Bandsaw speed Help!

[David N Brown]

I have just purchased a used 14" Delta bandsaw look alike made in Taiwan. I am trying to figure out how to set it up to run around 3000 for wood cutting.

It is a two belt, three pulley drive system:

Motor runs at 1720rpm

The motor pulley has four steps, starting 9from the motor out); the dia's are: 3.5",2.5", 1.75 and 1".

The first driven pulley, (from pulley out): 1",2",3",4" and 5".

Then the second driven pulley is 5.25" which drives the lower wheel, the diameter of 13.75"

Can anyone help me figure out where to place the drive belts to get the desired speed.

Thanks for any help

[Barry Vabeach]

David, this should help somewhat

http://www.owwm.com/math/sfpm.aspx

[David Freed]

The calculator that Barry pointed you to is a good rescource, but it doesn't allow you to enter a drive/driven shaft, which is your case. That your 13.75" bandsaw wheel has a circumference of 43.175". 1 rpm of that wheel would be 3.6 fpm. 1 rpm of the pulley on that wheel is approx 1.375 fpm. You have 4 constant drive pulley sizes, 5 drive/driven pulley sizes that can either be used as a drive or driven size, and 1 constant driven pulley size.

Using the calculator, entering 1.75 in the motor pulley box, and 5.25 in the wheel pulley box gives you a speed of 2069 fpm. If you run a belt from the motor to the 2" pulley, and a belt from the 3" pulley to the wheel pulley would give you 3103.5 fpm (2069/2x3=3103.5).

If you change the motor pulley size to 1" in the calculator you get 1182 fpm. A belt from the motor to the 2" pulley, and a belt from the 5" pulley to drive the wheel pulley, you will get 2955 fpm (1182/2x5=2955).

I could explain it without using the calculator if you want, but using it is a lot quicker and easier.

[David N Brown]

David, Barry,

Thanks for your help. I will fit the saw up now and give it a try.