Can I use these as band wheels?

[shenandoahsawmill]

Dan wants to use WM1000 blades which come in 2" and 3" widths. Not a good idea to run a 2" wide band on one belt. For wide and tough cuts, I would go with the 2" or better yet 3". 

[Crusarius]

oops, my bad I should have reread that post. I just looked at the pictures to refresh my memory.

[mike_belben]

Im pretty confident kitty hair filler mashed into a welded mesh backer loop will stay put.  Fiberglass goes hundreds of MPH on land air and sea all the time.  



Todays metal cutting bandsaws are quite fast in aluminum.. Youd think they were cutting wood by the speed and aggressive tooth profiles.   Amana makes a lot of leading metal cut stuff.  I would think flood coolant could solve band heating issues if you were willing to commit to the wet sawdust and recirculatory coolant problem it created. [Which i dont view as a problem.. Its just another machinery situation to manage like any other.  An easy one at that.]


I have some amana bands that will cut nails all day and hope to some day play around with different unorthodox methods.  More teeth slower feed etc.  


To grind a wheel crown in place id mount a 4" grinder on a tracer arm with a clearance dogleg, and swing a radius across the wheel face. Bolt hole, rebar and some hose clamps.  Finish it with dykem to find the high and lows, and sanding belts to average them out. like polishing a crank. 

[shenandoahsawmill]

If it was my project I would use one of those wheels for what it was intended; as a driven pulley (with v-belts) and not a bandwheel/s. One of those pulleys would make a nice step down pulley to mount on the end of your driven shaft with the other smaller pulley on your PTO output shaft. Copy the WM 1000 designed wheels as much as possible in diameter, width and fabrication or look around for an old resaw that you could cannibalize. You will have a huge amount of time and money into making your 30" wheels work and they are probably too small a dia. to start with to run 2" and 3"wide bands under high tension for long periods of time without breaking them. If you have a good steel plate supplier in your area, you could have both wheels CNC laser or plasma cut to the right diameter with holes to lighten them up, a center&bolt holes for hub mounting. Grind to final size on the mill. If you cannibalize a resaw you get the bonus of having everything done including the tensioning and idler wheel steering mechanism.

[mike_belben]

What does a 2-3" band cost new on avg?  

[charles mann]

Not sure how much the wm1000 wheels cost, but there is s sawmill manufacturer that is also a sponsor here that sells 30" wheels. Mine are 26", shoulda went to 30", but will try these and if im not satisfied with them, ill contact a company on the eastern outskirts of vancouver bc and get a set of 30" wheels from them, but are EXPENSIVE though. 

What does a 2-3" band cost new on avg?  

Mike, 
300" (25') for my mill on the wm site, for turbo 7 silver tips is 2" .055" are $76 and 3" .050 is $90

[charles mann]

Filling v-groove pulleys with anything and spinning them at 500 rpm sounds like a "safety third" plan to me personally but that is because I have a PHD from the school of hard knocks.

We use a compound E-9309 hysol, which can be machined, in the aviation industry, including on rotor blade spinning, on the acft i work on, 224 rpm with a max gross wt. of 50,000 lbs, with possibly a lot more stressors being applied than a sawmill could produce, considering duty cycles. 
If i had a reason to and it was the only option, id use it to fill in the grooves of a pulley, id trust the compound spinning at 500 rpm, sitting on the ground, esp if i trust my life to it holding composite materials on/within the rotor blade. 
But, procuring the proper parts that are already available, would be the better option. 

[Iwawoodwork]

Remember he has the wheels and like Mike B and I, he may enjoy unusual fabrication rather than spending more money. The enjoyment of a successful recycle of materials is a real positive and saved the $$$$ for something else. It is easy to spend someone else's money. Lets try to help him successfully use what he has.    
Mighty Mite mills made their first bandsaws using 2" bands on wheels less than 30" diameter, I am not positive but maybe around 20".

[mike_belben]

I have no money so its build it from junk or have nothing at all.  The more stuff you build the more calls youll get from people offering you to take their junk and do them the honor of repurposing it.  No one likes waste and everyone roots for the underdog. 

[Dangerous_Dan]

Yes I want to use the wheels I have but if I need to buy wheels to make it right I will.
LT40 uses 19" wheels with a B section belt, .656 wide.
I'm running the .055 x 1.5" wide blades on an LT40 and it works ok.
Those 30" pulleys are C section so .875 wide belt so I would think I could run a 2" or maybe 3" wide blade and it would work as good as the LT40 does.
Instead of a single belt get a double belt that's banded together. That would be 1.75 wide and if that's not enough go to a triple banded belt and get 2.5" wide where the band touches.
That's what I'm thinking and if it doesn't work buy a set of real 30" band wheels and just swap them over.
I'm not looking to build a high production sawmill, just something that can slab large logs and give a decent cut.