Gt

"Geo"

03/06/2005 10:27 AM

Riser blocks, anyone make their own?

Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
bolted as quickly as he could.


This topic has 19 replies

FC

Frank Campbell

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 3:36 PM

In article <[email protected]>, Geo
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> bolted as quickly as he could.
>
For what it is worth the first bandsaw I ever used had a frame made of
wood, several layers of fir plywood laminated together. Saw worked just
fine for the fellow that built it to finish the inside of a 36'
sailboat.
I later purchased a 14" Dewalt and had a rush job to do 8" thick, in
those days the riser was a special order and not available for weeks. I
made a 3" riser from a chunk of maple, drilled a hole through the
center for a longer bolt and holes for the alignment pins. Though it
was a temporary fix I never did take it out, designed guards for the
blade and extended the shaft for the guides. Sold the saw several years
later with it still installed.

--
http://sawdustmaking.com

Gt

"Geo"

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 11:03 AM



Cyrille de Br=E9bisson wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have that same 14" band saw, brought at the "orange" place, and, becaus=
e I
> have access to a machine shop, I was planning to make a raiser block for
> mine too!!! so I am quite interested!!!
>
> To be honnest, I do not think that a lag bolt with a hardwood raiser would
> work, the metal for the bolt is suposed to be hardened in order to resist
> tensile tention in a BIG way and the block has to be dimentionally
> stable....
> in addition, you also need to be the blage gard and extention thingy...
>
> If you are not in a hurrly to get that done, I might be able to machine 2
> sets of peices instead of 1 to do both saw at once :-)
>

I guess I'm not in a huge hurry but I just cut down two dead black
cherry's in my yard that I was hoping to start re-sawing this weekend.
Still, I am interested in your solution so if you could either email or
post the details that would be great. Thanks!

> cyrille
>
> "Geo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> > bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> > a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> > this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> > but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> > didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> > guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> > knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> > he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> > bolted as quickly as he could.
> >

f

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 8:40 AM


Supposing you make one of these out of steel or iron, how large a
saw CAN you reasonably make?

--

FF

f

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 12:15 PM



[email protected] wrote:
> Supposing you make one of these out of steel or iron, how large a
> saw CAN you reasonably make?
>


Just to be clear, by "one of these" I meant a riser block that could
be used on an off-the-shelf 14" band saw.

How large do they make resaw blades that would fit the wheels?

--

FF

nn

"no(SPAM)vasys" <"no(SPAM)vasys"@adelphia.net>

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 6:29 PM

[email protected] wrote:
>
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>>Supposing you make one of these out of steel or iron, how large a
>>saw CAN you reasonably make?
>>
>
>
>
> Just to be clear, by "one of these" I meant a riser block that could
> be used on an off-the-shelf 14" band saw.

I don't think I'd go much over 6". Tensioning the blade would be a
problem with the additional leverage added by the riser.
>
> How large do they make resaw blades that would fit the wheels?
>

You can get a blade welded to any length you want but the limiting
factor would be the motor's horsepower. My 3/4 HP has a really hard
time pulling a new blade through 11" of oak.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
[email protected]
(Remove -SPAM- to send email)

GR

Gerald Ross

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 10:10 AM

Geo wrote:

> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> bolted as quickly as he could.
>
In addition to the bolt, mine has roll pins top & bottom
to help keep it straight. The top and bottom surfaces have to
be exactly parallel, otherwise it would throw the saw out of alignment.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Real women don't deflate when you bite
them.





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Andy Dingley

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

06/06/2005 12:44 PM

On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 00:05:08 GMT, Randy <[email protected]> wrote:

>The ideal tension would be the same regardless of the distance between
>the wheels,

The force on the wheel spring to generate a given tension in the blade
is independent of the length of blade. Usually we adjust blades to give
an approximately constant pressure for the blade material, i.e. tension
/ blade width.

However the tension required to keep a blade tracking straight.will
increase with the length of the unsupported blade. At some point this
will exceed the allowable pressure for a blade of that width. So there's
a limit on how long you can make a thin blade, or how narrow you can
make a long blade.

>due to the increased length between centers, your going
>to have to stretch the longer blade further to get it.

