcohol involved either!
Approaching the nylon bar, I grasped the buck saw firmly with both hands and lowering the saw onto the nylon, I thought I had better make my first cut drawing the saw back to me to get the teeth lined up with the groove, and in that very instant as the teeth touched the material and I drew the blade back.......I felt success was mine!
The teeth on the back draw slid right into the sawcut groove and though it was tight, it was good and I knew I had to saw fast! With teeth that far apart it was imperative to keep the speed as fast as possible to prevent it from snagging and skipping along........but it did not matter, no sir......I may as well have been trying to sawcut cement........as soon as I tried to push forward, I almost ripped the material from the saw vise.
The long pointy teeth would do nothing but dig in stopping the saw in a herky jerky motion making me flail around like some sort of macabre puppet with broken strings.............
I was angry and devastated at the same time.....I thought for sure this would work!! The problem is, I just can't saw fast enough to get the teeth to cut without digging in and jammimg the saw.
I stood there for a while feeling totally defeated, and forlorn. I "need" to get this cut......no.......I "had' to get this cut, and cut now, but how??
As I stood looking around the shop shaking my head in disbelief at the outcome of this endevour, my eyes fell upon my trusty Craftsman chainsaw sitting under my workbench............
Yup......you know what's next........
To be continued............
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