Building my mill...

[Peter Drouin]

It's going the wrong way. Or is it a left handed one Kbeitz?

[Kbeitz]

It's going the wrong way. Or is it a left handed one Kbeitz?

Not having any idea what I was doing I built my mill backwards.
I have to turn every band inside out before putting them on my mill.
So. I'm building my sharpner backwards. It worked out better that way
because the tilt of the saw would have been wrong for a right hand mill.

[gww]

K

It worked out better that way
because the tilt of the saw would have been wrong for a right hand mill.

Sometimes you just get lucky.
gww

[Ox]

Joe Hillman described it better than I could.  Square across the face to keep the top of the tooth straight and square.  As in:  a perfect world, the bolt holding the stone on would be directly above the tooth to be sharpened. 

As far as coolant:  I have a Cooks sharpener and I think the only way to improve it would be coolant or oil.  But also, this is an additional expense and mess.  But would help with rusty blades.  It's the rust on the tooth tip that gets ya.  Makes for a dull blade in a quick hurry when the rust comes off.  Pros and cons with everything...you're doing just fine!

[Kbeitz]

Joe Hillman described it better than I could.  Square across the face to keep the top of the tooth straight and square.  As in:  a perfect world, the bolt holding the stone on would be directly above the tooth to be sharpened. 

As far as coolant:  I have a Cooks sharpener and I think the only way to improve it would be coolant or oil.  But also, this is an additional expense and mess.  But would help with rusty blades.  It's the rust on the tooth tip that gets ya.  Makes for a dull blade in a quick hurry when the rust comes off.  Pros and cons with everything...you're doing just fine!

Well with the bolt above the tooth that's getting sharpen is not going to work for me.
I'm setting this up so when I make the cut it's going to match the factory cut as close as I can.



 

[Joe Hillmann]

Are the joints on the chop saw tight or is there any wiggle room.  If it is good and tight that's what you want.

If it has slop though you can use it to your advantage.  When you lower the blade you put pressure on the handle pushing it to the left as you lower it into the gullet then once you hit the bottom stop you put pressure on the handle to move it to the right so it touches the tooth.  You can bump it into the tooth a few times to take light cuts and not over heat the teeth.

Also make sure you get a hard stone.  I originally tried sharpening my blades with what ever stone I had laying around.  When I started sharpening the blade the first few teeth had a 10degree angle but as I went around the blade the grinding wheel wore and by the time I got to the end of the blade I had a negative angle on the last foot or so of the blade.

[Kbeitz]

Are the joints on the chop saw tight or is there any wiggle room.  If it is good and tight that's what you want.

If it has slop though you can use it to your advantage.  When you lower the blade you put pressure on the handle pushing it to the left as you lower it into the gullet then once you hit the bottom stop you put pressure on the handle to move it to the right so it touches the tooth.  You can bump it into the tooth a few times to take light cuts and not over heat the teeth.

Also make sure you get a hard stone.  I originally tried sharpening my blades with what ever stone I had laying around.  When I started sharpening the blade the first few teeth had a 10degree angle but as I went around the blade the grinding wheel wore and by the time I got to the end of the blade I had a negative angle on the last foot or so of the blade.

So you did good... Some people pay extra money for variable pitch blades... :D

[Kbeitz]

I got some more done on the blade sharpener this week.



 



 



 

[fishfighter]

K, would a swing latch to do the blade stopping would make it faster? Maybe with a spring to pull it down and using force to push it forward to advance it by hand.

[DDW_OR]

Looking down the length of the bandsaw blade.

 

[Kbeitz]

Yes... You want the blade to be centered under the arbor of the motor to be square.

[Delawhere Jack]

KB, your design looks solid, but it's going to take a lot of hand motions for each tooth. Perhaps you could use a foot pedal to engage the blade clamp? That way you use one hand to advance the band and one to lower the grinding wheel.... Advance band - grind, advance band -grind....

I sharpen ten or more bands per sharpening session with a drag type sharpener I built, and it gets pretty tedious.

