OT. Bandsaw blade welding, which way is best?

[hvnlymachining]

G'day all!

I just bought my third ( for the shop, 5th in all) bandsaw, and as would be the case, they all use different blades. Since I was in immediate need for this "new" saw I set out to find new blades locally, but to no avail at my required size. No local suppliers making customs, etc.

So after purchasing two blades, I cut and spliced as required to get what I needed and cut 3 pcs of 8-1/2" dia. 1045 with ease.

Now my quest leads me to seeking an easier ( if possible) means to weld blades over a wire feed welder and angle grinder.
Is a blade welder any better? Maybe tig instead? I know this will be ongoing as the area I reside in lacks industrial suppliers and I have a knack for creating needs at inopportune times.

I have welded blades in the past also with good success, I'm just wondering if there is a better way to do this. ( blades are 1/2", 3/4, 1", 1-1/4, and 2" widths)

What is your go to in this situation?
Thanks for your time!

Jacob

 

[MwTech Inc]

Well, I just use the blade welder on the doall....

The welders, weld the blade then you hit a button to anneal the welded joint.
Then a bit of grinding and you're done.
If you have the process down, don't see any real sense buying a welder.....
I think doall maxes out at 1" anyway

 

[hvnlymachining]

My only trouble is with burning a tooth during the weld, especially on fine tooth blades.

 

[sfriedberg]

My hat's off to you, hvnlymachining. I can braze (silver solder) bandsaw blades, but don't have the welding chops to do it with GMAW or FCAW. In comparison, a dedicated blade welder is pretty much "adjust a dial, throw a switch, then grind the flash".

 

[MwTech Inc]

My only trouble is with burning a tooth during the weld, especially on fine tooth blades.

easy to do with a welder.........its an art more than a process...

 

[kenton]

A working blade welder on the shop doall is the easiest.

When the blade welder wasn't working I have tig welded them using a fusion joint with no filler. Make sure to run the tig torch over it a few times at low power to anneal the weld joint.

As far as messing up teeth near the joint, I have never worried about it. Doall manuals have instructions on how to avoid it. You can get PDFs of the manuals on vintage machinery .com.

 

[john.k]

I once bought a big Do All ,and the blade welder was magic ,perfect welds every time ........so I assumed all welders were the same ....nooooo....since I sold that Do All ,Ive never had an electric blade welder worked anywhere as good ..and Id think MwTech has that same welder

 

[JasonPAtkins]

Silver braze after proper scarf. Had a Doll blade welder, used it for years. Silver braze fails far less and doesn't soften teeth, which is always the beginning of the failure later.

 

[Philabuster]

Silver braze after proper scarf. Had a Doll blade welder, used it for years. Silver braze fails far less and doesn't soften teeth, which is always the beginning of the failure later.

My old boss used to scarf and then silver braze all of his bandsaw blades. We made a braze alignment fixture out of aluminum which kept the blade ends running true to each other. Worked great.

 

[strokersix]

I TIG weld my 1/4 inch bands with stainless filler. Butt weld. Anneal. Finish with grind, hammer, file. Make sure there is a bit of filler in place of the inevitable missing tooth so there isn't a gap between teeth. Stainless seems to be less brittle, also work hardens with cold work of hammer. Adjust the band straightness by selective hammer stretching.

I've used blade welders in the past and they are certainly quicker but I don't own one...

When I run out of band stock I'll probably buy pre-welded but until then, my method works for me.

 

[hvnlymachining]

I haven't tried silver brazing yet, dad brazed a couple back when we got our first saw but they didn't hold up, they'd snap. That was back before the Internet, I'm sure something was off in his process looking back ( I don't recall an anneal step) . He was good at brazing and welding everything else. Maybe I'll have to retry that one.

Another reason for starting this thread is that I want to try some of the more expensive types of blades like carbide tipped. I am cutting quite a bit of induction hardened chrome rod these days and would like to drop them in the saw without the deep scoring with an angle grinder or annealing before the cut. The cost of experiments get a bit pricey without doing a little DIY.

So, as I see it, blade welding is probably going to become much more frequent for me.

Jacob

 

[MwTech Inc]

and Id think MwTech has that same welder

Yep

 

[lucky7]

Have tried brazing but never went back after had access to a blade welder at my late friend’s shop and now my DoAll welder. Key according to my friend was repeated annealing cycles just below temper colour. Rarely break a blade and seems like so many commercially welded blades are misaligned that I prefer to do my own.

 

[MwTech Inc]

repeated annealing cycles

that's some of the art to it....the other is the blade gap before welding to get the proper crush........once you get that, all is good.

 

[JasonPAtkins]

I haven't tried silver brazing yet, dad brazed a couple back when we got our first saw but they didn't hold up, they'd snap. That was back before the Internet, I'm sure something was off in his process looking back ( I don't recall an anneal step) . He was good at brazing and welding everything else. Maybe I'll have to retry that one.

Another reason for starting this thread is that I want to try some of the more expensive types of blades like carbide tipped. I am cutting quite a bit of induction hardened chrome rod these days and would like to drop them in the saw without the deep scoring with an angle grinder or annealing before the cut. The cost of experiments get a bit pricey without doing a little DIY.

So, as I see it, blade welding is probably going to become much more frequent for me.

Jacob

I had several failed welds when I first switched to brazing. Members here showed me my scarf joint wasn't long enough, wasn't ground at enough of an angle. The jig I made now grinds an angle that's about 1/4" long on a 3/4" blade. Haven't had a weld fail since. I don't anneal, I don't think silver braze is hot enough to harden anything?

 

[john.k]

Silver braze is way hot enough to harden carbon steel,and I do know people who have had fails with all these processes were not annealing ..........same with the electric welder .....after the weld ,if you anneal with the jog button,the metal must not glow red or it will reharden.

 

[john.k]

I once bought a stack of NOS Grob blade welders from the army sales .........compared to a Do All welder ,the damn things were near impossible to use ...........which is why I suspect the army had removed them from the saws.

 

[Philabuster]

Another reason for starting this thread is that I want to try some of the more expensive types of blades like carbide tipped. I am cutting quite a bit of induction hardened chrome rod these days and would like to drop them in the saw without the deep scoring with an angle grinder or annealing before the cut. The cost of experiments get a bit pricey without doing a little DIY.

Carbide tipped blades are 4X the price of HSS blades and the hard chrome rod will still eat a carbide blade. I use carbide tipped blades exclusively on our old DoAll horizontal saw cutting Inconel 718 but I would not want to cut hardened chrome rods with them.

 

[hvnlymachining]

Carbide tipped blades are 4X the price of HSS blades and the hard chrome rod will still eat a carbide blade. I use carbide tipped blades exclusively on our old DoAll horizontal saw cutting Inconel 718 but I would not want to cut hardened chrome rods with them.

I wondered about that, they advertise them as capable for cutting induction hardened rod, but if carbide doesn't cut it on the lathe what are the chances it works in a saw.
One member on here however mentioned several months ago in another thread, that he had success cutting induction hardened with his saw so I had a little hope.

Guess I'll keep looking for a different option for that problem.

 

[hvnlymachining]

From what I see here, it looks like I just need to take time to build a good fixture for alignment and try a few methods out to see what I prefer. I have some rolls of blade to go buy now so I can be prepared for the next blade failure. ( 100 mile round trip for blades gets old)

Thank you all for your time and suggestions!

Since Dad passed away I don't have anyone I can bounce ideas and questions off of, and you all have been very kind to take the time to allow that. Again,Thank you!