we have this delta bandsaw that was from loews and we used the blades that came with it. i know theyre meant to like cut wood and such so we tried it on 16gauge SS tubing.

well it cut some like 2 or 3 pipes then it wore down and wont cut anymore.
so my friend goes and buys a blade at some metal specialty place, he said the teeth on the blades needed to be bigger less teeth per so many inch's or whatever i dont know...

well he tried those and they wore out about the same time. pipe would heat up and turn red then wont cut anymore.

so he says the speed is too fast. he buys a 9" pulley and a blade with even less teeth per inch or whatever they measure with.

it cuts an aluminum plate just fine no probs at all. but when we tried the tubing it stopped cutting.

any suggestions. i dont know anything about this stuff, and he said he use to be a machinist so he knows, but he wont ask for help.

what blade is good and were can i order it or buy it from? specs? speed pulley size?

 

you speed it still probably too fast. the smaller wheel will slow it down but most likely not enough for SS. plus you want as many teeth per inch(TPI) as you can find. the bigger teeth are for wood. smaller for metal. the bandsaws at lowes are made to cut wood. you need to slow it down a lot to cut metal. thats why a lot of metal bandsaws are expensive unless you go with a harbor freight model

 

wouldnt a larger diameter pulley slow it down? not a smaller one

 

depends which side you put the pulley on.

 

Not to be capt. obvious but you are using coolant right? Even if you have to spray it on by hand band saw cutting should be done with coolant

 

yeah....

we are using coolant.

 

When cutting metal, you should always have at least one tooth in the material at all times. For example, if you're cutting .063" wall tubing you should use a 16 TPI blade.

Check here for the proper blade:
http://www.lenoxsaw.com/flexback.htm
http://www.lenoxsaw.com/search_bands.htm

When we cut material we typically use a 3/4 or 5/6 blade, but we're cutting 2.0" or larger bar. Blade speed is usually 125 - 300 inches per minute with a feed pressure of 100-200 lbs. The materials we use are anything from 1018 steel to Hastelloy X, so that covers quite a range of hardnesses/toughness.

You should probably try to figure out your blade speed at least, and get a saw setting chart from your local blade supplier.

 

get a bimetal