I'm assuming that this saw is built out of 14" wheels bought as spare
parts, but the frame is welded box section steel and the spring
tensioning arrangement is also built new to suit. As you state, it's
going to need more spring travel. IMHO, the standard springs on 14"
bandsaws aren't up to the job for the original height anyway and are
improved by replacement with a better spring of thinner, stiffer wire
that can achieve the same force with less risk of coil binding.


--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

AD

Andy Dingley

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 12:09 PM

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:38:13 -0400, "no(SPAM)vasys"
<"no(SPAM)vasys"@adelphia.net> wrote:

>Once you extend the frame what will do about the bar for the blade
>guides and the blade guard?

If you're just rigging this as a one-off for thick resawing, you don't
need the ability to lower the guides.

AD

Andy Dingley

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 10:21 PM

On 4 Jun 2005 12:15:54 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>[email protected] wrote:
>> Supposing you make one of these out of steel or iron, how large a
>> saw CAN you reasonably make?

Hard question. 14" wheels will only track a narrow blade, so it's a
question of how long a stable section of blade you can support, given
the limits on blade width and tension. As a typical 14" saw can
physically fit a 1" blade maximum, but can't adequately tension anything
over 5/8", that's not a good starting point.

If you're going to build yourself a machine for resawing, start with
bigger wheels. It's going to be the blade that's the limit, not a fairly
easy problem in getting some rise into the frame.

If you can find something like the Hitachi resaw with the 3" wide blade,
then you could probably stretch the frame of that to something quite
enormous with good results. However you're then putting a lot of tension
into a tightly curved blade over those small wheels, and so blade life
might start to suffer. Ideally you fatigue fracture the blade just about
the same time you wear the teeth out - do one much before the other and
you're losing potential lifetime.

>How large do they make resaw blades that would fit the wheels?

However long you want them - a decent blade shop welds them up to order,
although they'll keep a few common sizes on hand. If you buy your
blades from a real industrial supplier you'll find better quality,
better prices, and a far better range of teeth than buying at retail.

HP

Hax Planx

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 2:12 PM

Geo says...

> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> bolted as quickly as he could.

Try Ridgidparts.com, or get the Grizzly.

Rp

Randy

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

06/06/2005 12:05 AM

The ideal tension would be the same regardless of the distance between
the wheels, but due to the increased length between centers, your going
to have to stretch the longer blade further to get it. At some point
you will lengthen the saw until you run out of adjustment before you can
get to the tension.

The other issue will be the amount of deflection from the longer
deflection arm will let the saw will get wobbly. This could probably be
resolved with some form of truss rods, but by the time you do all of
this, you are reaching the cost of a larger saw, so what's the point.

Andy Dingley wrote:

> On 4 Jun 2005 12:15:54 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>>[email protected] wrote:
>>
>>>Supposing you make one of these out of steel or iron, how large a
>>>saw CAN you reasonably make?
>
>
> Hard question. 14" wheels will only track a narrow blade, so it's a
> question of how long a stable section of blade you can support, given
> the limits on blade width and tension. As a typical 14" saw can
> physically fit a 1" blade maximum, but can't adequately tension anything
> over 5/8", that's not a good starting point.
>
> If you're going to build yourself a machine for resawing, start with
> bigger wheels. It's going to be the blade that's the limit, not a fairly
> easy problem in getting some rise into the frame.
>
> If you can find something like the Hitachi resaw with the 3" wide blade,
> then you could probably stretch the frame of that to something quite
> enormous with good results. However you're then putting a lot of tension
> into a tightly curved blade over those small wheels, and so blade life
> might start to suffer. Ideally you fatigue fracture the blade just about
> the same time you wear the teeth out - do one much before the other and
> you're losing potential lifetime.
>
>
>>How large do they make resaw blades that would fit the wheels?
>
>
> However long you want them - a decent blade shop welds them up to order,
> although they'll keep a few common sizes on hand. If you buy your
> blades from a real industrial supplier you'll find better quality,
> better prices, and a far better range of teeth than buying at retail.

Bb

"BobGramza"

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 6:09 PM

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?ItemNumber=H3051&


I put this one on mine. Works perfect.







