I've thought of this too and how to make something for my old old Dayton bandsaw. Still thinking. You're probably done by now, but thought I'd mention that my old old craftsman wood bandsaw table had a drilled and tapped hole at the edge of the slotted part of the table and just a set screw to hold the two sides steady. Easy to remove when replacing the blade or in my case quickly wanting to remove the Vertical table for Horizontal use.
You are absolutely right that paint won't last. I haven't seen a spraypaint with even decent wear resistance. I'd have oxidize it electrolytically. Bit of battery acid and current and pure aluminium as a cathode, and you'd have hard and slippery surface which you could also colorize.
Yeah, it's almost gone in all the wear spots already. I've used tractor enamel paint with decent success, but the cheap spray paint never really wears well. I should have done a different finish, but oh well. The finish doesn't really matter or impact the part either way.
That's definitely the sturdiest diy band saw table I've seen so far, looks great! Also I wanted to suggest that for items like this with through-holes, you could have spotted those on the first op, then drilled them before doing the second op. I think that even with them being off-center, it could have made it easy to register its location on the machine, especially if there were more complex features on that bottom side.
Nice table. I welded a angle using 2" sq tube. One leg of the angle is clamped by the vise, the second leg runs horizontally towards the saw. From there i welded a vertical leg that mounts to the table. The slot for the bade is at the back side of the table . This takes seconds to install and you never need to remove the 2 screws that hold the blade guide guard, the table sits above it
I wonder if something like a dye, like the stuff you use to blue steel would be another alternative to paint. I have something called colloidal graphite where I work that is graphite suspended in alcohol. We primarily use it for lubricating things and antisieze on threaded connections, but it does do a nice job of coloring metal. It doesn't last forever, but is easy to apply. I just started watching the latest season of Battle Bots and want to wish you and your team good luck.
@@Mrcaffinebean Thanks for replying to my comment. I am familiar with anodizing but agree that it would be overkill for someone to try and do at home. It does make a nice finish, especially if you specify hard anodizing. It's much more wear resistant and would hold up well in this application.
Yeah, but the surface finish needs to be REALLY good beforehand. I probably got it close, but one of the issues with anodizing is you can't really go straight from machining to anodizing, there is a bit of surface prep first.
@@Dawkman72 There's not REALLY that much of a difference between the two. For aluminum, a 2 flute or a single flute works well. Get a good 1/4" router bit (not straight cut, but one with flutes) and take shallow cuts. Aluminum isn't all THAT different from really dense hardware. It is still much harder to cut, but generally, if you can cut really dense wood, you can use those same tools for aluminum. I use my table saw for aluminum cutting quite often.
I was in the same boat. For another project (video coming soon), I needed square cuts and just spent a lot of time squaring everything up. I can say that afterwards, I was able to put a machinist square on the part and it was pretty close. They just take a LOT of adjustment to get nice square cuts.
Nice video! I've got an avid but haven't tried aluminum yet. I watched your fog buster vid so I'll be looking into that. What bits are you using for the pockets and contours?
I'm just using 2 flute endmills, the same ones Avid sells on their site. They works great. wall finish is always pretty darn good, but floor finish is usually fairly rough. The head doesn't have a lot of rigidity in the z axis, but side to side rigidity is good.
I'm taking a break. I have a LOT of other projects I wanted to do and there's something really addictive about building robots, it prevents you from doing anything else. One day I'll get back into it.
Hello. Just found and subscribed to your channel. I found you by searching HF 7x12 bandsaw. You didn't say on this video and I couldn't see enough to tell for sure but is this the same bandsaw ? Thanks in advance. Greg in Michigan Ps.... Today, ( 1/30/23 ) the HF saw is $1399. Ouch😲 I'm still considering it because all of them have gone up like everything else in the world.
So long as the base is wide enough and the casters are lockable, there's little to worry about. All my machines are on castors and I've never run into an issue.
It's so insulting to include such a flimsy table. They could just sell a better one separately. Btw, I can tell you've been watching Inheritance Machining. Dude actually draws his plans on a drafting table. I can understand why some folks avoid computers. They can be very mentally distracting with usability often influencing the design.
HA! Yes, I have been watching his videos. It's not necessarily a dig to him, but I see others doing it for no real reason. He seems to enjoy the process of making the drawings, and that's just fine. But the cliché of every youtuber trying to make these 'epic' projects like you're going to find the original drawing in a museum is just getting old.
I've thought of this too and how to make something for my old old Dayton bandsaw. Still thinking. You're probably done by now, but thought I'd mention that my old old craftsman wood bandsaw table had a drilled and tapped hole at the edge of the slotted part of the table and just a set screw to hold the two sides steady. Easy to remove when replacing the blade or in my case quickly wanting to remove the Vertical table for Horizontal use.
I pecked a hole along the bottom edge for the purpose.
You are absolutely right that paint won't last. I haven't seen a spraypaint with even decent wear resistance. I'd have oxidize it electrolytically. Bit of battery acid and current and pure aluminium as a cathode, and you'd have hard and slippery surface which you could also colorize.
Yeah, it's almost gone in all the wear spots already. I've used tractor enamel paint with decent success, but the cheap spray paint never really wears well. I should have done a different finish, but oh well. The finish doesn't really matter or impact the part either way.
