I have a 14" Grizzly Bandsaw more or less this vintage:
When I had the day job I had access to a grizzly metal cutting band saw of this basic vintage.
I need a "metal" cutting bandsaw- So Is this all a matter of marketing? Can I order a blade that will fit the wood bandsaw that will cut metal? ie 6061 aluminum, brass etc.
I want to be able to start making the brass and other metal elements that I have incorporated in previous pieces with out using machines in other facilities.
The difference between metal and wood is largely blade speed. Figure out how to slow the blade (substantially!) buy a suitable blade and you are in business.
I cut aluminum and brass on my "wood" bandsaw with a fine tooth blade and slow feed rate. My saw does not have pulley options for a slower blade speed.
Metal cutting saws run a much slower blade speed. They also generally have metal wheels with no rubber tires. rubber ties on your wood saw are likely to accumulate metal chips.
I have a portable hand-held metal bandsaw. Got it way back when PC was a reliable tool manufacturer. It's proven very handy. But it's limited in how much it can cut. Goes into a box I can put on a shelf.
I have a similar version of the 14" bandsaw, a Delta. The retailer delivered a convertible one that had some sort of transmission on it and then came bock and got it when I did not want to pay the difference. I never even touched it, so I am just saying they exist.
On my woodworking one the motor is located to the left of the saw on the stand. It probably would not be difficult to put a stepped pully on it to give it two or more speeds. Hardest part might be refabing the belt guard, but we don't need no stinking guard.
I have cut a tiny amount of aluminum on mine. Also tried to "rip" a piece of 4" plastic pipe. Don't do that. It was exciting. Still haven't found all the pieces. It was over so fast I managed to save my shorts.
With a wood-cutting bandsaw you can cut brass and aluminum as you illustrated but its best to use a lower speed and a fine-toothed blade. If it has pulleys run it at the lowest speed. If not and used primarily for metal, you could change the pulleys for an even lower speed but at the expense of wood cutting. The recommended speeds for metals are much lower than for wood.
One of the Grizzly wood-cutting bandsaw states a speed of 1500 and 3200 FPM.
For cutting steel, however, a low speed and the right blade is even more important. I have two metal-cutting bandsaws, one portable. Both use fine teeth and slow speed. My portaband has variable speed for very low speed when needed. For cutting steel I usually use a large horizontal bandsaw with continuous coolant and a hydraulic blade feed. To give you an idea of the speed difference, it has these speeds: 85, 130, 180, 285-Feet per minute.
Neither of these metal-cutting saws are good for the fine detail you show. They are primarily used for straight cuts through stock. The horizontal bandsaw will let you tilt to vertical and mount a small table for limited detail work.
I've been down this road and conversion of wood cutting bandsaw to metal is not cheap or easy. Wood cutting typically run at blade speeds of 2000 to 3000 fpm. I'm guessing your Grizzly is closer to 3000 fpm. Ideally you need to get to a 200 fpm range. In a pinch I have cut aluminum with fine tooth metal blade on woodcutting bandsaw. If the saw has a drive pully on back like the old delta 14" saws i have pulled pully cover off and backed saw up to the lathe fitted with shaft and small pulley. Most lathes will get down to a couple hundred rpm. You'll have to find belt right length. This will get you slow enough for Al and bronze.
I eventually bought Delta wood/metal bandsaw, and this solution work fine but is not cheap.
Many of the knife makers I know use a deep throat portaband with a table accessory. Brother has harbor freight portaband with this setup and it works well for cutting out knife blanks. I have Milwaukee that I use all the time for cutting metal and PVC pipe. It is much more convent than the metal bandsaw. Still need to get table for mine but they are relatively inexpensive . See link below for example. The vise mounted version of the table is about $80.00
As others have said, for brass and aluminum you can get away with it using a fine tooth blade. With 6061 in particular you will want a lube stick too, its going to gall the blade.
If you can spare the saw for a dedicated use, you can probably find a motor face mount gear reducer to get down into reasonable cutting speeds for metals. Hard to say without knowing the specifics of your motor, but it is usually a feasible option. Dedicated upright metal bandsaws are around surplus, but I be a gear reducer and a replacement wood saw is a cheaper option if you can swing it.
There is a double pully on the motor shaft and a double pully on the wheel. (NOTE the rubber wheel pads are old and have cracked off so they need to be replaced)
The motor speed is listed at 1720 RPM
I don't have the owners manual any more so I can't reference the pully differences.
This current grizzly saw dates from 1992 and it could be used for dedicated metal work if the necessary modifications were worth the effort but I think I'll be exploring something like this dual horizontal/vertical machine dedicated for metal cutting.
Hey Alan, I've cut 1/2" thick bronze on my highspeed bandsaw before with no problems other than chips impeded in the tire. Since you are cutting thick metal and not likely geared down real slow, I would just go with one of your older blades with maybe 4 tpi with no hook on the face. If you try to use a fine tooth regular blade at a high speed, you probably won't be able to make a proper chip.
Cut outside your template line, then use your router to clean up the edges.
I own exactly this saw, except mine is 16", and apparently there were 18" models too. Vaguely remember that the original manual mentioned cutting soft metals on the lowest speed setting and using special blades along with Grizzly catalog numbers for appropriate blades. Never tried it myself, I think I'd opt for a dedicated metalworking bandsaw, maybe a small handheld unit on a stand.
You have the motor RPM, you can measure the pulley diameters, and you have the blade length. Should be easy. I looks to me like you can cut brass and aluminum with that saw, a fine tooth blade, and a lube stick - buy that same place as the blade.
I don't recommend those horizontal/vertical saws for more than very occasional vertical work. They are great for cutting steel lengths that you will then weld together, they are a pain for using vertically with the janky little table you screw on as an accessory. The table is too flexible, and you break your back bending over the thing for any length of time. And the horizontal bits are all in the way when you try to do vertical cuts.
If you are going to use the same BS for both wood and metal, it is a very good idea to clean out all of the wood sawdust out of the saw before cutting metal.
Aluminum is not too bad, but brass and bronze can carry a lot of heat from the cutting, and steel is even worse.
Hot metal filings hitting fine wood dust is a bad combination.
