Band Saw blade welders

[Ultradog MN]

I bought these two blade welders today.
I will keep one, my friend wants the other.
I don't know if they work but for the moment, let's assume they do.
Both are 220V single phase.
There is some info online on the Grob (type RW-B).
It is missing the grinding wheel and guard.
I can fix that.
Didn't find much info on the Boice Crane unit.
No model # on it.
Which one would you guys keep?
Why?
Thanks

 

[Bill in PA]

The Boice unit is the same that is found on Powermatic 87 saws. You can find the instructions on the net.

My saw's model 600 welder:



Bill

 

[Bill in PA]

If you can't locate the instructions, PM me an email address and I can send you a pdf.

Bill

 

[L Vanice]

Note the blade width scale on the Boice Crane welder in post #2. I would add those missing numbers to the scale on the unit in post #1. You need the numbers in order to set the welder correctly for your blade width.

I would not value the shear on the Grob unit enough to prefer it over the Boice. I have a shear on my welder and find it more convenient to unroll my blade stock on the shop floor next to a steel tape and cut the blade with straight aircraft shears. The cuts need to be at 90 degrees. and can be corrected on a belt sander if you miss.

Both welders look like good industrial duty designs. Only actually using both would let you decide if one is more convenient and/or does better welding. But do consider what your maximum blade width will be and see if both welders will do that width. My welder is limited to 1/2" and that is also the limit on both of my saws.

Both welders should work on carbon steel flex back or hard back and bi-metal stock. It takes a more complex welder to do solid high speed stock.

Larry

 

[Ultradog MN]

Thank you both.
Bill, I found the pdf file for the Boice Crane on Vintagemachinery site.
It says it will weld up to 3/4 blades. The scale on yours looks like it will weld wider than that. What is the widest you have sucessfully welded with yours?
L Vance, thanks for the heads up on that scale.
I hadn't noticed it.
I tried cutting a piece of blade with the cutter.
It is pretty lame so yes, tin snips are in order.
I will get them both powered up and tested here soon.
Will give an update then.

 

[moonlight machine]

I have a Grob and a Do All Grob wins hands down. Don't bother with the grinding wheel, use a small disc grinder.

 

[wheels17]

I can't tell from the picture whether the Grob has the filing guide, but I have never minded the absence of a grinder.


You take the freshly welded(and annealed) blade and slip it in the outer clips with the weld in the gap in the center. This bends the blade in an arc with the weld at the top. Then use a file to shape the weld. Flip the blade and repeat. It's a very controllable process,and only takes a few strokes if the blade is properly annealed.

 

[john.k]

i have a Grob BW2 blade welder........I assume its WW2,as I bought a couple of them apparently NOS from the army auctions a while ago.....Ive never been able to get it to work on under 1" wide blades.(it just melts them ),and I sold one to someone who has hated me ever since,so I assume he had problems too.

 

[wheels17]

My welder is a model RW-B, but the attached instructions for a BW-1 have worked well for me for all widths of blades.

 

[Bill in PA]

Thank you both.
Bill, I found the pdf file for the Boice Crane on Vintagemachinery site.
It says it will weld up to 3/4 blades. The scale on yours looks like it will weld wider than that. What is the widest you have sucessfully welded with yours?

I have only welded up to 1/2" blades on mine.

Bill

 

[Ultradog MN]

Bill in PA,
Another question for you. I can't read the tag on yours.
It looks like 220V but I can't quite read your amps.
This one is 15A. Yours?
Also is yours single or 3 phase?
Thanks.
All in all, I'm leaning toward keeping the Boice Crane as the Grob is pretty clear it only welds up to 1/2"

 

[john.k]

My BW2 is rated at 15a 230v on the plate.

 

[Bill in PA]

Bill in PA,
Another question for you. I can't read the tag on yours.
It looks like 220V but I can't quite read your amps.
This one is 15A. Yours?
Also is yours single or 3 phase?
Thanks.
All in all, I'm leaning toward keeping the Boice Crane as the Grob is pretty clear it only welds up to 1/2"

220V/15A single phase

 

[metalmagpie]

I like my Stryko.

