Porter Cable bandsaw (from Lowes) manual says not to cut metal....Why?

[Kevin W Johnson]

I was wondering if anyone knows why the manual says not to cut metal on this particular bandsaw? What would need to be done, other than a metal cutting blade, to be able to cut metal on this bandsaw? I'm assuming there's more than just installing a metal cutting blade, or the manual would just tell you to install the proper blade before cutting metal.

Thanks

[Ray Newman]

IIRC, a metal cutting band saw has a slower speed.

[Kevin W Johnson]

This one is 2 speed.... 1630/2730 FPM. Is 1630FPM still to fast?

edit: Ray, your post did give me an avenue in which to look. It does appear to be the speed of the blade. I found a chart in the PDF of a Grizzly bandsaw manual that shows recommended cutting speeds for a variety of metals. Most of which are in the 180-534 FPM range.

[Bruce Page]

It will cut non-ferrous metals just fine. I have cut a lot of aluminum & brass on my old delta 14”. Cutting metal can be hard on the tires so maybe that is what they are worried about.

[Dick Strauss]

Another thing to think about...the hot metal fragments could ignite the dust left by the wood cutting process.

[Greg Urwiller]

My son gave me a Ridgid BS he'd bought used, like new. He tried using it for metal(steel) also....didn't work. Too fast, and it tore the tires up. I had to clean up all the metal filings, and replace the tires before I used it. Just got it cleaned up and adjusted, bought two new blades for it, then found an almost new 16" Grizzly for sale about 5 minutes away! Haven't used the Ridgid yet. Greg

[Kevin W Johnson]

Another thing to think about...the hot metal fragments could ignite the dust left by the wood cutting process.

I keep the wood dust cleaned out.

Aluminum and brass are the two metals i'd be most likely to cut anyway.

[fRED mCnEILL]

When I was a metal worker before becoming a woodworker I bought a General metal cutting bandsaw. When I switched to wood I just replaced the blade. There certainly didn't appear to be anything different regarding the tires. Speed is another matter though.

Fred

[Larry Edgerton]

I have an old Delta wood/metal bandsaw. There is a step down gearbox for use when cutting metal to slow the blade down. I cut aluminum on it all the time with it in the faster mode. We have a saw dedicated to steel so I never tried the slower speed.