A couple of projects

[Larwyn]

Here's a couple of pics of some projects that have been keeping me out of trouble (and off the TD project for a while);

My Harbor Freight metal cutting bandsaw with a few modifications;





And the Beer Holder to end all Beer Holders. It stands bout 30 inches tall when staked into the ground (looks taller in pic);

[Juneaudave]

The bandsaw setup is nice...but the beer holder is SWEET!!!! Looks like you need to hang an opener off one of the rings, add racks for duel racks of beverages, counterbalanced with recycle containers for the environmentally minded!!!

[toypusher]

Kooeell!!!

[Steve_Cox]

Horizontal Bandsaw is deluxe to the tenth power. But the adult beverage containment and support system is a tool that even Hephaestus would have been proud to own.

Here's a couple of pics of some projects that have been keeping me out of trouble (and off the TD project for a while);

My Harbor Freight metal cutting bandsaw with a few modifications;





And the Beer Holder to end all Beer Holders. It stands bout 30 inches tall when staked into the ground (looks taller in pic);

[Larwyn]

Thanks for the comments guys.

The beer holder is my favorite of the two, after all it is my creation top to bottom. All the work on the saw was just modifications on a Chinese made power tool.................

[Juneaudave]

Horizontal Bandsaw is deluxe to the tenth power. But the adult beverage containment and support system is a tool that even Hephaestus would have been proud to own.

I'm thinking Hapheastus would be happy...but Dionysus would be in ectasy!!!

[Steve_Cox]

Horizontal Bandsaw is deluxe to the tenth power. But the adult beverage containment and support system is a tool that even Hephaestus would have been proud to own.

I'm thinking Hapheastus would be happy...but Dionysus would be in ectasy!!!

[Dee Bee]

Hi Larwyn


Nice set up. Can you tell me what is on the bottom shelf?

Dee Bee

[Larwyn]

Dee Bee

Thanks.

The object in question is a coolant reservoir and pump. You fill it with a water soluble oil which it pumps onto the blade and the object being cut. It extends blade life, helps clear chips from the kerf during the cut and prevents the stock from heating up.

The one on my saw is from Harbor Freight, but they seem to no longer carry it. I had the thing on a shelf for a year or so before I finally got around to building the stand with a drip pan to collect and return the coolant to the pump.

[asianflava]

What all did you do to the saw? I see the water cooling, the improved tension knob, the switch changes, anything else? Is that a bigger motor? Hydraulic feed?

From using the ones at work, I see how much the water cooling improves the cut. I was thinking about adding it to mine.

Cool projects!

[Larwyn]

What all did you do to the saw? I see the water cooling, the improved tension knob, the switch changes, anything else? Is that a bigger motor? Hydraulic feed?

From using the ones at work, I see how much the water cooling improves the cut. I was thinking about adding it to mine.

Cool projects!

Hey that's right, you have one of these saws don't you. It may seem to some that the saw is not worth the modifications, but with the mods, it all comes together.

The "improved blade tension knob" is actually what I had laying around the shop when the saw came in with the original knob borken off in the shipping carton.

I added hydraulic down feed, then built a new stand to get the thing up off the floor, now my pipe stands work as material supports, when I built the stand I topped it off with a drip pan so I could use the coolant pump I had ordered when I got the saw, without running all the coolant out on the floor. The factory switch had a habit of auto stopping before the cut was complete and auto restarting when you raised the saw so I added a magnetic switch and a limit switch for positive auto stop after the cut was complete as intended. I added a 3 position switch for the coolant, so it has an "auto" position that is on when the saw is on and off when the saw is off, an off position, and an on position, with this I can use the magnetic mount nozzle of the coolant pump on the drill press and not have to run the saw motor. I also added one more switch for the light that I put on the saw.

Oh, by the way, the hydraulic down feed is actually a spring/pneumatic storm door closer. I simply drilled and tapped both ends of the cylinder, removed the spring and the air, which I replaced with hydraulic fluid. The flow of hydraulic oil is controlled by a needle valve as found on an ice maker. This does mean that you have to raise the saw head slowly to keep from drawing hydraulic oil through the vent at the top of the cylinder, spilling it on the floor. But that is really no big deal, as you seldom have to raise the head very far because you can hold the position with the valve rather than having to raise it to vertical every time. One other feature of the home brew hydraulics is the bottom mount which needed to swivel. I used a swivel caster with the wheel removed.......

It all works really well and it is a pleasure to use a machine which I modified so extensively myself.

A close up of the door closer hydraulics;



A .025" length of .500 square tube which I cut with this saw;

[asianflava]

Hey that's right, you have one of these saws don't you.

Yeah, one of the last projects I made before I left TX was a small trebuchet. I was futzing about cutting the pivot shafts and the spacers, it was really holding me up. I tried it with a hacksaw but the spacers looked like poop. Then I remembered that I owned that saw. I walk past it everyday to go in and out of the garage. For some reason, it just didn't register.

The saw is down right cranky. I have to remember all it's quirks every time I use it. After I do, it works like a champ. The tension knob is one sore point, it is a little pip-squeak knob. You can't get enough tension on it. I want to replace it with a bigger one. Water cooling will have to wait.

[Larwyn]

Until I ran across that old plastic hand wheel I used for a tension knob, I just used a pair of vise grips. The original knob had split into two pieces during shipment so I had to come up with something. These saws need a LOT of blade tension to cut half way straight, the vise grips made it easier than the knob that I am using now....

The bandsaw is my first choice for cutting metal in my garage. No sparks, grinding dust, noise, and heat like with the plasma cutter or an abrasive cutoff saw. The little Triton steel cutting chop saw is smaller and easier to store away on a shelf so less convenient to put into use.

Drag that saw out and use it! The fact that you do not have a coolant system on the saw just means your blades may not last as long and the parts may be a little warm to touch. But it also means that the saw is clean enough to make a quick cut off on just about any material you can fit on the vise or table of the saw without having to clean the coolant off of whatever you cut. One trick I found on one of the welding groups that really expands the usefulness of these little saws it to use a drill press clamp (vise grip style) to hold small pieces close to the blade or at odd angles...