Hey y’all, just wanted to share a small modification I made for our AF50! We cut a bunch of smaller blanks (less than an inch long) for various parts in our products, and it’s a bit of a chore to fish them out of the chip tray. This guard can be 3d printed out of anything (I used ABS because it’s all I have at the moment) and has plenty of clearance as to not disturb the blade movement. The STL included is free for anyone (and it has no logo, so fee free to make it your own there as well). Happy cutting!!!
Thanks so much!! I love seeing how folks adapt a mill to their needs, but few show photos of their band saw setup and mods. Hopefully, this will inspire more, and help someone else out along the way.
Like most tools, it takes a few cuts to get to know the intricacies of the AF50. However, we couldn’t run our business without it, and that’s not a joke. I have a ton of footage for a review, but I’ve not yet compiled it into a coherent video (2022 goal!). Here are a few photos of some blanks we cut (we don’t use coolant, still using the blade that came with the saw back in October 2021). Our runs are usually smaller, only 10-20 at a time of up to 2" OD 6061 bar stock, 1.5" 360 brass, and .25" steel most days, up to a few times a day depending on how prototyping is going.
Not a bad idea, with the DRO! That could be interesting to implement. It took me a few cuts, but I finally figured out that, on my particular machine, it seems the front of the silver rectangle with two screws isn’t the starting point for measuring using the ruler guide. My cuts seem true to the guide if I use the edge of the bed itself as the starting point instead of the front of the thing screwed to it. I’m not sure if there’s a way to adjust this, we just made a mental note and moved on, but it’s closing in on our two year anniversary with the AF50 with the allowance still yielding the same results. Also, please ignore the dog hair - Saint Bernards are hell in the shop.
