Anybody run 1 1/2 inch bands on a woodmizer? Neighbor gave me one, looked almost new, that he scrounged up somewhere. 1 1/2 inch .055. I stuck it on my old lt40 just to see if it would work. It tracked just fine without any adjusting, cut good in knotty dry pine. Probably will break soon on those 19 inch wheels.
I think the .055's are a little too stiff for use on the LT40's unless you are up on the HP.
I would also think that the 1½ inch blades would be a bear to get in and onto the "drive" wheel.
I started with the 1 1/4 blades on the LT40 then switch to the 1 1/2 and got better feed rates but they did seem to break a little sooner but I felt I was getting more wood cut per blade since the feed rate was higher. I now run the
1 3/4" blades on the 2 LT70 and get the same results. All my blades are .055 and 10 degree.
We've used the 1.5 x .055 WM blades on our LT40 Super with 25hp electric. Sawed those hard to saw logs real well. But they're stiff and hard to handle (for me). We went back to the 1.25 and then even further back to the .045 by 1.25. Once the 7° Double Hards came out, we're hooked on these.
We still have a few .055 x 1.5s and I'll probably get around to re sharpeing them myself to use to cut nails and such. They take nails real good!
Don't the 1½" bands use a wider blade guide roller?
I only went to the wider rollers when I went to 1 3/4" blades. I have only handled one box of smaller blades and that was a box I resharpened for WDH and when I went to coil them I bout hit myself in the chin because I kept flipping them to hard. ;D
The .055 from my calculations are less than 10% wider in kerf, so I would expect them to need about 10% more horse power; assuming a good cut in each.
Certainly would be a tight turn on a 19" wheel, but if WM makes them for that machine I would think it should work. There are lots of different steel formulas so I would not be surprised that there would be one that would work for a 19" wheel.
We've been using the .055 x 1 1/4 x 10 degree blades on a LT 40 Super 3 phase electric for four years now. They have a great feed rate but usually break after 1 or 2 sharpenings. WM has discouraged me from using the 1 1/2 blades stating they dont see a reasonable enough difference in performance to justify the increased cost of the 1 1/2 on my mill. There is a huge difference going from .045 to .055 if you have the HP to push them.
Jake and I were sawing a big white oak late last year at his place and I went to coil one of his 1 3/4 blades and immediately failed. He just looked at me and laughed ;D.
My LT15 and his LT70 are a study in contrasts, kinda like yin and yang :D.
I'am having pretty good luck so far pushing the .055 1/14 10 degree blades with a 30 hp gas kohler B-20 TK, They are cutting the Doug fir nice and straight. I have been getting some good milage with them, when they start to dull there hasen't been any diving or waves yet just fuzzy and stringy finish then i change em.
should be fine.
i run 1 1/2" bands on my shop bandsaw for resawing and it has 16" wheels.
they last just as long as the thinner bands.