How to Distinguish Between Band Saw and Circular Saw?

As the chapter title implies, there are two types of sawing machines in the industrial market: band saws and circular saws. This classification makes sense because the two are different.

Band saw and circular saw are different in nature

Unlike the band saw that we have introduced for a while, circular sawing machine use circular tools for sawing instead of sawing bands, so, circular sawing machine have unique processing characteristics. The band saw is a power sawing machine, with long and sharp bandsaw blades. The blade is composed of a continuous toothed metal belt stretched between the wheels, and the target material is cut by continuous sawing motion.

The sawing force

Both circular saws and band saws nowadays are mostly driven by electricity, and in ancient times, sawing force mainly produced by human power, or later may be produced by steam and water. In addition to traditional sawing, there is another type of saw called an abrasive saw, which has powered circular saws blades designed to cut through metal or ceramic. In the market, the band saw machine is particularly suitable for metalworking and woodworking, of course, it can also be used to cut various other materials and work pieces.

The advantages of band saw include uniform cutting movement due to uniformly distributed tooth loads, and the ability to cut irregular or curved shapes like a jig saw. The traditional sawing evolved into sawing on band saw machine, while the abrasive sawing evolved into circular sawing and circular saws, or formally called a circular saw machine.

Comparison

A general question that is asked regularly: Circular saw or band saw? In fact, it should choose based on the characteristics of cutting and work piece.

Obviously, the wrong choice will lead to a decline in productivity, and the long-term development of the factory will face serious difficulties. Band saw is now widely used in various applications. Band saw is mainly used in metalworking and woodworking, but can also be used to cut a variety of other materials. If the band saw is compared with a circular saw, the main advantage of the band saw machine is that it achieves a uniform cutting movement due to the uniformly distributed tooth load on bandsaw blades, and has the ability to cut irregular or curved shapes like a jig saw. On the other hand, the circular saws use rotating circular tool to perform the sawing process, rather than sawing bands, which leads to the unique processing characteristics of the circular saw machine.

Mass-production features

For industrial manufacturers who need mass production, circular cold saws are usually the best solution. In addition, if there are no special tolerance requirements, then a lower-priced band saw may be sufficient.

Due to technological advancements, the functional differences between circular saws and band saws have become quite blurry. The bandsaw blades can have various pitches and sizes, which makes the band saw machine highly versatile and capable of cutting various raw materials, such as wood, metal and plastic. Today, almost all band saws are at least driven by electric motors, even if the line shaft saws were once common in the market, but they have now been eliminated. The bandsaw blades are very important for sawing quality. Re-sharpening and related issues are therefore considered to be crucial. If the sharpening of the saws blades takes too much time and expense, the sawing process will be impractical.

In fact, one operator can efficiently feed and unload several automatic band saws. Some automatic band saw machines rely on digital control to make cutting faster and more precise, and even perform more complex bevel cutting. Combining these advantages and needs, most modern metal band saw machines are equipped with CNC controllers to adapt to today's processing requirements and standards. On the other hand, NC type and manual type band saw machines are still very popular in some small workshops or homes due to their relative practicality and reasonable price.

More Information

1. The History of Band Sawing and Its Innovative Ideas
2. Band Saw Machine and the Corresponding Applications
3. When Shall I Choose a Band Saw Rather Than a Circular Saw?

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