>
> "Geo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> > bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> > a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> > this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> > but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> > didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> > guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> > knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> > he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> > bolted as quickly as he could.
> >

AD

Andy Dingley

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

04/06/2005 12:08 PM

On 3 Jun 2005 10:27:50 -0700, "Geo" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
>a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems?

Doubtful. You could do this, but if you made a riser block of wood to
fit an iron saw, the cross-section is still going to be sized to fit the
crush-strength of iron, not timber. There have been plenty of timber
framed bandsaws, but they have frames made of wider sections.

If you do try it, pick your timber carefully. I'd use elm.

EP

"Edwin Pawlowski"

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 7:17 PM


"Geo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems?

Following your logit to conclusionk why not buld your own saw from wood?
Metal performs better and can take the stresses from the tension of the
blade. I'm sure any machinist could whip one up quick. IIRC, the kits
include other parts like the blade guard.




Cd

"Cyrille de Brébisson"

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 5:48 PM

Hello,

I have that same 14" band saw, brought at the "orange" place, and, because I
have access to a machine shop, I was planning to make a raiser block for
mine too!!! so I am quite interested!!!

To be honnest, I do not think that a lag bolt with a hardwood raiser would
work, the metal for the bolt is suposed to be hardened in order to resist
tensile tention in a BIG way and the block has to be dimentionally
stable....
in addition, you also need to be the blage gard and extention thingy...

If you are not in a hurrly to get that done, I might be able to machine 2
sets of peices instead of 1 to do both saw at once :-)

cyrille

"Geo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> bolted as quickly as he could.
>

md

mac davis

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 3:39 PM

On 3 Jun 2005 10:27:50 -0700, "Geo" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
>bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
>a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
>this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
>but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
>didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
>guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
>knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
>he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
>bolted as quickly as he could.

A: If wood was cool, why would everyone selling them make them out of iron or
steel?

b: Is it worth the trouble? I paid less than $60 including shipping and
handling for my riser KIT from Amazon..

c: KIT?? yep.. it isn't just the block, it 's also longer guards on both sides,
a longer rod for the upper guides to ride on and a 105" blade...

d: if you subtract the above, you'll probably see that the actual riser block is
costing about $15...

e: YMMV


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

As

Australopithecus scobis

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 5:24 PM

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 19:17:38 +0000, Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

> Following your logit to conclusionk why not buld your own saw from wood?

http://www.mimf.com/articles/lathe/
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pwguild/a-lth_kr.htm
And, rats, I can't find the best link, the plywood bandsaw.
--
"Keep your ass behind you"
vladimir a t mad {dot} scientist {dot} com

nn

"no(SPAM)vasys" <"no(SPAM)vasys"@adelphia.net>

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 4:38 PM

Geo wrote:

> Has anyone ever made their own 6" riser block to expand their 14"
> bandsaws? Couldn't a 6" block of wood, drilled in the middle to accept
> a lag bolt, suffice instead of store bought aftermarket systems? I ask
> this because I just got back from a lunch trip looking for a riser kit,
> but the guy at the "orange" place didn't even know what one was and
> didn't seem all that inclined to look it up. Accross the street, the
> guy at the "blue" place looked at me with a puzzled look (clearly not
> knowing what a riser block was) and in an attempt to make it look like
> he did know blew me off with a "we don't have that item here" and
> bolted as quickly as he could.
>

Once you extend the frame what will do about the bar for the blade
guides and the blade guard?

FYI - If you do a Google search I think you'll find the riser kit from
Grizzly fits the Ridgid 14" bandsaw. It's about $60.00.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
[email protected]
(Remove -SPAM- to send email)

md

mac davis

in reply to "Geo" on 03/06/2005 10:27 AM

03/06/2005 3:43 PM

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:38:13 -0400, "no(SPAM)vasys"
<"no(SPAM)vasys"@adelphia.net> wrote:


>Once you extend the frame what will do about the bar for the blade
>guides and the blade guard?
>
>FYI - If you do a Google search I think you'll find the riser kit from
>Grizzly fits the Ridgid 14" bandsaw. It's about $60.00.

Yes.. I put the griz kit on my ridgid BS...
The modern marketing trend continues: it was less expensive at Amazon than at
Grizzly, but the riser kit that I ordered from Amazon was drop shipped to me
from Griz.. lol



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing


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