bandsaw blade tpi?

[notme]

for you guys that are fabricating and running one of these 7*12 bandsaws im wondering what blades/tpi/ and speeds your running? I need to replace a blade and don't really know what was in mine or if it was the best suited to my needs. I use coolant. and cut mostly small structural shapes.. angle pipe round bar hss and flat bar... most is 1/8 wall or bigger. solid rounds up to 1 1/2 occasionly... and sometimes some 1/2 flat bar up to 6 width.. thanks for any suggestions

 

[Shaneard]

We don't have coolant on our saw and use a 5/8 tooth blade. We cut all sizes and all types of material with it unless we cut thin sheet metal then go to a fine tooth blade. Our saw has 3 settings on speed, we generally run it on the middle one, not sure how many RPM's that is though.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

McMaster-Carr has a pretty good page on bandsaw blades that explains the various tooth shapes and sizes:
McMaster-Carr

Most of my cutting is on 1/16" to 1/2" aluminum and steel, so I like the variable tooth bi-metal blades. 1/2" wide with 14-18 TPI is what I'm using now and they work well. If I was cutting a lot of thicker stock, I'd drop back on the TPI some. Run the blade as fast as you can, but not so high that it starts to smoke and discolor. Most saws have a plaque or sticker that gives settings, but if yours didn't come with one the Internet is full of 'em. Here's one for the blades I use: Band Saw Blade Speed And Feed Chart

I learned the hard way that plain carbon steel blades are cheap but they don't last very long, especially when cutting alloy steel. I save money by making up a fixture for brazing blades together and buy 'em by the reel. Found the plans for the fixture on the Innernet, too...

 

[notme]

redneckgeek.... what carbon content would you call normal structural steel? I know it as a 360

 

[4570Man]

My blade is either 11 or 14 TPI. I've seen them running much coarser blades at the metal fabrication shop. They run coolant and I don't.

 

[Stimw]

I run 10-14 teeth on a Bi-metal blade and I bought them from Grainger.
It's been so long since I bought them I forget the brand but I can tell you they have lasted!
Variable teeth work best for different thickness material cutting.

 

[Oldstuff]

Bi-metal blades have lasted me longer than any other type!

 

[Rustyiron]

A little off topic here, but my bandsaw mostly has been gathering dust since I got a metal cutting carbide blade chop saw. Almost go's through metal like it's wood, cool, clean and burr free cuts. It does throw a lot of "shrapnel" and limited to about a 4x4 for structural material, but for bar's, flat's, round's, & small pipe & sq tubing, you'll never look back.

 

[CADplans]

I use 5-8 TPI blades on my 9X16 saw,,,
I never cut anything under 3/16",, I guess it could.
Here is some 3/4" thick bars being cut,,,

Even though they recommend against it,, I mist on coolant,,,

 

[Texasmark]

for you guys that are fabricating and running one of these 7*12 bandsaws im wondering what blades/tpi/ and speeds your running? I need to replace a blade and don't really know what was in mine or if it was the best suited to my needs. I use coolant. and cut mostly small structural shapes.. angle pipe round bar hss and flat bar... most is 1/8 wall or bigger. solid rounds up to 1 1/2 occasionly... and sometimes some 1/2 flat bar up to 6 width.. thanks for any suggestions

My generic answer is that my last blade selection was bi-metallic with varying tooth count. I bought 2 blades for 2 band saws, the light folding utility that sells for about $250 and a commercial $700 job. This was over 10 years ago and I am still on the original blades. I don't use lube as I'm not setup for it (no pan and pump) and cutting oil sprays caused my drive wheels to slip....apparently I didn't need it.