Bandsaw is salarge saw used for wood or metal cutting as well as for other materials. It has long, narrow, flexible blade( a narrow band of toothed metal that rides on two large wheels ) from which it’s name comes from .
It’s capable of ripping, cross cutting, beveled cuts and, curve cutting among other things.
They come as manual or fully automatic models with pedal-drive or electrical motor. Band Saw blade speed ranges from 40 feet to 5000 feet per minute.

There are two main categories when it comes to Bandsaws:
Metal Cutting BandSaws – with coolants to keep the blade cool and wire brush wheels clean the blade from chips and buildup metal.
Large BandSaws – they are used in timber mills for ripping because they have smaller kerf – (cut size).

Metal cutting Band Saws:

Fall mechanisms:
Pivot saws – it hinges in an arc shape as it advances through the material.
Single Column saws – the saw rides up and down on column.
Dual column saws – the saw is between two large columns that provide the needed support for presize work.

Feed mechanisms in Band Saws.
Gravity feed – saw falls under it’s own weight against a hydraulic cylinder with control valve. Gravity feed is usually used for small saws.
Feed mechanism used in Hydraulic feed saws – a positive pressure hydraulic piston pushes the saw through the material. It’s used mostely in production saws.
Screw feed – So called leadscrew moves the saw.

Automatic Band Saws are very practical and easy to use. You usually need one operator to feed and unload several saws. This is why they are mostly used in environments where you can’t have one operator per saw.

Large Band Saws:

Head saws are large band saws used to make the initial cut in a log. There’s a line of sliver teeth on the back. They are not used for cutting but to wipe slivers out of the way of the blade. Tooth space on the blade is between two and three inches.

Resaws – Band saws are fully capable of resawng and are much safer than the circular saw because there is no kickback. Band Saw is also much more efficient because it cuts faster and the waste is minimal.

Double cut saws are very large band saws with cutting teeth on both sides.

Basic Informations about Bandsaw