DoAll Bandsaw for Brian

[Brian Rupnow]

Figuring things out as I roll along----My little 16" wood cutting bandsaw had a 3/4" wide wood cutting blade on it when I bought it. I added a shaft and pulleys to slow the blade down, and then after seeing how quickly it ran thru ordinary metal cutting blades, I switched to bi-metal blades. With a 3/4" wide blade, you really can't cut curves. That's okay, I never really wanted to cut curves. 99% of my cuts were simple straight cuts. Now this new to me DoAll saw is not called a "bandsaw". It says right on it that it is a "contour saw".---Maybe that should have made me stop and think, but damn, it has two pulleys and a saw band on it, so to me, that's a bandsaw. After two or three days of "faffing about", I now understand why it had a 1/2" sawblade on it.---To cut contours---DUH---Oh well, I'll try it with a 1/2" bi metal blade and see if I'm happy with the results. Maybe it will be fine. If it isn't fine, then it seems that I can make it fine by fiddling with the blade guides and putting a 3/4" blade on it. Here I am, 75 years old, worked in engineering all my life, and never knew that there was such a thing as a "Contour Saw". Life never ceases to amaze me!!!

[crueby]

My metal cutting bandsaw uses 1/2" wide blades, tracks straight quite well through the cuts, should be good for yours too. If the saw was set up for 1/2" blades, best to use those. Does it have flat rubber 'tires' on the wheels that the blade runs on, or are they all steel? If rubber, check them for wear and replace if need be.

[john mills]

been using these saws from when i was an apprentice never needed any more than 1/2" blade always used 1/2" blades they will cut straight and can do curves we used to cut out tools out of tool steel 32 mm thick so should be suitable for your work used just ordinary saw blade .what is the guid under the table.
john

[Brian Rupnow]

John--Far as I can tell, the guide under the table is the same as the guide above the table.----Brian

[Brian Rupnow]

Chris--My saw has rubber tires that appear to be in very good shape.----Brian

[Muzzer]

All the parts lists, manuals etc seem to be online, although you didn't say which model this is. https://www.doallsaws.com/parts-manual

[Don1966]

A little more information--With the saw guides removed, I have a better look at the bearing. The blade doesn't ride against the face of the bearing. It rides against the face of a mushroom headed hardened steel stub shaft

I disagree never saw a blade back ride against metal to metal. The support guide should adjust it to position it against the bearing. Use a dollar bill to adjust clearance of the guided. The bearing is there to support the back of the blade. Setup is to set it to where it just touches the blade. As you cut it pushes the blade against the bearing and the bearing will spin. Alignment of the two wheels should be Done with a straight edge where both wheels are parallel to each other. If you have a manual it should show how to calibrate the saw. Such as adjusting the guides and squaring the table to aligning the two wheels.

Regards Don

[Brian Rupnow]

There is no joy in Mudville---My electrical friend who has really impressive skills came to my house this morning at 9:30 and proceeded to wire up my VFD. While he was doing his wiring thing, I decided on a mounting location and mounted the VFD on the saw.  After a whole lot of wire pulling and connecting, he hit the start button on the VFD, and the 3 phase motor started running.---but---the VFD was showing a "trip" light. The VFD was shut down, everything was checked, and the start button was pushed again. This time the VFD came to life, but the motor didn't start, and the "trip" light on the VFD came on again. Everything was checked, then re-checked, then checked again.---No Dice. The instruction booklet which came with the VFD acknowledged that yes, there was a "trip" light, but failed to mention what to do about it, nor exactly what it meant. Finally at 3:00 my friend had to leave and go home, with both of us scratching our heads and the saw still not functioning.  I don't really need the saw right now, because I still have my smaller converted wood bandsaw. In a total crunch, I can take the two horsepower single phase motor of my old power hacksaw and run the DoAll saw with it---if I have to. Still, a rather disappointing way to end the day. My friend will do some research on Tuesday when everything is open again, and hopefully come up with an answer.

[Don1966]

If the motor has been setting up for a while it needs t be megged to ground t check it’s electrical insulation resistance. The motor accumulate moisture and the VFD will sense this leakage and trip. The other option is to insure you have a good motor and it isn’t burnt or shorted internal.

Regards Don

You can try removing the ground wire to the motor and VFD just to verify that that is not the reason it trips…..

[Don1966]

These are important adjustments.

[Brian Rupnow]

Thank you Don.---Brian

[Brian Rupnow]

Question of the day is about bandsaw blades. On my smaller converted wood cutting saw, I found that the best blade was 3/4" wide bi-metallic with a 5-8 tooth configuration. My new DoAll saw takes a 120" x 1/2" blade and I can get it in bi-metallic, but the tooth configuration is only available in 10-14 and 8-12. I cut mild steel and/or aluminum from 1/8" thick up to 2" thick, with the most cutting done on 1/2"+/- steel or aluminum. Which tooth configuration would you suggest?---Brian

[john mills]

if i was cutting 1/8" much i would use the finer pitched blade if most of the cutting is thicker the wider pitch
could be better but both of these would cut ok .
john

[Vixen]

Hello Brian,

I use a 14 TPI, 1/2", bi-metalic blade for everything; steel, aluminium, thick or thin. It is a good compromise

Mike

[Brian Rupnow]

No joy again today with getting the saw to run. My electrical wizard has been in touch with the manufacturers/trouble-shooters for this VFD, and thought he would have success today, but it didn't happen. Now I wait for more phone calls, before seeing if I have a bad VFD, or a bad motor, or just general bad. I seen the motor run when I bought it at the used machinery place. I seen it run once very briefly here. I did find out where I can buy a bi-metallic 1/2" x 0.025" x 120" x 6-10 pitch blade locally, so have ordered one.---I do have a 2 HP electric motor, 110 volt that I can use on the bandsaw if all else fails, but I'd really rather use the motor that came with the saw.