Above: When Pacific Steel & Recycling replaced its obsolete band saw, it purchased a Hydmech M-20A-120 automatic horizontal pivot band saw
November, 2024: A band saw can keep cutting metal after its prime but probably shouldn’t if the shop wants to maintain productivity and remain profitable. Pacific Steel & Recycling realized it needed to replace a 17- year-old band saw at its Great Falls, Montana, service center after the machine started to break down and failed to achieve the expected cut accuracy, says Assistant Manager Kevin Holt.
The company has 46 locations in Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado and Montana, and employs 800 to 850 workers. Twenty employees work at the 40,000-sq.- ft. Great Falls warehouse, which distributes materials to five other branch locations.
When Pacific Steel sought to replace its band saw, Holt says the same manufacturer was considered, but “they did not offer what we wanted.”
However, a few employees had used or were familiar with Hydmech band saws when they worked at other Pacific Steel locations and recommended the machine tool builder. Holt says these employees cited older Hydmech saws that were nonetheless “functioning better than some of the newer saws.”
A HIGH-QUALITY SELECTION
Hydmech U.S.A. is in Conway, Arkansas, and Hydmech Canada is in Woodstock, Ontario. Based on Hydmech’s reputation for building saws with a high level of functionality and ease of providing replacement parts when needed, Holt says Pacific Steel purchased a Model M-20A120 automatic horizontal pivot band saw that’s equipped with a 10-ft. bar feed, so its shutt le vise assembly can index up to 120 in. in a single stroke. “It’s really superior to anything else we were looking at.”
The feed is more accurate, efficient and reliable than what the previous band saw provided, he says, which had a 4-ft. screw-driven feed rather than a 5-hp shuttle-driven rack-and-pinion feed system on the Hydmech.
“Anytime you got dust or metal particles or anything in that feed, it would skip and throw off that screw drive. The rack-and-pinion system, rather than that screw-drive system, is far more capable of holding up in the conditions that we’re in.”
In addition to the airborne debris, the band saw is exposed to significant temperature variations because the warehouse is not insulated or climate controlled, Holt says.
“We throw some antifreeze in there to make sure it doesn’t freeze up. We’ve had it running in 30 degrees below zero, and it runs just like a dream.”
About 80 percent of the metal Pacifi c Steel saws across all its branches is carbon steel, with the remainder being stainless steel and aluminum, Holt says. The workpieces range from a ¾-in. round to a 30-in. beam.
The M-20A-120 band saw, which has a 10-hp motor and a 20-in. high by 30-in. wide capacity at 90 degrees, can miter cut from 90 to 30 degrees. Holt estimates 10 percent of the orders at his location are miter cut. “Most of what we’re cutting are 45-degree bevels.”
In addition, full-stroking hydraulic material vises provide full-capacity clamping for bundle cutting, but that feature is rarely used, he notes, to cut a 40-ft. mill bundle in half, for example. “We can stick a full bundle on at a time and cut the entire bundle with ease.”
Holt adds that the hydraulic clamps in the band saw self-tension the blade to hold it in place, unlike the previous saw that required manual tensioning. “It’s not a manual adjustment, so if it gets thrown off, it’ll automatically adjust the blade tensioning. This one makes it pretty dummy proof and easy.”
The Hydmech M-20A-120 is a heavy-duty automatic horizontal pivot band saw that can miter cut from 90 to 60 degrees.
CUTTING CONSUMABLE COSTS
Along with the optional mist lubrication feature to cool the tool/workpiece interface and extend blade life, Holt says the automatic blade tensioning significantly reduces consumable costs by extending bi-metal blade life three to four times compared to the previous machine.
“I think we even got six months at one point in the slower season. If we got a month out of a blade on our old saw, we’d be pretty happy with that.”
Automatic blade tensioning significantly reduces consumable costs by extending bi-metal blade life three to four times compared to the previous machine
When a blade does need to be changed, hydraulic solid carbide saw guides allow for fast changes, as well as increased cut accuracy, according to Hydmech.
Another beneficial optional feature, according to Holt, is the chip bucket. Rather than constantly stepping on chips and having to sweep the shop floor, the bucket gathers the chips and is dumped when full.
A helpful standard feature is the automatic PLC, with touch-screen control programmable up to 1,000 jobs with 20 in queue, he says. “We’ve never had a call for nearly that many. We’ve had some jobs that could have six, eight, 12 different cuts.”
Hydmech reports that automatic programming with auto angle positioning enables fast cycle times, and the machine automatically indexes and miters materials.
Pacific Steel’s full-time saw operator required only a couple days of training to effectively run the Hydmech after running the old saw for about 13 years, Holt says. “He had gotten used to the intricacies of that one. Once he started using this one, he fell in love with it.”
One standard feature the operator uses on about half the jobs is the laser aligned light to show where to cut, Holt says. “It’s easy to see. It’s durable. It’s good stuff.”
The Hydmech M-20A-120 automatic horizontal pivot band saw has drastically reduced production time at Pacific Steel’s service center, meaning the company does not yet need an additional saw. “It’s keeping up with our volume no problem and then some but, in the future, if we are to get a new saw, I’m a firm believer in Hydmech.”
Others in the organization feel the same, Holt says, particularly about the M-20A-120. “As far as I’m aware, that’s mostly what we’re replacing our aged-out equipment with.”
In addition to building production band saws that cut material to length accurately and enable easy-to-obtain replacement parts, Holt says he appreciates Hydmech’s customer service. “[It] is really second to none. For all the variation of equipment that we deal with, they’re probably the easiest to get a hold of.”
Hydmech U.S.A., 877/276-7297, http://hydmech.com/
Pacific Steel & Recycling, 800/889-6264, http://pacific-steel.com/
