Shaft Saw Machine

Glenn Deneweth

Glenn Deneweth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am starting to make a shaft saw machine. I have a couple of questions.

1) Is there a good way to cut Aluminum? Bandsaw/chopsaw
2) Sprind Loaded centers (Where do you buy them?)
3) bearing/gear box for the end of the 3/8 threaded rod, where do you buy those? If anyone has any plans/diagrams or any suggestions (lessons learned) of what to do or not, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Glenn
 
Glenn Deneweth said:
I am starting to make a shaft saw machine. I have a couple of questions.

1) Is there a good way to cut Aluminum? Bandsaw/chopsaw
2) Sprind Loaded centers (Where do you buy them?)
3) bearing/gear box for the end of the 3/8 threaded rod, where do you buy those? If anyone has any plans/diagrams or any suggestions (lessons learned) of what to do or not, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Glenn
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Use either a band saw or a table saw. Aluminum is soft and will quickly ruin a chop saw blade. You must make your own spring loaded centers. I have bought a few ready made and they aren't small enough nor long enough and most importantly they don't run nearly true enough. You need a 110v gear reduction motor. You won't know what ratio until you decide at what speed you want your drive and shaft rpms to be. A lot of this is determined by how rigid your machine is, how true the blade runs, how many teeth on the blade and many other little things as you want to eliminate all vibration. I have the machine that I use the most set so that it makes a 30" pass in 4 min. 10 sec. and the shaft is turning at 200 rpm.
Dick
 
saws

Glenn Deneweth said:
I am starting to make a shaft saw machine. I have a couple of questions.

1) Is there a good way to cut Aluminum? Bandsaw/chopsaw
2) Sprind Loaded centers (Where do you buy them?)
3) bearing/gear box for the end of the 3/8 threaded rod, where do you buy those? If anyone has any plans/diagrams or any suggestions (lessons learned) of what to do or not, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Glenn
Click to expand...
Hello Glenn,
The machines I design, build and sell, [ this machine will turn cutt two butts or two shafts at the same time or one shaft and or one butt at the same time], turn the shaft or butts at no more than 96 rpm. 60 teeth, at 3,450 rpm, and travel time is geared to 6-1/2 minutes. This allows the butts or shafts to be very smooth.
If you turn the butts or shafts to fast, or the travel time is to fast, you get some viberation and not a good finish. No need to hurry this process. Take your time, while it's turn cutting, do some other task. The machines I build shuts down at the end of it's cycle. Sits and waits for you to re-load it.
Have your standard 10" blade, ground flat on top, grind away the kurf on the sides, and have the saw shop guy, grind as much rake and relief as possible. I only re-sharpen my blades once a year. I turn cut with silver rings, nickle silver rings and ivory. Doesn't hurt a thing at the turn speeds and travel speeds it's set up for. Just take small cuts with each pass.I turn my cues to .842, and it leaves me .004 to clean up, then apply the finish, and build up to .840.
For cutting alumium I use a chop saw 10" with 80 teeth, and also a band saw with 7 to 10 teeth. To many teeth will gaul your blade. Just cut slow.Always wear eye protection.
blud
 
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dunkelcustomcue said:
Blud, Do you have a picture of your machine? How much do they sell for?
Thanks, Steve D.
Click to expand...
I sent you a private e-mail.
blud
 
blud said:
Hello Glenn,
The machines I design, build and sell, [ this machine will turn cutt two butts or two shafts at the same time or one shaft and or one butt at the same time], turn the shaft or butts at no more than 96 rpm. 60 teeth, at 3,450 rpm, and travel time is geared to 6-1/2 minutes. This allows the butts or shafts to be very smooth.
If you turn the butts or shafts to fast, or the travel time is to fast, you get some viberation and not a good finish. No need to hurry this process. Take your time, while it's turn cutting, do some other task. The machines I build shuts down at the end of it's cycle. Sits and waits for you to re-load it.
Have your standard 10" blade, ground flat on top, grind away the kurf on the sides, and have the saw shop guy, grind as much rake and relief as possible. I only re-sharpen my blades once a year. I turn cut with silver rings, nickle silver rings and ivory. Doesn't hurt a thing at the turn speeds and travel speeds it's set up for. Just take small cuts with each pass.I turn my cues to .842, and it leaves me .004 to clean up, then apply the finish, and build up to .840.
For cutting alumium I use a chop saw 10" with 80 teeth, and also a band saw with 7 to 10 teeth. To many teeth will gaul your blade. Just cut slow.Always wear eye protection.
blud
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I saw one of these machines this weekend. The cut quality looked very good.
 