 

[Metalurgent]

I do all of my blade cutting and weld dressing with a thin disc in an angle grinder. Easy to chop/trim/bevel/ debur the blade; a bit of finesse is needed to dress the welds.
I found annealing the blade to be the thing that makes all the difference. It takes some practice, dim light, and familiarity with the machine to get a good result.
My welder is the OEM on a Doall Contour.
Either of your welders would probably work fine assuming they're in good condition. It does take practice, though.
Until you have a few usable blades under your belt, the finicky settings on these machines, blade to blade, can make you crazy

 

[Ultradog MN]

I do all of my blade cutting and weld dressing with a thin disc in an angle grinder. Easy to chop/trim/bevel/ debur the blade; a bit of finesse is needed to dress the welds.
I found annealing the blade to be the thing that makes all the difference. It takes some practice, dim light, and familiarity with the machine to get a good result.
My welder is the OEM on a Doall Contour.
Either of your welders would probably work fine assuming they're in good condition. It does take practice, though.
Until you have a few usable blades under your belt, the finicky settings on these machines, blade to blade, can make you crazy

Agree that it takes a bit of practicce to get good results.
Also agree that a cutting wheel on an angle grinder is the way to grind it.
I was able to make a reliable blade weld with one of these machines at one time so I know the basics of it. But that was 40+ years ago and every machine is a little different so I'll need to practice to get it right. Just doing this machining stuff for fun now (another damned hobbiest) so can afford to relearn it.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Just a final update.
I got them both powered up and made some practice welds with them.
They both work just fine.
Both units are a bit fidgity to get set up.
The Boice Crane welds with the blade horizontal and may be a little easier than the Grob which welds vertical.
Kind of a horse apiece I guess.
I am kinda leaning towards the Grob but will have my friend take a look and confer with him before decieding.
Thanks for all the help on this and especially on getting the manuals for them.

 

[Arc-On]

I've never had good luck with these electric blade welders. Must have never used a good one or something.

I machined a little clamping jig and just silver braze blades when I need to. (which is rare).

I've never tried to weld anything bigger than 1/2", but other than the vertical contour saw all my saws run either 3/4" or 1" blades, which is outside the capacity of my little electric welder anyway.

 

[JasonPAtkins]

Neither. After spending good money on a nice Doall welder whose manual said it could do bimetal blades, and using it for a year, I'm now firmly convinced that silver solder is a better route.

Every single weld tempered the tooth that was in the weld, which then stripped within the first few minutes, leading to the blade hopping at that spot, and inevitably causing the next teeth to strip eventually as well.

Obviously the big ones the vendors use are great, but resistance welding is for the birds on blades as far as I'm concerned. Silver solder doesn't have any of these problems, and I've had fewer (properly prepped) silver solder joints break than the resistance welded ones.

I bought these two blade welders today.
I will keep one, my friend wants the other.
I don't know if they work but for the moment, let's assume they do.
Both are 220V single phase.
There is some info online on the Grob (type RW-B).
It is missing the grinding wheel and guard.
I can fix that.
Didn't find much info on the Boice Crane unit.
No model # on it.
Which one would you guys keep?
Why?
Thanks



View attachment 339337View attachment 339338

 

[country_boy]

So what do y’all use blade welders for? I can see three choices
1) turning bulk stock into blades
2) repairing broken blades
3) cutting interior cuts

I’ve never broken factory bimetal blades except for 1 that was pretty much shot, a local supply will weld up blade on demand from stock, maybe I saw a 5-10% failure rate- but they were happy to reweld.

Since built in blade welders come on vertical saws, I’m guessing they are used for interior cuts?

I’ve never had the annealed tooth issue described above- maybe because I’ve allways used fine tooth(14-18) or variable pitch ( usually 6-10 or 10-14) At one point in my life, I cut tons of 316 deep unistrut and shipped it all over the Caribbean. It started as a logistics thing, being able to FedEx cut unistrut, then we realized if they needed 40 identical pieces it was still easier to cut in a real horizontal bandsaw and debur. I could get 316 strut in 100 piece lots for a fraction of what gettin a single stick costs in the carribeam, and about a third of what it was in Miami.