More bandsaw thoughts.

On these Chinese band saws that take the 64 1/2 inch blade the dampening or feed rate is controlled by a spring . Anybody ever modify theirs or replace the spring with a door dampener or slow acting cylinder? It seems sometimes the feed rate of the spring allows too much pressure on the blade.

You can adjust the pull by screwing the adjuster in and out. Look for the plastic handle that make you ask,what is the handle bar grip doing there? That is how I found the adjustment(no manual)

I usually have my spring so there is very little weight from the saw frame, but enough to get a square cut. I have a hydraulic damper I could use but it entails making some hydraulic changes in the hydraulic line that controls the oil to either side of the cylinder

Cconversions have been done. There was a great article about building a hydraulic feed control about a year ago in the Machinist Workshop or Home Shop machinist, I can't remember which.

I have a slightly different Chinese bandsaw that has one on it. Its not the model that stands up and you can put a table around the blade. It came from Homier-The fly-by-night tool sale folks- but it has worked well for more than 10 years.

My Ellis saw has a cylinder to control feed and I never use it. By the time I get it set the cut is done. It works good if your doing several cuts the same through thin material, but is unnecessary for anything over 3/16" thick. Besides if you set a speed it takes a long time for the head to get down to the material. For me if I'm cutting thin stuff I just hold the head to feed it as I always stand there while cutting anyway.

I'm with Jon, anything real thin I just adjust by hand because I'm standing there anyways.

On mine, the spring can be loosened or tightened by means of a nut and bolt arrangement--there's a grip to turn the bolt in and out, which changes the pressure on the head. As these saws are made for many different companies, there's all sorts of tiny differences between them, so it's quite possible others have a different mechanism, or perhaps none at all. Regardless, as others have said, if I feel there's any chance of the blade snagging, the work shifting, or any other potential problem developing, I just keep a hand on the saw (one other thing mine has is a little handle cast into the head to raise and lower it, though I've seen other saws without that as well) and just adjust the pressure like that. For me, the tradeoff of being able to let the saw cut unassisted isn't worth the potential to break a blade, ruin a workpiece, or hurt the saw, so I'd rather be there when it's running, and as long as I'm there I prefer to, at a minimum, have a hand on the head so I can pull it out of the cut if necessary. In most cases, it's still much more precise, not to mention easier, to use the saw like this than it would for me to cut the workpiece using some other, manual method such as a hacksaw, porta-band, or cutoff wheel.

I toyed around with the idea for my old Wells 58B, which has a dash-pot dampener (imitation hydraulic cylinder). Decided not too. Easier to adjust the spring for slow feed and just keep it there. Takes longer but I'm not in a production environment.

I have a Kalamazoo 610 series horizontal band saw and the hydraulic feed control was missing when I bought it 30 years ago. I placed an old window sash weight on a hanger at the rear of the blade housing and I have 2 large magnets that I move along the top frame of the blade track to regulate the feed pressure rate on the blade down pressure. It has worked well for 30 years now.

For those that have the cheap saw, check the gear box for oil/grease. After using mine occasionally for a few years a gear wore
out because of the lack of lubricant.

Dusty