Out of curiosity- I was at Lowe's today and noticed that they had bandsaw blades for cutting metal.

Can you put a metal cutting blade in a regular bandsaw and use it to cut steel?

Would be handy to have around if it can be done.

 

technically you can, but you need a steady flow of coolant over the part being cut and the blade itself. Heat will ruin it in a short time.

If you can adjust fpm, and your feed rate, you can slow it down enough that it'll do it...but you still need coolant. the part needs to be clamped firmly, as the slightest movement will rip the teeth off and ruin your blade. Depending how small the blade is, you might get a wobble, which you may not want. IE: not a straight cut.

 

Really? I dry cut stainless at work on an old upright band saw, you do have to take your time, and it's unbelievably loud, but it cuts just fine. A fence will help with steady cuts.

Most metal cutting bandsaws are dry cutters, only the heavy industrial grade saws are cooled.
If there is a real concern about the blade needing lube, try a wax blade lube stick like #F168 at the bottom of this page:
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/compound2.html

 

We use a old 14'' Delta at work and cut stainless with all the time, we use a friction cut fine tooth blade and works great, for alum. we use a larger tooth count in a hook tooth blade. At home I have an old 14'' bandsaw and cut sheetmetal for body work.
Charlie

 

The ones I have seen such as Jet use a lube system, but, when you get down to it, a sawzall is really just a very short bandsaw blade.

 

As a bandsaw operator at work, I tend to err on the side of caution, thus saying coolant is necessary. If one cut a day is all you need, then a slow feed will do just fine, dry. Just watch out for heat build up. If the chips become blue, then you have too much heat. Even a squirt bottle filled with water is better than nothing.

 

You can, but it's a bad idea and I'll tell you why.

Speed: Wood cutting bandsaws typically run at a higher feet per second than metal bandsaws.

Heat: you need coolant for any type of serious metal cutting. If you want to cut thin sheet metal (20ga or thinner) this is less of an issue.

Wheels: Inside the bandsaw are two big wheels, and wood bandsaws typically have rubber around them to grip the blade. While cutting metal, this rubber will get impregnated with metal chards and eventually the blade will walk off the rubber.

Guide: The torque on the blade at the cutting point is much higher for cutting steel and that will wear out the "cheesy" bearings on the wood bandsaw's guide system. Expect to replace these before you start cutting metal, or soon thereafter.

This is based on my trying to do the exact same thing. While I haven't purchased a metal cutting bandsaw, it's the next tool on my list to purchase once I have some money to do so. The Ryobi wood bandsaw I purchased just doesn't cut it, dispite my several attempts at modification. I reached the point where what I've invested to modify it over the past 2 years has almost reached what a metal bandsaw would have cost me to start with, so I stopped modifying it for this reason.

With the mods that i've done thus far, I find cutting aluminum to be fine, so my investment in time/money for the modifications weren't completely wasted. But, I do more work with steel than aluminum so I still need to purchase a metal bandsaw. They work much better than a chop saw in my opinion.

 

I've used a Porta-Band to cut piece after piece for about six hours straight with no problems, and most of what I was cutting was thick walled tube, axle housings, and frame sections. That is a very low speed tool, but a good example of a dry metal cutting bandsaw.

 

I've used bandsaws for years without coolant for cutting steel, but you have to get the speed down SLOW. Also, as was said before, you need the right guides to have much success. We used to cut out mold bases on a bandsaw- drill a hole, thread the blade through the hole and weld it, then start pushing- for days in some cases.

 

I looked at some metal cutting bandsaws, and I see that they all swivel and are pretty much made to be used as cutoff saws...

I was really looking for something to make long cuts with (like a wood-cutting bandsaw), but I guess such a thing doesn't exist

I've been wanting to do a fabricated bumper on my truck, would be nice if I could cut out the steel myself (probably 3/16" plate)...well, maybe I'll just have to get a sawzall or a big cutoff wheel for a saw or something, I dunno.

 

Ghunt,

Large metal bandsaws do exist, but they're big $. I used to use a DoAll @ work.

Does your bandsaw have a pulley setup that will allow you to get a slow enough speed to cut steel? Like 100 fpm v/s 1000+ fpm for cutting wood?

If you're going to do it get a blade that has at least 2 teeth engaged in the material. Even smaller teeth put less load on the motor and are less likely to strip off. But if any blade gets too hot the teeth loose temper and dull immediately + they'll melt the tires.
Speed = friction = heat

IMHO you'd be better off finding a metal fabrication shop that will cut your sheet on a shear or w/ a plasma cutter for you rather that screwing up your bandsaw.
(oh, it's sheet metal up to 1/4", plate if 1/4" or thicker than that)

HTH