Why is it important to break-in a band saw blade?

• Breaking-In a Band Saw Blade
  Sharp cutting edges with extremely small edge radii are required for high cutting capacity. WIKUS blades are predestined for that. To achieve the optimal tool life we recommend to break-in the blade accordingly.
• Correct break-in procedure guarantees long blade life
  The correct cutting speed (m/min) is determined by the material being cut and its dimensions.
• Examine apart from the tape tension, which should be with 300 N/mm, also the oil rate of the cooling lubricant. Hand refractometers and band tension meters are also available at TecSaw. It is very important that the new blade is first used with only 50% of the determined feed rate. This will avoid microbreakages because of too large chip thicknesses, which can be avoided. New band saw blades may tend towards vibrations and vibration sounds. In this case a slight reduction of the cutting speed is also helpful.
• With small work piece dimensions, approx. 300 cm of the material should be cut for breaking-in. If large work piece dimensions are to be cut we recommend a breaking-in period of about 15 minutes. After breaking-in you may slowly increase the feed rate up to the determined value.
  
  Figures:
  • New cutting edge with very small edge radius
  • Proper break-in of the band saw blade creates a stable cutting edge
  • Excessive strain due to improper breaking-in leads to micro-breakages of the cutting edge

  Maintenance

  • Bimetal band saw blades of 0.75 tpi to 6 tpi can be re-sharpened or re-set. Variable tooth pitches cannot be re-set.
  • With carbide tipped band saw blades all tooth pitches can be re-sharpened and re-set, if necessary. However, changing the band saw blade in time is a condition of maintenance.
  • Please observe that also re-sharpened band saw blades need a breaking-in!