Chapter 8 Power Tools 201
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
like bands called tires that grip the blade without
damaging the teeth. Stationary band saws may be
vertical, horizontal, or convertible between the two
positions.
Horizontal band saws that use a liquid cooling
system, often called wet saws, are commonly used
as cut-off saws for cutting long pieces of metal into
shorter pieces. See Figure 8-30. Handheld, portable
versions are useful for fi eldwork.
Vertical band saws can be used for cutting many
different types of material. Many commercial lumber
mills use large band saws to reduce timber to boards.
The blade on a band saw can be thinner than a
traditional circular mill saw blade capable of cutting
materials of the same thickness. The result is a thinner
kerf and less waste. Butchers use a specialized type of
vertical band saw for cutting frozen meat.
The bigger a band saw is, the longer the blade it
requires. However, a band saw’s size is not determined
by the length of its blade, but rather by the size of
the material it will cut. Size is measured at the throat,
or the distance from the blade to the machine frame.
Figure 8-31 shows the parts of a band saw.
Jig
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Figure 8-29. This miter saw stand is equipped
with an adjustable stop, or jig, that makes it easy
to cut multiple pieces to the same length without
measuring each piece.
Garsya/Shutterstock.com
Figure 8-30. A horizontal band saw can be adjusted to automatically control the pressure
and feed rate applied to the blade. This allows the same saw to be used for cutting a
variety of metal objects.