Bandsaw out feed table.

[Janger]

After Craig posted about his bandsaw I decided to work on my bandsaw too. I used to have a simple out feed shelf on my old bandsaw. Now that I sold that one and bought this other beast I needed to get around to making that project again. It's simple but incredible useful upgrade to your saw - makes it a lot easier to use. It also can let you clamp short material to the out feed table and cut it easily. John C. was over at my shop and he had a couple of useful suggestions which I incorporated in the construction.

Basically I just mounted a piece of 3x3x1/4" angle to the band saw.

Here is the saw. Somebody should clean that thing.

Drill and tap 1/4-20

Mount angle plate. The bottom bolts hold the angle to the saw. The upper bolt is threaded in the angle and serves to push the table away from the saw in order to deal with the angled casting. I don't know if it will buzz loose - if it does I will loctite it. Maybe a lock nut on the front side would work too. Funny the 3" angle fits almost exactly right against the lip on the casting. Almost on purpose by the manufacturer?

Here you can see I clamped a big piece of 2x2 into the saw and then clamped the angle table to the 2x2. This kept it in place while I drilled the pilot holes for the tapped bolts in the saw. It also made sure table is flat and square and not located too high.

Here it is all done.

This is how I use it. I can clamp the material to the table - maybe with a stronger clamp than this. This clamp is enough to keep the material from leaping away from the saw when the cut is finished, prevents dents, noise, parts on the floor, etc. The other clamp holds the ruler so I have an easy scale to measure against. The material when the blade breaks through can still move the ruler around so I plan to install locator dowels through the ruler and into the table. Another day...

Fun day today. I'm working on three projects at once!

 

[Dabbler]

I really like your solution!

 

[TheLocalDrunk]

What a simple solution.
With the blacksmith, I have spent way too much time in front of one of those bandsaws and that would be a great little improvement.

Cheers

 

[Janger]

Next improvement. I don't know what to call this. Out feed fence? Anyway I kept having the stock get wedged in between the length stop and blade. So to prevent this I bolted on a piece of angle. A few pictures...

 

[CalgaryPT]

That's a really good mod. Amazing how something so simple can make life easier right? Nice work.

About a year ago I had what I thought was a great idea to use a line laser to mark the blade location on my bandsaw. I bought the laser and mounted it all up on the saw only to realize that when the saw swings back up, it does so at an angle so the line is inaccurate. I hate bringing the saw all the way down to test where the blade will cut. Maybe I'll work on a better solution for that mod soon.

Nice work John.

 

[John Conroy]

Nice mod John, that one's going on my list.

 

[Janger]

Peter I want to see this laser thing again.

 

[YYCHM]

I hate bringing the saw all the way down to test where the blade will cut. Maybe I'll work on a better solution for that mod soon.

I'm forever attempting to cut little stubby short pieces that don't span the supports under the blade, so I decided to fill the area under the blade with hardwood (for support purposes). I find the blade line in the HW real handy for lining up stock for a cut now. Good idea, Bad idea, I Dunno, seems to work for me?

BTB - The laser line on my drill press never produced consistent results. I gave up on it.

Craig

 

[CalgaryPT]

I find the blade line in the HW real handy for lining up stock for a cut now. Good idea, Bad idea, I Dunno, seems to work for me?

BTB - The laser line on my drill press never produced consistent results. I gave up on it.

Craig

That's a different approach. I'll have to think about this.

I'm more on the fabrication side of the hobby, and precision cuts aren't a deal breaker. I square up on a 20" disk sander anyways, so your idea is worth considering for me.

 

[Johnwa]

de, so I decided to fill the area under the blade with hardwood (for support purposes). I find the blade line in the HW real handy for lining up stock for a cut now. Good idea, Bad idea, I Dunno, seems to work for me?


Craig

I like it!

 

[Janger]

I like it for the blade line! that's great. I don't have any hardwood handy but I suppose something else coolant resistant would be good. maybe some plastic. I could perhaps print something...

 

[RobinHood]

I sometimes hold small / short pieces of metal in a wood “cradle” - piece of plywood on bottom, one on the fixed jaw and one on the movable jaw side and let the saw cut trough the whole thing. Works great. Use new pieces of wood next time...

I generally like using thin wood strip between the jaws and the metal stock - much better grip and you don’t have to reef down on the vice nearly as much.

 

[CalgaryPT]

The link below is kind of what I was shooting for, but I notice there is no follow-up in the article...although there is a rethink later down the page. If you look at it closely, there's no way it could work throughout the movement of the arm, which is what I overlooked. He mentioned it is calibrated to the arm's locked position. His saw has hydraulic down feed with an adjustable valve, so I don't get that there would be a detent. But I have no reason to doubt him. My 7 x 12 King swivel model doesn't have detents. As you swing the arm in different positions, you'll get different laser marks.

