A Prediction of Total Cutting Time When Crosscutting Rounds, Pipe, and Rectangular Bar With a Portable Bandsaw Available to Purchase

Portable bandsaws are gaining in popularity for their use on jobsites to efficiently crosscut structural materials such as bar, pipe, angle, and channel. Some of the increased popularity is also due to the recent introduction of lithium ion batteries, which has further improved the portability of bandsaws by making them cordless. However, with cordless portable bandsaws, knowledge of cutting rates becomes more important as battery runtime limits productivity. Unlike industrial bandsaws that typically have feed rate control, portable bandsaws use operator applied pressure and gravity to control feed rate. While some research has highlighted the cutting mechanics of bandsaws and related wear processes, there is a lack of progress in the area of predicting total cutting time as a function of sawing parameters, such as applied thrust force, blade speed, workpiece material properties, and geometry of the cross section. This paper presents research that was conducted to develop and experimentally verify a mechanistic model to predict cutting rates of various cross sections with a gravity fed portable bandsaw. The model was used to predict the time required to cut steel tube for several conditions of thrust force and blade speed. Model predictions were verified by experiment to a reasonable degree of accuracy. The model serves as the algorithm for a software application to assist contractors in developing jobsite estimates of time and material.