Actually, you probably don't need to clamp the band hard anyway. If you're using a toggle clamp to advance it, you could have the band guides spring tensioned sufficiently to hold the band in place. Leave the band advancing dog down while you make the grind. You'll only be taking 5-10 thou off each tooth.

[Jay Sybrandy]

Nice, like your Bridgeport too. I think that's what I saw you using.

Yea that an old J-head Bridgeport. I think that it will be in my basement until the day I die.
I took it apart in little peaces and carried it down my steps and put it back together again.
I found out some of the small parts wasn't so small.



 

Then it wasnt easy getting this into my basment eather...



 

You can build a big shed now to put it in Nice Mill

[fishfighter]

Finally found a radial saw. ;D Old Craftmans for $25. They lost the safety key, so I changed that out to a toggle switch I had on hand.



 

The saw shaft is 5/8"x 1 7/16". K, what size stone I need? Also, the RPM is rated at 3450. I need to slow that down. Would a sewing machine petal work? If not, I will have to order a router speed control switch.   

[Kbeitz]

Finally found a radial saw. ;D Old Craftmans for $25. They lost the safety key, so I changed that out to a toggle switch I had on hand.



 

The saw shaft is 5/8"x 1 7/16". K, what size stone I need? Also, the RPM is rated at 3450. I need to slow that down. Would a sewing machine petal work? If not, I will have to order a router speed control switch.

Sewing machine pedal wont work and I don't think the router control will ether.
The amperage of the motor is to large. You need a large rheostat and thats not
going to be cheap. E-bay will be you'r best bet for finding a stone and also the
beat place to find a low priced  rheostat. Good luck with you'r project. You got
a good deal on the saw.

[fishfighter]

The saw came with three new 10" blades, owners manuals and tools. Owners manuals were printed in 1969. ;D Very old saw, but still tight.

On that stone. 3/4" wide or 1" wide?

[Czech_Made]

Finally found a radial saw. ;D Old Craftmans for $25. They lost the safety key, so I changed that out to a toggle switch I had on hand.



 

The saw shaft is 5/8"x 1 7/16". K, what size stone I need? Also, the RPM is rated at 3450. I need to slow that down. Would a sewing machine petal work? If not, I will have to order a router speed control switch.

Sears had a recall on that saw and they still provide upgraded blade covers and such for it  - but seems like it will not be saw in the future, correct? 

[fishfighter]

Not going to be a saw. :D It can be wired 110v/220V. At 110V, the amps are only 5.5. Was looking at router speed control switches and the ones I see are rated up to 15 amps. Just maybe that could work. What you think?

[Kbeitz]

Was the 5.5 for 220 or 115V ?
With two voltages there has to be two different amp listings.

[fishfighter]

The 5.5 amps were for the 110V.

[Kbeitz]

The 5.5 amps were for the 110V.

That sure seems low. But if that's what it is a router speed control should work.
It could be the running amps. Your starting amps might be much higher.
Also when putting a heavy stone in place of the blade that will increase your
starting amps. The router speed controls are cheap so you wont have much to
loose. 

I did a google search and almost all of the craftsman radial arm saw amprages
are 15 amps for 115v. The 3 hp was 16.5 amps. Maybe you missed the 1 ? All
of them said that you need a 20 amp circuit to wire them up to.

[fishfighter]

I stand correct. 110V is 11 amps. Had to put my extra eyes on. :D And thanks for your help.

I did fine a few wheels that are rated at 3350 RPM in the 8" and 4450 RPM in the 6".

[pineywoods]

Fish, I had one of them saws. Scrapped it when the worm reduction gears wore out. Parts are no longer available. Good saw while the gears last...

[gww]

fish
Thats the saw I have in my garage.  I paid $150 for it not $25.  I am jealous.  It is $150 handy for wood though.  Now you got me thinking of how to use it for both.
Cheers
gww

[muggs]

If that is a capacitor start motor, The one I had was. You can't slow it down, it will burn out the motor.  Muggs   :-\