The Kasto booth received its fair share of visitors at the 2024 International Manufacturing Technology Show – IMTS. Kasto featured one of its larger saws, the Kastowin A 10.6, an automatic bandsaw weighing more than 10 tons, standing nearly 12 ft. tall and 16 ft. wide that uses a 34-ft. saw blade.
The A 10.6 brought curb appeal to the German-based sawing company’s booth, but the engineering behind such massive machines is equally impressive. Available since 2015, only a handful are in use in North America.
Jay Smith, regional sales manager at Kasto, says the A 10.6 is generally used in steel distribution warehouses where cutting 32-in. to 41-in. bar or cutting larger materials down to wafers for customers to machine is the norm.
“That’s really where this machine comes into its wheelhouse,” he says, adding that it also processes large-diameter tubing. “A lot of big line tubing houses, especially in the South, use saws this size to handle that 38-in. to 41-in. tube that may be buried underground for oil and gas.”
Stefan Dolipski, vice president at Kasto, adds that large saws like the A 10.6 are a good match for manufacturers that cut large blocks. “It’s a niche market,” he notes.
With a saw this large, the designers had to consider how it would be shipped from where it is produced in the north Black Forest town of Achern, Germany, Kasto’s headquarters. Dolipski says the initial thought was that customers would prefer for the saw to be shipped in one piece, unloaded and ready to go, which required some extra planning. With only a couple pieces dismantled, they were able to achieve that, as it fits in an open shipping container.
Dampening vibration
The main culprit all saw manufacturers work against is vibration, and that is true even in massive saws like the A 10.6. When a saw vibrates in excess, the ability to cut with precision is compromised, the life of the saw blade is shortened and the finish quality is negatively impacted. In the design phase of the saw, computer modeling was used to detect flex in the machine body, Dolipski says, adding that they use “every tool available” to find areas of the saw that can be improved.
“In the development of a saw,” he says, “we want to pick up any noise, any vibration that we find. We use sensors and microphones to gather the data to find out where the vibration is the heaviest.”
Dolipski says that in the “old days,” saw manufacturers would fight vibration by adding weight, sometimes going as far as filling in areas of the saws with a polymer concrete.
“Now, we use a more robust steel structure,” he says, adding that using heavier linear band guides allows the transfer of vibration out of the saw head and into the frame where it has less of an impact on cut quality. “And, we design the steel frames with the mindset of having the vibration pulled into the ground. With these machines, we highly recommend bolting them down because that will provide the circle loop of all the vibration being transported to the ground.”
Heathy chips
Whether it is a small bandsaw or a large one like the A 10.6, the material removed by the blade (the chips) can tell a story. A “healthy” chip is one where the material is coil shaped. A short and stubby chip is usually an indication that vibration is impacting the quality of the cut. Unhealthy chips can also be an indication of the speed and feed rate being incorrect, which means the blade is grinding against the material instead of cutting into it. Regardless of the health of the chips, getting them out of the way of the blade is essential.
Many saw manufacturers offer a coolant option that is sprayed into the cut area in mist form or distributed in higher volume, called flooding. Coolant keeps the blade from overheating, but also helps in washing out the chips. One advantage in regard to chip removal in a large saw is that larger chips are easier to remove, but they still require some technology to keep them out of the way of the blade.
Coolant will flow through the cut channel, but an air assist sitting on the blade guide and pointed into the cut channel provides extra oomph to remove chips, according to Smith. It can also keep the blade guide chip free.
“Every 30 sec., we pulse a blast of air through that cut that helps remove excess kerf chips building up in there,” he says. “That’s especially important on a large cut. Depending on grade, cutting a 38-in. workpiece may take an hour, so halfway through you don’t want those chips piling up causing undo wear and tear on the blade.”
Another difference in such a large saw compared to smaller ones is the A 10.6 is equipped with a spindle in a trough below the cutting area that carries the chips away from the saw and into a collection bin.
Swapping blades
When the time comes to switch out the bandsaw blade, whether it is worn and due for replacement or because a different material requires a different type of blade or tooth geometry, the process of switching out the 34-ft. blade is surprisingly not that difficult, aside from the fact that it is recommended that two people are involved in the task. Saw operators can reach the band wheels via a three-step ladder and, after opening the safety cover, they can access the blade. A switch disengages hydraulic clamping on the blades and the operators can pull the blades down and away from the band guides, move the entire blade out and install a new one.
Now that you’ve explored the advantages of one of the larger bandsaws on the market today, be sure to keep tabs on Kasto, as this Germany-based company’s focus on precision and productivity evolves. For more information about bandsaws, cold saws and other cutting solutions hitting the market, visit our dedicated sawing categories.
