Band saw cuts metal tube in upward direction

Kasto Inc. has introduced the KASTOwin tube A 5.0, a fully automatic band saw designed for cutting tubular material. The blade cuts from the bottom of the tube in an upward direction as opposed to cutting from the top of the workpiece downward. The upward travel of the blade helps reduce blade wear and prevent damage to the blade teeth than can occur when a blade travels downward into chips that have accumulated inside the tube, the company reports.

Downward travel makes it difficult to use carbide-tipped blades for sawing tubes, as the delicate teeth can be damaged easily, making a bimetal blade typically the only option. According to the manufacturer, this saw is intended to use carbide-tipped band saw blades to achieve higher production rates.

Cutting capacity is 20 in. dia. on round tube, and the shortest cutting length is 0.40 in. The frequency-controlled drive can achieve variable cutting speeds from 40 to 490 SFPM. The upward travel of the saw head is equipped with zero-play linear guides, while a precision ball screw helps ensure controlled cutting feed rates.

The intelligent touchscreen SmartControl sawing machine controller contains all the material data and automatically sets all the necessary sawing parameters. The KASTOrespond system developed for this machine continuously records the cutting forces at the blade and uses an intelligent algorithm to convert them into optimized saw feed rates, the manufacturer states.