Metal bandsaw & drilling steel

DMS General
#1

Hey metal heads,

Need some advice about the metals bandsaw. I’m cutting a 1x4 piece of 1/8" thick steel into 2 strips and figured the metal bandsaw is the best method. But it’s not plugged in and there’s no plug easily accessible.

  1. Is it functional
  2. Is this the best tool for what I’m trying to do
  3. Is there anything I should do while cutting? (Cutting oil?)

Once cut, I’m going to need to drill and countersink a few holes. I’m assuming I’ll just use one of the drill press / mills, but what do I do as far as feeds / speeds when drilling steel? (Have a source for Al settings, but not Fe)

I’d love to chat with anyone familiar with the equipment as I’m new to doing stuff with steel; only done some milling on aluminum and wood.

Thanks,
Ian

#2

I don’t know which bandsaw you’re talking about. The Wellsaw horizontal bandsaw in the metal shop is fully functional and ready to cut metal. There is a missing a cover on the upper wheel, so be carefull when lowering the saw to your workpiece. Also, the springs ad not adjusted well, so you’ll likely have to put some downwards pressure on it at times to keep it cutting.
The Ryobi vertical bandsaw in the machine shop area is actually a wood bandsaw, though it has a metal cutting blade on it. It really runs to fast for metal, but if you’re careful you can use it for that. It is the best tool we currently have for what it sounds like you want to do, unless you want to use the plasma cutter. Lubrication is definitely needed: there is a tube of wax lube on the table next to the red toolbox. There is a program called GWizard Calculator on the CAD/CAM machine that can give you the appropriate speeds/feeds for milling steel. Definitely use lube when drilling the holes; there’s 3-in-1 on the table as well.

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GWizard on JUMP server?