Kimwood Corporation - Ferrari 'Narrow' Blade Retro-Fit

Ferrari 'Narrow' Blade Retro-Fit

Ferrari 'Narrow' Blade Retro-Fit

The 42" Ferrari Resaw was traditionally designed to run 4" through 6" bandsaw blades. These blades would be maintained by a saw-filer employed by that company to sharpen and maintain the blades in good running condition. As technology has expanded through the wood products industry, the bands themselves changed very little until the early 1990's. Saw band manufacturers have started producing multiple head narrow kerf bands, such as Carbide tooth and Bi-metal products, to replace the wider resharpenable bands. This has caused some companies to experiment with their equipment to run these smaller disposal blades on equipment that was designed to run the larger bands.

Before switching to the 'narrow' blades, a cost analysis should be completed to compare the costs of purchasing narrow blades versus maintaining / resharpening wider blades.

Other items to consider:

Quality and Quantity of product that can be produced.
Labor and equipment required to maintain the blades.
Modifications required on the equipment.
Actual cost and life of the blades.

In addition, there may be more wear to certain components and more maintenance required on the equipment due to the higher strain needed for the narrower blades.

Kimwood has designed a retrofit to overcome the problems commonly encountered by running 'narrow', high strain blades on the 42" Ferrari Band Resaw. These common problems are flexing of the upper spoked bandwheel, maintaining the high amount of strain required by blade manufacturers and the guide systems.

The narrow blade retrofit will require the replacement of your upper spoked bandwheel(s) with a solid bandwheel(s) similar to the bottom band wheel. This will minimize the stress in the upper bandwheel and reduce that amount of deflection. This will also help with the tracking of the blade, since the cross-line will be much easier to maintain under load. To increase the amount of strain that can be placed on the band, the strain arm(s) and hanger will also be replaced. The guide system will also be updated to an adjustable pressure guide to decrease the effect the board has on the blade due to walking and snaking through the cut. This guide system will stabilize the narrow blades better than the spring loaded clearance guides currently used for the wide blades.

This retrofit system is designed so that once installed, with a minimum amount of guide component changes, plants will now have the capability to use both the narrow & wide blade bands safely and accurately. This 'Narrow' Band Blade Retrofit System is applicable to most Ferrari Resaws currently operating in the field and will also be offered as an option on the purchase of new Ferrari Resaws.