It is like a breath of fresh air to get really good service from a company I have just bought a band saw I have seen that others on this site have praised Dragon band saw blades so I emailed them and admitted I was new to band saws and asked their advice on what would be best for general use and a man called Ian john who seems a really nice chap and really put himself out to help out, below is a copy of what he wrote I'm sure he won't mind me publishing it as I think it may help others to make decisions on choosing blades.
Obviously The prices are for my 131" saw but it might give you an idea the info below the prices is quite useful. Plus after this email there was another lengthy reply to make sure I made the right choice... can't really ask for more...:wink: :wink:
"Hi Lee
Thank you for your enquiry.
Due to the size of the bandsaw that you’ve bought then you are able to use a wide selection of blades so there shouldn’t be any problems finding a blade for any cutting requirements.
Prices for 131” blades are as follows:
¼” - £11.30 each
3/8” - £11.60 each
½” - £12.50 each
5/8” - £16.50 each
¾” - £17.00 each
1” - £18.00 each
We currently have the following tooth pitches in stock:
¼” – 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
3/8” – 3, 4, 6, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
½” – 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
5/8” – 4, 6, 10 & 14tpi
¾” – 4, 6 & 14tpi
1” – 4 & 6tpi
We also have a range of heavy duty blades that have been designed for ripping/re-sawing in thick timber and prices for these are as follows:
¼” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £12.50 each
3/8” x 2tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £13.50 each
3/8” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £13.50 each
½” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £14.50 each
5/8” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £15.50 each
3/4" x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £17.50 each
1” x 1.3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £22.50 each
All prices include vat and delivery and we offer a 5% discount for orders of 5 or more, which can be a mixture of widths and tooth pitches but there is no minimum order.
The most popular general purpose tooth pitch is 6tpi as this will cut most thickness materials with a decent finish. 3tpi is generally used for cutting thick wood where the finish isn’t too important. ¼” blades are great for radius cutting and the wider the blade the less of a radius that it’s capable of cutting.
My only concern with your machine for the metal cutting is that even on it’s slowest speed (which I think is around 430m/min) it’s still a bit too fast. The speed should be between 50 and 200 m/min for effective metal cutting.
As long as you don’t want to cut a lot of metal then the speed should be ok for the occasional piece of metal as long as you use a slow feed rate.
The 1” Ripper is a great blade for cutting very thick timber and it will cut wood to the maximum depth of cut on your machine. I wouldn’t recommend using this blade on any material below 2” thick.
The right blades for you will really depend on the type of cutting that you intend doing as a general starting point, I would recommend the following:
¼” x 4tpi – for radius cutting, not as aggressive as the 3tpi but will cut most thicknesses.
3/8” x 3tpi heavy duty – for ripping/fast cutting thick timber, will cut a radius of approximately 32mm and is very popular with furniture makers, instrument makers and for cutting bowl blanks.
½” x 14tpi – great general purpose metal cutting blade and will also cut most other materials. Will leave a great finish cutting wood and will also cut plastic etc.
5/8” x 6tpi – great general purpose blade for straight cutting and will cope with most of the day to day cutting that a bandsaw does.
I would only buy the 1” ripper if you intend to cut very thick wood, for wood between 2” and 6” then our 5/8” or ¾” x 3tpi heavy duty blades will be more than adequate. I would only go for the 1” ripper if you are cutting a lot of wood 4” and above as this is where this blade really comes in to its own.
If you have an idea as to the cutting that you are going to do or would like to do in the future, let me know and I will gladly recommend the correct blades for you.
We also have some other blades available that are not listed such as M42 and thin kerf but these are designed for specific cutting needs or for cutting lots of hardwood and I would only recommend these if I knew that you had a lot of a specific type of cutting to do.
If you have any further questions or would like to order blades, then please do not hesitate in contacting me."
Obviously The prices are for my 131" saw but it might give you an idea the info below the prices is quite useful. Plus after this email there was another lengthy reply to make sure I made the right choice... can't really ask for more...:wink: :wink:
"Hi Lee
Thank you for your enquiry.
Due to the size of the bandsaw that you’ve bought then you are able to use a wide selection of blades so there shouldn’t be any problems finding a blade for any cutting requirements.
Prices for 131” blades are as follows:
¼” - £11.30 each
3/8” - £11.60 each
½” - £12.50 each
5/8” - £16.50 each
¾” - £17.00 each
1” - £18.00 each
We currently have the following tooth pitches in stock:
¼” – 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
3/8” – 3, 4, 6, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
½” – 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 18, 24 & 32tpi
5/8” – 4, 6, 10 & 14tpi
¾” – 4, 6 & 14tpi
1” – 4 & 6tpi
We also have a range of heavy duty blades that have been designed for ripping/re-sawing in thick timber and prices for these are as follows:
¼” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £12.50 each
3/8” x 2tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £13.50 each
3/8” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £13.50 each
½” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £14.50 each
5/8” x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £15.50 each
3/4" x 3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £17.50 each
1” x 1.3tpi Heavy Duty Blade - £22.50 each
All prices include vat and delivery and we offer a 5% discount for orders of 5 or more, which can be a mixture of widths and tooth pitches but there is no minimum order.
The most popular general purpose tooth pitch is 6tpi as this will cut most thickness materials with a decent finish. 3tpi is generally used for cutting thick wood where the finish isn’t too important. ¼” blades are great for radius cutting and the wider the blade the less of a radius that it’s capable of cutting.
My only concern with your machine for the metal cutting is that even on it’s slowest speed (which I think is around 430m/min) it’s still a bit too fast. The speed should be between 50 and 200 m/min for effective metal cutting.
As long as you don’t want to cut a lot of metal then the speed should be ok for the occasional piece of metal as long as you use a slow feed rate.
The 1” Ripper is a great blade for cutting very thick timber and it will cut wood to the maximum depth of cut on your machine. I wouldn’t recommend using this blade on any material below 2” thick.
The right blades for you will really depend on the type of cutting that you intend doing as a general starting point, I would recommend the following:
¼” x 4tpi – for radius cutting, not as aggressive as the 3tpi but will cut most thicknesses.
3/8” x 3tpi heavy duty – for ripping/fast cutting thick timber, will cut a radius of approximately 32mm and is very popular with furniture makers, instrument makers and for cutting bowl blanks.
½” x 14tpi – great general purpose metal cutting blade and will also cut most other materials. Will leave a great finish cutting wood and will also cut plastic etc.
5/8” x 6tpi – great general purpose blade for straight cutting and will cope with most of the day to day cutting that a bandsaw does.
I would only buy the 1” ripper if you intend to cut very thick wood, for wood between 2” and 6” then our 5/8” or ¾” x 3tpi heavy duty blades will be more than adequate. I would only go for the 1” ripper if you are cutting a lot of wood 4” and above as this is where this blade really comes in to its own.
If you have an idea as to the cutting that you are going to do or would like to do in the future, let me know and I will gladly recommend the correct blades for you.
We also have some other blades available that are not listed such as M42 and thin kerf but these are designed for specific cutting needs or for cutting lots of hardwood and I would only recommend these if I knew that you had a lot of a specific type of cutting to do.
If you have any further questions or would like to order blades, then please do not hesitate in contacting me."
