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Tell us about yourself: “I have been a locomotive electrician for CN for 37 years and, being physically handicapped, need to use a wheelchair. I'm 63 years old and my trade is construction and industrial electrician, having built 2 complete houses. I've been drawing since childhood and I have had training in industrial drawing and I've been painting for 40 years. When I decided to build my second house, I drew up all the design plans. I loved working in construction; I was always fixing up the house. I developed a taste for repair, and after a time, I wanted my own tools. But 22-inch band saws are very expensive; I searched the Internet and found an engineer who makes high-quality power tools. I bought several drawings for tools I'm going to build.”
When purchasing a band saw proved to be too expensive and too small to accept larger tree diameters, Robert designed and built his own cutting machine. A prototype or two later, and he wound up with exactly the type of band saw he wanted for the many carpentry projects on his list.
Nice project, Robert! Thanks for sharing your project with us!
What is it? I modified the design and built a band saw to create a multi-purpose tool. My modified band saw can cut a 22-inch tree trunk, as opposed to other band saws that can only take up to a 16 inch diameter.
The first photo shows a C-shaped frame I built. In the second photo it's equipped with 3 wheels that seemed to me much too big for my workshop. The third photo is basically the same as figure 1; one major difference being that the frame is built on a solid mounting frame, which seems to me harder to build.
What is the main power source for your project? (e.g. electric motor, gas engine, etc.) The 1-1/2 HP motor is powered by domestic electricity, solar panels or a generator. Of course, if I go into the woods and find dead trees, with my generator and band saw I can cut up the tree trunks into boards for my future projects. When I have time, I'll install a few solar panels onto the roof of my workshop to power my tools.
How do you control your project? (e.g. hydraulic control valve(s), electric switches, etc.) Equipped with electrical and electromagnetic switches with electrical switches.
What components are used to perform the work for your project? (e.g. hydraulic cylinder(s), hydraulic motor(s), sprockets, pulleys, etc.) The components of this project are a laminated frame made of pieces of pine or maple assembled to create a shape that looks like a “C”. The two wheels that keep the blade in place are covered with a rubber band from a bicycle inner tube; this ensures the band saw doesn't slip on the wheels when cutting boards or other whatever. The wheels are turned by a small pulley installed on the lower wheel connected by a belt linking the lower wheel and the motor pulley.
What design/build challenges did you overcome? The greatest challenge for me was to increase the free space around the band saw to the bottom of the mounting frame and increase the free space between the two wheels to 22 inches.
If you had to build it again, what would you do differently? If I had to build it again, I'd use a maple mounting frame - much more solid and stable.
Which Princess Auto location do you visit most? The Barrie, Ontario location.