Automatic Band Saw
A band saw is also called as bandsaw, which is a powered saw with a long and sharp blades consisting of a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between wheels to cut targeted materials. Band saws are used particularly in metalworking, woodworking, and lumbering, but can also be used to cut a variety of other materials.
The advantages of band saw include uniform cutting movement as a result of an evenly distributed tooth loads, and the capability to cut irregular or curved shapes like a jigsaw. The minimal radius of a curve is determined by the width of the saw band and the curves. Most band saws have two wheels rotating in the same plane, while one of which is powered; besides, some may have three or four to distribute the load so that the machine is with improved even distribution.
The blade of a band saw machine can come in a variety of tooth pitches and size scales, which enables the band saw machines to be with high versatility, and be able to cut a broad variety of raw materials such as wood, metal and plastics. Almost all band saws nowadays are powered by at least an electric motor while line shaft versions were once common in the market but are now antiques. The idea of the band saw machines dates back to the 19th century, In about 1809, it was the time when William Newberry had received a British patent for the idea, however, band saws remained impractical basically due to the inability to the fact that it was hard to produce accurate and durable cutting blades using the technology back then, because continual flexing of the blades over the wheels will make the material or the joint welding to fail. It was only around four decades passed then a woman Anne Paulin Crepin devised a welding technique that has overcome this obstacle. The French inventor later applied for a patent in the year 1846, and soon afterward she sold the right to employ it to produce A. Perin & Company of Paris.
The first US band saw patent was granted to a man Benjamin Barker of Ellsworth, Maine, in th year1836, and the first factory produced and commercially available of practical band saw machines in the America was launched by a design of Paul Prybil. Once for a while in the history, the power hacksaws with reciprocating blades were once very common in the metalworking industries due to its practical usages then to fulfill customers’ demands, but then as the technology progresses, band saws and cold saws have displaced them.
Nowadays, most band saw machines are of automatic control and is operated by CNC system. Common automatic band saws feature preset feed rate, return, fall, part feeding, and last but not least, part clamping that make work pieces fixed. These are used in the production conditions in which distributing one on-site machine operator for each band saw machine is not practical. Therefore, with the design, one operator can feed and unload many automatic band saws in an efficient way. Some automatic band saw machines rely on numerical control to not only cut faster, but to be more accurate, and eventually to perform more complicated miter cuts.