-14-
www.igmtools.com
turning hole, a relief cut, successive passes or
to change the blade. If you have a lot of cutting
to do, you can use a wider blade for the bigger
curves and then switch to a narrower blade for
the tighter curves. Changing the blades can
often save cutting and finish time. The chart
above is only a rough guide and is
not to
scale
, but from the information you can
construct your own guide.
Pic. 56
8.3 How to coil a bandsaw blade
Without a doubt it is more difficult to explain
how to coil a bandsaw blade than it is to
actually do it. Nevertheless, below are easy-to-
follow instructions on folding a blade.
Method 1
While wearing a jacket or long-sleeved shirt
and gloves, hold the blade in front of you in one
large loop, with the teeth facing towards you.
Place your foot on the blade, holding it on the
ground. Grasp the blade with both hands, with
your thumbs to the outside, at approximately
the 10 o‘clock and 2 o‘clock positions (Step 1).
Slowly twist the top of the blade away from
your body (Step 2). Bring your hands together
to form two loops while folding down (Step 3).
Continue rotating the blade until you form three
loops.
Note
. It is recommended that the blade be
placed on material that will not damage the
blade teeth (wood or cardboard). Your foot
is there to give stability and not to clamp the
blade, so do not exert excessive force, or the
teeth/band may be damaged. The photographs
are shown without gloves to enable the hand/
thumb position to be shown. Gloves must be
worn, as the blade could cause injury.
Step 1
Pic. 57
Step 2
Pic. 58
Step 3
Pic. 59
Done
Pic. 60
Note: In order to show the hand/thumb position
of the man in the photographs, he is not
wearing gloves, but gloves MUST BE WORN as
the blade could cause injury.
Method 2
There is another variation of this that works well
with small blades but simply is not
possible for larger bandsaw blades, unless
you‘re very big and strong. This method works
the same as the method above, but rather than
holding the blade with both hands, grasp
the blade at the top while holding the bottom of
the blade with your foot (teeth still facing
away from you). Grasp the blade with your
hand, twisting your arm such that your elbow is
facing away from your body (Step 1). Turn the
palm of your hand toward your body about
180 degrees and then continue turning while
pushing down on the blade (Steps 2, 3 and 4).
The blade will fold down upon itself into three
circles, lying flat on the ground (Done).
Step 1
Pic. 61
Step 2
Pic. 62
Step 3
Pic. 63
Blade width
Cutting Rad
