Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey y’all!

My little weekend project, for staying busy was some roller stands for my bandsaw. They’ve been on my to-do list for a while now, and on Saturday I went to pick up the steel for the potato shed project, and it’s all in 40 foot lengths so I knew there was no more pushing it off.

Pretty simply really, they’re foldable, adjustable, the hole spacing is such so that I can adjust in 1/4 inch increments. 2 set screws would’ve been a lot easier but I figured a thru bolt is stronger. And knowing me I’ll ill put FAR to heavy stuff on em and the set screws would slip.

Question tho, for the bandsaw, what tooth size would be right for this? The ones I have seem a little too fine.

Thanks!
Julian

I like the pipe bottoms, you can throw a bar through the pipe for more stability on heavy loads. I would put a little more reach between the feet though, the height of the roller is almost beyond Center of gravity.

Unistrut square sign post is ideal for such devices, all those predrilled holes and it indexes nicely. You can weld a pair of nuts at the top of the lower post for set screws and put a bolt through either the top or bottom for a safety in case the setscrews let go. Also a safety chain between front and back legs minimizes wear on the joint and provides cheap insurance.

In a year or so, when you're happy with them paint em yellow.

Rule of thumb on band saws is 3 teeth on the cut. NO you ain't supposed to cheat by counting both walls of the tube.

Now you need a pipe wrestler to make moving that tube around without lifting it.

Hmm I’ll have to check the spread of the legs it might be just the picture. But yes ideally the roller would be centred between the legs. I didn’t think of that

The chain from leg to leg for safety I’ll do as soon as I get some. I made a folding sawhorse a while back and accidentally dropped something heavy on on. Made it do some pretty painful looking splits.

Ok so my blade isn’t that far out that’s about what I have. Tho these blades the teeth aren’t all the same. There’s about an inch of uniform teeth, then half an inch of bigger ones,then anothe inch of the smaller etc etc etc. Not sure if that means anything buts sounds like a decent idea.

JayWal wrote:Hmm I’ll have to check the spread of the legs it might be just the picture. But yes ideally the roller would be centred between the legs. I didn’t think of that

The chain from leg to leg for safety I’ll do as soon as I get some. I made a folding sawhorse a while back and accidentally dropped something heavy on on. Made it do some pretty painful looking splits.

Ok so my blade isn’t that far out that’s about what I have. Tho these blades the teeth aren’t all the same. There’s about an inch of uniform teeth, then half an inch of bigger ones,then anothe inch of the smaller etc etc etc. Not sure if that means anything buts sounds like a decent idea.

There is an expensive name for that tooth arrangement, but I can't remember it. The claim is is good on tubing because the big teeth are chip rakers to make things better for the small cutters. There may also be a difference in the height of the individual teeth with the rakes being a few thousanths shorter than the cutters.

Dirty trick - you can cant the top of the upper post to get the roller back to center if you're off. Anybody asks start talking about minimizing leg stress and keeping a small footprint. Generally people who ask don't listen beyond 15 words.

Even cheap dog chain works if you put it near the feet. Higher up you increase stress on the chain.

Yeah it is just the angle of the picture, the roller is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the legs. I will still add chain tho. I do have plenty roller chain that might work I firmly believe overkill is underrated

The bandsaw blades I don’t buy. Yet. I still have 2 more in stock I think. So it might be a while till I get different ones tho I have no problems with these, really. Was just wondering if they have the right TPI. Thanks for the tip Franz

Probably a shop made blade.
Before you order more check into the cost difference buying it in 100 foot rolls and brazing your own up.

Use a worn out blade to practice brazing. It probably stretched, so you have room to play. Just don't braze it into a figure 8 and watch some poor guy try getting it on the saw.

Stands look real professionally built.

Metal Manipulator wrote:Stands look real professionally built.

Thank you!

Here is one I put together probably 25 years or so ago, not quite as nice as yours JayWal but they work well with my applications.

That’s the main thing. It don’t have to be pretty to work. And yours look plenty good to me!

I’m sure if I added up the cost of material I used on mine it would’ve been cheaper to go buy some. But what’s the fun in that??

The pride in doing it yourself outweighs going the cheap route most of the time , you know exactly what you got when your done.

Metal Manipulator wrote:The pride in doing it yourself outweighs going the cheap route most of the time , you know exactly what you got when your done.

Agreed! Pretty good feeling when someone points out something you made and asks “where can I buy that?” And of course you just grin and say I don’t know I made it myself!

I still feel confused when some cubicle dwelling suit shows me his man cave shop with lathe, Bridgeport, drillpress and saw along with big screen TV and leather couch. He never built so much as a pile of swarf, but he has all the tools.

I have a 1906 Hamilton lathe I got for hauling it, a 1920s Buffalo camelback, and a reciprocating saw of undetermined age, and they all can and do still work. I can make pretty much what I need, and if I have to I can take the job to a bud's shop where tools I don't have are waiting to be used.

I even installed a small door in the wall for stock to slide in to my saw through to make more space available under the roof.
There's a joy to running old machines other people can't, especially when they are too smart to learn.
I can and do build nearly anything I want to.

JayWal, if you slip rings onto the ends of the pipe bases and tack the rings you'll avoid problems when chips are laying on the floor.

JayWal, if you slip rings onto the ends of the pipe bases and tack the rings you'll avoid problems when chips are laying on the floor.[/quote]

Good idea Franz, I plan to. The pipe was some scrap I had lying around and it’s really thin wall. When I welded the uprights on it warped the pipe into a cheery smile. So they rock a bit. The rings would fix that but I’m hoping to run across something maybe rubberized or anti slip.

Depending on tubesize you should be able to get rubber hose and glue on some short pieces.

Poland308 wrote:Depending on tubesize you should be able to get rubber hose and glue on some short pieces.

That’s a good idea. My dad’s a plumber I’ll have to go raid his shop. Thanks!

JayWal wrote:JayWal, if you slip rings onto the ends of the pipe bases and tack the rings you'll avoid problems when chips are laying on the floor.

Good idea Franz, I plan to. The pipe was some scrap I had lying around and it’s really thin wall. When I welded the uprights on it warped the pipe into a cheery smile. So they rock a bit. The rings would fix that but I’m hoping to run across something maybe rubberized or anti slip.[/quote]

Stick em in the hydraulic press inverted and wow em back the other way.
Works 99% of the time, unless the press is undersized.

Something that works well for rubber tips for various things are rubber crutch or cane tips or table/chair leg tips. Cheap, tough and lots of different sizes.