How would I go about boring a 1-1/4″ hole in a sawblade (8″) to use on my shaper? Asuming I correctly center the blade on the drill press, what kind of bit or tool do I use in the drill press to cut the hole? What speed (I assume slowest)? Do I need to lubricate the process?
Thanks, Rich
Replies
Judging from past responses that you've posted, you don't strike me as being crazy. So this must be a test to find out who might be.
Well, I'm crazy..... You use a hole saw that has a 5/8" drill center. Set the drill press reallllll slow. Use some ice water for coolant with a drop or two of cod liver oil in it.
Then strap that puppy into your shaper with the speed set to max and invite all the town politicians in to watch. It'll serve you well to use a remote start, you being out behind a big tree.
PS If you've taken me seriously, then I take back what I said early on..... you are crazy!
Rich- a typical woodworking drill press will not make a good job of opening that bore to 11/4"-point #1.Better to take it to a saw doctor or machinist who understands these things.
Point#2: The way familiar to me for that job is to use a fly-cutter fitted to either a mill drill, engineers drill press or a milling machine-these all have the means to centre and hold the plate accurately, and they have suitably low speeds etc. Could also be done in a metal work lathe but the means of chucking it would be more of a hassle.
Point #3: What is the maximum rpm/peripheral speed of that saw blade? Make sure that this is not exceeded on your shaper, to avoid problems such as noise, metal fatigue, possible tooth loss, vibration, burning and Sapwood having a fit.
Point#4: Be sure to support the blade with flanges at least as big diameter than those on table saw.
Point #5: Worth noting , but probably not relevant since this is a small diameter plate: when the bore of a plate like this is opened out to anything much more than stock there is a question of the tension being upset-I can vouch for a couple of 350mm blades that I had done by a machine shop-these needed re-tensioning by a saw doctor in order to run true again. I doubt if yours would be affected.
Point #6: There will probably be an uproar from the Safety Police/those that may not have done/heard of this before, but in fact it is common practice and part of utiliseing the versatility of a good shaper to the full.The usual common sense and safety measures apply and it is as dangerous as most things to do with woodworking.
Point #7:What is the application?(You should have mentioned this). Running grooves for plywood drawer bottoms is a breeze- the shaper can easily make small adjustments to suit varying ply thickness....
You can see in the pictures that I run , strangely enough, an eight inch blade in my shaper- that is how I cut my tenons.
Philip Marcou
Edited 2/26/2007 1:41 am by philip
philip, Thanks. The application is to put 1/8" slots for splines in the corners of picture frames. My shaper has a slow speed of 3600 rpm, well within the saw blade's range, and can accomodate the blade's diameter. I can get a 4" diam. 6 wing slot cutter from Freud that will probably do the job. http://www.amazon.com/Freud-UP170-6-Wing-Groove-Cutter/dp/B00004VWQS I have done this before with my 8" Freud, 24 tooth, regular kerf, FTG ripping blade (in the table saw) which does the job perfectly with no tearout as it leaves the wood. I don't know if I'll get tearout with the 6 wing slot cutter. Doing the job in the table saw, I have a jig which holds the picture frame vertically. I want to do the job in the horizontal position on the shaper, using the sliding table on my Hammer Combo machine to hold the frames. I make 3 slots in each corner. I can do it in 3 passes, but want to see if I can stack 3 saw blades to accomplish in 1 pass. I could also stack the slot cutters. BTW, Sapwood, lest there be any doubt, I AM crazy. But I think this application is not part of that! Rich
Edited 2/26/2007 2:16 am ET by Rich14
Rich, running a stack of three blades to do it in one pass is the way to go. If you are making the spacer collars make them as big as possible, since the cut is not deep, and this will ensure there is no flutter. Even if there is blow out this is dealt with by use of a backing piece- depends on those teeth. Aluminium (aloomium/aliyumnyum)is good for spacer collars.Philip Marcou
Exactly my plan. Especially the aloomium/aliyumnyum.Rich
Your sharpening service should be able to take care of this for you. At least mine does. Not something the average woodworker has the tools or knowledge to handle. Clearly a machine shop task. Typically they locate for center and use a fly cutter. Typically get it for free if buying a new blade to $20. All my dado blades are bored to 1" but I have bushings to use it on 5/8" arbors.
Edited 2/26/2007 8:16 am ET by RickL
OK OK....... just for the record. I wasn't all that aghast at the thought of using a blade on a shaper. It was the idea that a blade could be bored out accurately enough on a woodworkers drill press that the blade might remain attached to said shaper. All good advice given on how to get it done right. Machinist's probably charge less than blade removal from where it smacked me upside my head surgeons.And, truth be told, since I don't have a shaper I never thought of the applications possible of running a blade in one. This discussion has given me ideas and since I've just reorganized my shop, I think I have space for one now.
Rick, do you read Knots from the bottom up or from the top down? (,)Philip Marcou
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