Great vid. Would have been cool to send it out for anodizing. Obviously not cost or time effective. But awesome….
Oh, I thought about it. I actually have a powder-coating kit, but I don't have a suitable oven for it :-(
That's definitely the sturdiest diy band saw table I've seen so far, looks great!
Also I wanted to suggest that for items like this with through-holes, you could have spotted those on the first op, then drilled them before doing the second op. I think that even with them being off-center, it could have made it easy to register its location on the machine, especially if there were more complex features on that bottom side.
True! So many ways to make every part.
Nice table. I welded a angle using 2" sq tube. One leg of the angle is clamped by the vise, the second leg runs horizontally towards the saw. From there i welded a vertical leg that mounts to the table. The slot for the bade is at the back side of the table . This takes seconds to install and you never need to remove the 2 screws that hold the blade guide guard, the table sits above it
Ah nice!
I wonder if something like a dye, like the stuff you use to blue steel would be another alternative to paint. I have something called colloidal graphite where I work that is graphite suspended in alcohol. We primarily use it for lubricating things and antisieze on threaded connections, but it does do a nice job of coloring metal. It doesn't last forever, but is easy to apply.
I just started watching the latest season of Battle Bots and want to wish you and your team good luck.
Yes there is it’s called anodization. Technically still a surface finish but it’s very thin and hard. But also way overkill for this.
@@Mrcaffinebean Thanks for replying to my comment. I am familiar with anodizing but agree that it would be overkill for someone to try and do at home. It does make a nice finish, especially if you specify hard anodizing. It's much more wear resistant and would hold up well in this application.
Yeah, but the surface finish needs to be REALLY good beforehand. I probably got it close, but one of the issues with anodizing is you can't really go straight from machining to anodizing, there is a bit of surface prep first.
Cool idea but I don't have a milling machine. May try to make table with wooden top and screw in metal surface plate
I bet you could get by with a router and a guide, just take small passes.
On metal? Would I use a milling bit? Or are you suggesting a wooden top?
@@Dawkman72 You can fairly easily cut aluminum with a router, as long as you have a good setup and are using a guide and shallow cuts.
Router bits or some sort of milling bit?
@@Dawkman72 There's not REALLY that much of a difference between the two. For aluminum, a 2 flute or a single flute works well. Get a good 1/4" router bit (not straight cut, but one with flutes) and take shallow cuts. Aluminum isn't all THAT different from really dense hardware. It is still much harder to cut, but generally, if you can cut really dense wood, you can use those same tools for aluminum. I use my table saw for aluminum cutting quite often.
I never have been able to get a square cut using a bandsaw so not a fan of the miter gauge in this project, but the table looks great.
I was in the same boat. For another project (video coming soon), I needed square cuts and just spent a lot of time squaring everything up. I can say that afterwards, I was able to put a machinist square on the part and it was pretty close. They just take a LOT of adjustment to get nice square cuts.
Hi, Great solution. You have made a drawing with Solidworks. Is your drawing available in a Fusion 360 compatible format?
Nice video! I've got an avid but haven't tried aluminum yet. I watched your fog buster vid so I'll be looking into that. What bits are you using for the pockets and contours?
I'm just using 2 flute endmills, the same ones Avid sells on their site. They works great. wall finish is always pretty darn good, but floor finish is usually fairly rough. The head doesn't have a lot of rigidity in the z axis, but side to side rigidity is good.
do you have any plans on building like a beetle weight or an ant weight in the future or is it over with the robot fights for now
I'm taking a break. I have a LOT of other projects I wanted to do and there's something really addictive about building robots, it prevents you from doing anything else. One day I'll get back into it.
Hello.
Just found and subscribed to your channel.
I found you by searching HF 7x12 bandsaw.
You didn't say on this video and I couldn't see enough to tell for sure but is this the same bandsaw ?
Thanks in advance.
Greg in Michigan
Ps....
Today, ( 1/30/23 ) the HF saw is $1399.
Ouch😲
I'm still considering it because all of them have gone up like everything else in the world.
Yep, it's the same one. I still like it. And yes, everything has gone up quite a bit!
@@RobertCowanDIY
Thanks for the info.
Now time to check out some of your videos.
Have a Jesus filled day
Greg in Michigan
The saws we have in our fab lab are required to be anchored to the floor. Did you say yours is on casters? I would be afraid of it tipping over.
So long as the base is wide enough and the casters are lockable, there's little to worry about. All my machines are on castors and I've never run into an issue.
I'd buy that for a dollar.
Or two or three.
Tools that have a pristine paint job make me suspicious.
Right? It's already trashed. I've used it a few times and it has already developed a nice patina. It looks how it needs to look now ;-)
Really dude
It's so insulting to include such a flimsy table. They could just sell a better one separately. Btw, I can tell you've been watching Inheritance Machining. Dude actually draws his plans on a drafting table. I can understand why some folks avoid computers. They can be very mentally distracting with usability often influencing the design.
HA! Yes, I have been watching his videos. It's not necessarily a dig to him, but I see others doing it for no real reason. He seems to enjoy the process of making the drawings, and that's just fine. But the cliché of every youtuber trying to make these 'epic' projects like you're going to find the original drawing in a museum is just getting old.