Can someone post the RPM of the threaded rod? I'm trying to calculate the gear sizes I need. I am not sure how to calculate the RPM of the threaded rod by knowing how fast it completes a cycle.

Thanks,

Glenn
 
Glenn Deneweth said:
Can someone post the RPM of the threaded rod? I'm trying to calculate the gear sizes I need. I am not sure how to calculate the RPM of the threaded rod by knowing how fast it completes a cycle.

Thanks,

Glenn
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If your rod is 10 threads per inch and you want a six minute cut then you need 50 RPM per minute. If it is a different thread multiply the number of threads per inch times 30, divide that by 6 and that is the RPM you need.
 
cueman said:
If your rod is 10 threads per inch and you want a six minute cut then you need 50 RPM per minute. If it is a different thread multiply the number of threads per inch times 30, divide that by 6 and that is the RPM you need.
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This will get you close enough, then you can play around with the sprockets and or pulley sizes to get it fine tunes to where it works best. This is important because every machine is a little different. There are factors which come into play, such as harmonics, that are nearly impossible to predict or even understand. You have to play around with feed rates until you get what works best for your machine. If you can find a good variable speed DC gear motor, it helps a lot because you can regulate the speed with a dial!

just more hot air!
 
RSB-Refugee said:
Hey Dick,
Glad to see you're back. I hope you're feeling a lot better.

Tracy
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Hello, Yeh I'm glad to be out of there too. Thanks for the thought.
Dick
 
 
rhncue said:
You must make your own spring loaded centers. I have bought a few ready made and they aren't small enough nor long enough and most importantly they don't run nearly true enough.
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What material should spring centers be made of? You say the ones you bought are to big, but I would guess if they were too small it would flex. What is the optimal diameter and length? Do you use double bearings to make them more rigid?

Tracy
 
RSB-Refugee said:
What material should spring centers be made of? You say the ones you bought are to big, but I would guess if they were too small it would flex. What is the optimal diameter and length? Do you use double bearings to make them more rigid?
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I bored out a piece of aluminum and mounted 2 bearings in the front and one in the back. Then machined a long center and put it in there with a nice stiff spring. Your main concern is clearance, you want lots of room for the blade to get a full cut on your material.
 

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RSB-Refugee said:
What material should spring centers be made of? You say the ones you bought are to big, but I would guess if they were too small it would flex. What is the optimal diameter and length? Do you use double bearings to make them more rigid?

Tracy
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On mine, I took a aluminum block 2" thick by 4" in length and the width of my machines travell rack, bored a 1 1/8" hole thru it, put a 5/8" 1d roller bearing in each end, pressed i/2" id x 5/8" od bronze bushings in the bearings, took 1/2" drill rod about 9" long and necked it down to 3/8" for three inches on one end, reamed the bearing/bushing combination for good alignment, spring loaded the drill rod shaft on the inside of the block of aluminum so that no saw dust can get wrapped up causing rotation problems. This set-up now has little pressure against the end of the shaft, revolves very easily being driven by the drive at the butt end of the shaft and rotating on the ball bearings, plus the shaft is spring loaded and uses a very light spring as there is little friction from the bronze bushings but still eliminating ALL play.
Dick
 
Thanks guys, between the photo and description, I have a better understanding of how to make some.

Tracy
 
Distance between Centers

What is the distance between the centers in a relaxed state? I was thinking of maybe around 29.5" so the spring compresses .5". What do you think?

Thanks so far for everyone's help...

Glenn
 
Spring Loaded Center Breakdown

Any thoughts on this design? Would another bearing in back be better?
 

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Glenn Deneweth said:
What is the distance between the centers in a relaxed state? I was thinking of maybe around 29.5" so the spring compresses .5". What do you think?
Click to expand...

Ideally, it should be adjustable from about 12" to 33" or more.
 
Glenn Deneweth said:
Any thoughts on this design? Would another bearing in back be better?
Click to expand...

Definitely, another bearing at the back. You will find it is nice to be able to pull the center back by hand as well, so you can drop your wood in there without having to shove it between centers.
 
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