This was one of those projects for me that I got too cocky on. Seemed simple so I drilled and tapped a hole to mount the laser after testing it in the down position. Got is all mounted and discovered my engineering oversight as soon as I raised the arm. Duh.

Anyways, I've got time to rethink now. I like the @YYCHobbyMachinist's hardwood line approach for its simplicity. I guess it's just tough not to love FRIKIN' LASERS!

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php?topic=2341.0

 

[Chicken lights]

The link below is kind of what I was shooting for, but I notice there is no follow-up in the article. If you look at it closely, there's no way it could work throughout the movement of the arm, which is what I overlooked. He mentioned it is calibrated to the arm's locked position. His saw has hydraulic down feed with an adjustable valve, so I don't get that there would be a detent. But I have no reason to doubt him. My 7 x 12 King swivel model doesn't have detents. As you swing the arm in different positions, you'll get different laser marks.

This was one of those projects for me that I got too cocky on. Seemed simple so I drilled and tapped a hole to mount the laser after testing it in the down position. Got is all mounted and discovered my engineering oversight as soon as I raised the arm. Duh.

Anyways, I've got time to rethink now. I like the @YYCHobbyMachinist's hardwood line approach for its simplicity. I guess it's just tough not to love FRIKIN' LASERS!

http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php?topic=2341.0

How come you couldn’t make an arm to mount the laser at the front of the machine? Pointing towards the blade? Maybe try mounting it to a dial test indicator base and arm, that way you could test the concept anyway?

 

[RobinHood]

He mentioned it is calibrated to the arm's locked position

i think what he does before he starts any cut is to lift the saw all the way up and locks the hydraulic cylinder. He has the laser set so that when the blade comes down to start cutting the metal, the laser line and saw blade coincide. the laser line is only use for set-up, it is the turned off.

if the laser line and the saw blade were coplanar (the ideal situation), you would never see the line as the blade back would block the laser light from illuminating the part. The way he gets around that problem is to mount the laser so that it is in a different, slightly slanted, plane wrt the blade plane and adjusts for the parallax when the arm is locked in the up position.

 

[CalgaryPT]

i think what he does before he starts any cut is to lift the saw all the way up and locks the hydraulic cylinder. He has the laser set so that when the blade comes down to start cutting the metal, the laser line and saw blade coincide. the laser line is only use for set-up, it is the turned off.

if the laser line and the saw blade were coplanar (the ideal situation), you would never see the line as the blade back would block the laser light from illuminating the part. The way he gets around that problem is to mount the laser so that it is in a different, slightly slanted, plane wrt the blade plane and adjusts for the parallax when the arm is locked in the up position.

Agreed. I use my saw daily, and never lift the arm all the way up because it either takes too much time to let it fall, or you have to open the valve to speed this up, then reset it for a similar cut. I know there are down feed cylinders with fast returns featuring a bypass (or you can make one), but I haven't looked into that yet.

I'm not giving up on the idea yet; I just need to rethink it. Mounting elsewhere on the saw as @Chicken lights suggests was next on my list. It's not quite as easy on mine though, as I have a unique model wherein the entire saw swivels (not the vise). These are best in narrow shops so you don't have to pivot longer stock. But it makes mounting the laser a little tougher. Without a detent to lock the arm into, I can see forgetting this step, thus throwing your cut off. There's obviously a reason a shiny consumer add-on like a laser guide isn't an option out of the box.

I'll play around with it some more in the weeks to come. Or maybe sooner. My to-do list includes cleaning up my metal stock rack, and I'm looking for an excuse to not do this.

 

[Chicken lights]

https://www.amazon.ca/Oshlun-LG-M01-Miter-Portable-Laser/dp/B002PMV4UG

Could you mount that on one of the blade wheels?

 

[YYCHM]

I like it for the blade line! that's great. I don't have any hardwood handy but I suppose something else coolant resistant would be good. maybe some plastic. I could perhaps print something...

I was contemplating using automotive Bondo until I priced it out and realized you have to mix that stuff.

 

[PeterT]

On my saw, the trough needs to be there for the blade to pass through material & that also shuts the motor off.

I think most of these saws suffer the same issue. I've considered making 2 new jaw plates, flush mount bolt them to the existing CI jaws so that the edge is very close to the blade. One could even mill a V-groove in the middle & it would grip circular stock. Another option is to remove the CI jaws altogether & replace with new jaws made from say 4x4x 0.5" thick L steel but nice & close to the blade.

I've also gripped the part in a smaller vise, then grip the vise in the CI jaws but closer to the blade. But most vises have a mounting lug on either side so the blade would run into it. There are flush side vises though.

 

[YYCHM]

On my saw, the trough needs to be there for the blade to pass through material & that also shuts the motor off.

Same with mine. The HW fill/support doesn't prevent that from occuring.

I agree, having jaws that extended closer to the blade would help big time.