The Forestry Forum

Hey folks. Ive got a band mill that I've built 8 years ago as well as my belsaw.....Im trying to fine tune my band mill and figure my blade speed and see if it's too fast/slow.....So, I'm using a phototach that has a reflective sticker i put on my blade and it digitally figures the rpm....... Correct me if I'm wrong, but to figure my speed (feet per minute)      I would need to multiply the rpm reading (654 rpm) X length of my blade (11')   Would I be correct in my theory? and if so, Is my blade way too fast?  Its been working and I've cut a lot of wood, but Im wondering if I slow it down will my blades last longer? Thanks!  Steve

 
 The length of you blade has nothing to do with feet per minute  You need to multiply the rpm  x  the circumference of you drive wheel to get fpm.   Steve 

but if the mark on the blade goes by 654 times....and the blade is 11' long..That means 11' of blade goes around 654 times..  I'm not arguing with you, just making sure you see where Im coming from.... resulting in7194 feet per minute...

That should do it....

Quote from: Blaszer on March 10, 2018, 05:26:16 PM
but if the mark on the blade goes by 654 times....and the blade is 11' long..That means 11' of blade goes around 654 times..  I'm not arguing with you, just making sure you see where Im coming from.... resulting in7194 feet per minute...


 Your right, I though you meant the drive wheel rpm at 654..  7194 is way too fast. lower hp should be 4000 to 4500 fpm, higher hp maybe up to 5500 fpm and that might be too fast, there are some that slowed the fpm down some and cut straighter and faster.  Steve

There has been lots of discussion about the "best" band speed.  If your blade is making chips and the engine is not bogging down, you are OK.  If the blade is cutting flour type dust, you need faster feed or slower band speed.