Industrial Horizontal Band Saw Machine Maintenance Tip 6

•Regular tooth. This is a straight-faced tooth with deep gullets to rake out chips. It is used for general metal cutting with a straight (zero) rake.

•Hook tooth. This type has deep gullets and widely spaced teeth with a 10-degree undercut face that helps to dig in and take a good cut, while the gullets curl the chips. This type is good for cutting hard non ferrous alloys, non-metallic, plastics, and wood.

•Skip tooth. Similar to the hook tooth but characterised by a straight 90-degree tooth and a sharp angle at the junction of the tooth and gullet to break up chips, this type is best-suited for soft, non ferrous metals, plastics, and wood.

•Variable tooth (Bi-Metal). Also known as vari-tooth or otherwise known as broach tooth. This tooth has different set angles and gullet depths. The cutting edge of the variable tooth reduces any vibration while the back absorbs the impacts of cutting in and out of holes, slots and narrow webs. This is the best all-purpose blade for production work and for general shop cut-off and contouring. Use it for cutting off solids bar stock and especially structurals.

Next is how to properly select the right number of teeth. Generally picking a coarse tooth (having a lesser number of teeth per inch (TPI)) for large sections and soft metals. For the finer tooth (more teeth per inch), it’s typically made for small sections and harder metals. Observe the rules illustrated below.

Different Tooth Sets

RAKER SET

If you look into one, this has one tooth set to the right, one tooth set to the left and one tooth is aligned straight. This is mainly used for most production cutting of thick, solid metal sections on horizontal saws.

WAVY SET

This has teeth set in groups with gradual increasing set to left and right. It is generally composed of several teeth per inch and is mainly used for cutting thin sections such as sheets, tubes, pipes and small shapes.

Next tip for our band saw blade maintenance is knowing the blade pitch.