Do any of you use a table saw (small one) seems to me that cutting good straight strips of balsa would be easier with a table saw and a fence.
Thanks, Chuck of Stuart
Chuck,
I would (wood?) first ask if you have access to any other type of powered saw. If not, I would suggest that you look at purchsing a good bandsaw. The bandsaw is far more versatile than a table saw. Except for throat limitations (i.e. width you can cut) which is not likely an issue for modeling, you can cut almost any material including aluminum or carbon fiber into any shape (including straight and curved) you desire with outstanding accuracy. As for cutting strip wood, like Mark said, you will only get what is in the piece of wood that you start with. For small strips a Master Airscrew balsa stripper should take care of most stripping tasks. If you want ultra high accuracy strips you should look at the Jim Jones indoor wood stripper available through F1D.BIZ
A table saw blade will eat a lot of expensive balsa (even a thin one). A bandsaw blade can be as thin as .018. I would never even think of trying to cut some thin balsa sheet from a small block on a table saw. It is not safe. A bandsaw allows you to get right up close to the blade with no fear of kickback. Installation of a high precission fence system will allow you to work to even tighter tolerances. For my money, the best modeling bandsaw is the older Sears 12" model. It is very rigid and holds adjustments well. It is not designed to cut 6x4 blocks of hardwood but it will cut exceptionally well on balsa. Mark also rightly pointed out that blade selection and material is very important. I highly recommend Swedish low tension silicon steel blades with milled teeth for wood.
I have attached some pictures to give you an idea of how accurate a bandsaw can cut. This first picture is of two 2x 18 strips of indoor wood. The second picture is of one strip that measures .010 (ten one thousandths of an inch) thick. Cut on my Sears Bandsaw WITHOUT the high precision fence. The next picture is the second piece which measures just less than .005 of an inch thick. Again cut WITHOUT the high precision fence! All pieces were cut " rough" to about 3 thou more than their finished dimension and then final sanded. The next picture shows that you can read type through the .005 thick piece. The final shot is of the Sear 12" bandsaw that I have used for the past 22 years.
You could not get me to trade the bandsaw for a tablesaw if you gave me free 5 pound balsa for life.
Kim Doherty
Topic: table saws for modlers (Read 2887 times)