OT: anyone use a cordless Bandfile?

[fmradio516]

Im intrigued by the Milwaukee Bandfile belt sanders. I can definitely seeing myself use one in certain finishing situations.

They come in two flavors:
1/2" X 18"
and
3/4" X 13"

While the 18" one sounds good for wear and heat reasons, i feel like it would be better for have a 13" to have more control over the tool.

Has anyone tried one of these yet? Doesnt need to be milwaukee specific. If so, how cumbersome are they to handle?

[unterhausen]

I'm not convinced they are all that useful, although I use my dremel to finish things a lot.

I have a mod kit for a milwaukee cutoff saw to take a Harbor freight band file extension. Still cheaper than the milwaukee band files. I also have a dynabrade dynafile, the king of such things. But I don't have enough compressed air to make it work well. I wish I could get an electric die grinder to modify the dynabrade, but cordless die grinders aren't cheap.

When I worked at Trek, I used to despair at the finishing guys sanding away at frames with a dynafile. It takes a really light touch, which is too much work, apparently.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I'm not convinced they are all that useful, although I use my dremel to finish things a lot.

I have a mod kit for a milwaukee cutoff saw to take a Harbor freight band file extension. Still cheaper than the milwaukee band files. I also have a dynabrade dynafile, the king of such things. But I don't have enough compressed air to make it work well. I wish I could get an electric die grinder to modify the dynabrade, but cordless die grinders aren't cheap.

When I worked at Trek, I used to despair at the finishing guys sanding away at frames with a dynafile. It takes a really light touch, which is too much work, apparently.

Nice, I actually have the milwaukee right angle die grinder. Are there kits to do such a conversion?

[C40_guy]

Crap. I didn't even know what a bandfile is. Now I need one.

Thanks a lot!

Personally, I'd go with a yellow 20V one, but that's just because all of my DeWalt batteries would fit nicely on it.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Crap. I didn't even know what a bandfile is. Now I need one.

Thanks a lot!

Personally, I'd go with a yellow 20V one, but that's just because all of my DeWalt batteries would fit nicely on it.

You know they make adapters that allow you to use a yellow battery with a red tool

Which i WISH i knew about before i sold all my yellows and started my red collection. There are SO many tool options from red, but i think the yellows are better made

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Nice, I actually have the milwaukee right angle die grinder. Are there kits to do such a conversion?

I have only seen kits to convert the milwaukee cutoff saw. They use the bolt that attaches the blade to hold the pulley for the band. This is the one I bought https://www.ebay.com/itm/115539435660
I bought the cutoff tool for $100, so if you have m12 batteries, that's not that much money.


If you are talking about the dynafile, it is powered by what amounts to a regular die grinder, not a right angle die grinder.The band twists 90 degrees right at the grinder. The milwaukee cordless die grinders are much larger than a pneumatic die grinder. So adapting one of them would require machining, and I'm not sure it could be made to work.

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I have only seen kits to convert the milwaukee cutoff saw. They use the bolt that attaches the blade to hold the pulley for the band. This is the one I bought https://www.ebay.com/itm/115539435660
I bought the cutoff tool for $100, so if you have m12 batteries, that's not that much money.

Oh thats cool. How does the conversion kit work? You liking it? Ive always thought about getting one of the cutoff tools. Do you like that as well or is it kinda limited in terms of what you can cut?

[weisan]

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Oh thats cool. How does the conversion kit work? You liking it? Ive always thought about getting one of the cutoff tools. Do you like that as well or is it kinda limited in terms of what you can cut?

I bought the cutoff tool to convert it, and then I liked it enough for its nominal purpose that I bought another to convert. I never did the conversion, it's on the list. If you watch any review videos, it's a little under-powered as a cutoff saw. But it's useful anyway. I would have gotten the dewalt, but it's twice as much and also twice as heavy, because 20v.

I have an angle grinder, a sawzall, and a portaband, so there is no shortage of cutoff tools around.

Okay, so I just did the conversion. Milwaukee used 4 annoying little torx head screws to hold on the guard you have to remove. And one of them was in bad shape for no obvious reason. The conversion kit went right on, but they seem to have gotten the weird bolt hole pattern wrong by a slight amount. Doesn't matter once it's together. It was nice I didn't have to go look for tools to do the conversion. It works well, I got some 3m Cubitron belts for it so I didn't have to use the HF belt that came with it.

[windsurfer]

I have the cheapo ryobi 1/2". Pretty useful for some tasks. Now that Milwaukee has one I may need to upgrade, but that darn ryobi just keeps working.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by windsurfer

I have the cheapo ryobi 1/2". Pretty useful for some tasks. Now that Milwaukee has one I may need to upgrade, but that darn ryobi just keeps working.

N+1 isn't just for bicycles.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Im intrigued by the Milwaukee Bandfile belt sanders. I can definitely seeing myself use one in certain finishing situations.

They come in two flavors:
1/2" X 18"
and
3/4" X 13"

While the 18" one sounds good for wear and heat reasons, i feel like it would be better for have a 13" to have more control over the tool.

Has anyone tried one of these yet? Doesnt need to be milwaukee specific. If so, how cumbersome are they to handle?

They're very useful if you do finish work on metal fabrication.

I use a pneumatic one, not sure how the control is on cordless ones.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

I use a pneumatic one, not sure how the control is on cordless ones.

There are two Milwaukee models, one is variable speed, the other has two selectable speeds.