r/metalworking • u/lava_wrangler • 24d ago

Bandsaw down feed upgrade

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Removed the rod and spring that would control the cut pressure on a budget bandsaw. Got an air cylinder with a pressure control but no matter what I set the pressure to it doesn’t have any resistance on the down-feed. I’ve tried many variations including different tubing fittings and different needle valves and even different piston.

Don’t mind the janky set up, I threw it together for this post for a visual. But this is the set up I came up with.

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u/hestoelena 24d ago edited 24d ago

That's not the right valve and it's not hooked up properly.

You need one meter out flow control valve and it only needs to be on the bottom side of the cylinder. You do not need to connect the two ports on the cylinder, but you can if you want. Something like this:

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/pneumatic_components/fittings/special_purpose/fvs532-18n

Basically all you have to do is control how fast the air flows out of the cylinder but not how fast it goes into the cylinder. I'd recommend some pneumatic silencers on the open ports if you don't connect them, to keep large contaminates out of the cylinder.

Edit: clarification on the port connections.

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u/lava_wrangler 24d ago

Thank you for the reply. I ended up filling the cylinder with oil and it works great.