Method and apparatus for side-grinding saw blade teeth

An apparatus for grinding the teeth of both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades, comprising:

• mounting means configured for mounting both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades for movement in the same endless path such that a sawtooth of either of said blades can be moved to a grinding position in said path;
• grinding means operable for grinding a sawtooth of either of said saw blades while the sawtooth is maintained in a grinding position;
• and
• an indexing means comprising a first indexing carriage mounted for moving a right-handed saw blade on the mounting means in one direction along said path to position successive teeth of the right handed saw blade at a selected grinding position, and a second indexing carriage mounted for moving a left-handed saw blade on the mounting means in a direction opposite said one direction in said path to position successive teeth of the left handed saw blade at a selected grinding position.

An apparatus for grinding the teeth of both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades, comprising:

• mounting means configured for mounting both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades such that a sawtooth is in a grinding position;
• grinding means operable for grinding a sawtooth of the saw blade while the sawtooth is maintained in the grinding position, the grinding means including a pair of opposed grinding wheels mounted for grinding opposite sides of a saw tooth and a grinding head mounting the grinding wheels, and wherein the grinding head is mounted for movement toward and away from the sawtooth when the tooth is in the grinding position;
• and
• an indexing means comprising a first indexing carriage mounted for moving a right-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a first selected grinding position, and a second indexing carriage mounted for moving a left-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a second selected grinding position.

An apparatus for grinding the teeth of both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades, comprising:

• mounting means configured for mounting both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades such that a sawtooth is in a grinding position;
• grinding means operable for grinding a sawtooth of the saw blade while the sawtooth is maintained in the grinding position, the grinding means including a pair of opposed grinding wheels mounted for grinding opposite sides of a saw tooth and a grinding head mounting the grinding wheels, and wherein the grinding head is mounted for movement toward and away from the sawtooth when the tooth is in the grinding position wherein the grinding wheels are mounted for movement toward and away from a sawtooth in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the grinding head toward and away from the sawtooth;
• and
• an indexing means comprising a first indexing carriage mounted for moving a right-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a first selected grinding position, and a second indexing carriage mounted for moving a left-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a second selected grinding position.

An apparatus for grinding the teeth of both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades, comprising:

• mounting means configured for mounting both right-handed and left-handed band saw blades such that a sawtooth is in a grinding position;
• grinding means operable for grinding a sawtooth of the saw blade while the sawtooth is maintained in the grinding position,
• an indexing means comprising a first indexing carriage mounted for moving a right-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a first selected grinding position, and a second indexing carriage mounted for moving a left-handed saw blade on the mounting means to position successive teeth of the saw blade at a second selected grinding position, and;
• control means operable to sequentially:
• (a) operate either the first or the second indexing means according to preselected instructions to position successively teeth of the saw blade at the grinding position;
• (b) operate the grinding means to grind successively the teeth positioned at the grinding position;
• and
• (c) repeat functions (a) and (b) in sequence to position and grind the working portion of the saw tooth until a preselected number of saw teeth are ground.

A method of grinding the teeth of either right-handed or left-handed endless band saw blades, comprising the steps of:

• mounting a band saw blade in a vertical loop orientation for movement in either direction along a path defined by the loop past right-handed and left-handed grinding positions;
• indexing a right-handed saw blade in one direction along the path to position a tooth to be ground at the right-hand grinding position and indexing a left-handed saw blade in the opposite direction along the path to position a tooth to be ground at the left-hand grinding position;
• clamping the tooth to be ground in its grinding position;
• grinding the tip of the tooth;
• unclamping the ground tooth;
• and
• indexing the same left- or right-handed saw blade in the same selected direction to position the next successive tooth of the saw blade at its grinding position, and repeating the clamping, grinding, unclamping and indexing steps as aforesaid until all teeth of the same saw blade have been ground.

A method of side grinding the teeth of an endless band saw blade to desired dimensions and side clearance angles comprising:

• (a) mounting the endless blade in a single vertically oriented loop so that the teeth project horizontally from the band, and so that the blade can be readily moved along a path defined by the loop, with the path including a flat horizontal path portion at the top of the loop defining a work station for grinding each tooth, with the work station including a grinding position for each tooth;
• (b) moving the blade along the path until a tooth is in the grinding position;
• (c) with the tooth in grinding position and while supporting the blade along the flat horizontal path portion, clamping the blade at the work station adjacent the grinding position to stabilize the tooth;
• (d) while stabilizing the tooth, advancing a pair of vertically opposed grinding wheels with parallel horizontal axes and their rims in opposition and spaced apart, horizontally toward the top of the tooth, with the angle of approach and position of the wheels relative to the tooth, and the rim spacing between wheels, all being preset to grind the desired radial and tangential clearance angles on the opposite sides of the tooth and the desired dimensions between opposite sides, and continuing to advance the wheels until the tooth is ground;
• (e) while continuing to stabilize the tooth in its grinding position after grinding, spreading the wheels apart to increase rim spacing therebetween so that the wheels can be retracted horizontally from the tooth without contacting the tooth;
• (f) while spreading the wheels apart and continuing to stabilize the tooth, retracting the wheels horizontally from the tooth to a home position;
• (g) after the wheels are retracted, moving the wheels together to their preset rim spacing and unclamping the blade;
• (h) then repeating steps (b) through (g) in sequence until all teeth on the blade are ground.

A machine for grinding opposite sides of the cutting teeth of an endless band saw blade to final side clearance angles and dimensions, said machine comprising:

• a blade mounting structure for mounting the blade in a single vertically oriented loop, for movement in a blade path defined by the loop, the structure including conveyer rolls supporting a bottom portion and horizontally opposite end portions of the blade loop;
• a grinding head mounted laterally adjacent to a work table for linear movement in a horizontal head path transverse to the blade path and toward and away from the blade path between a home position and a grinding position, the grinding head also being mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical pivot axis;
• a pair of vertically opposed and spaced apart grinding wheels mounted with their axes parallel to one another on the grinding head such that linear movement of the head between its home and grinding positions moves the grinding wheels into and out of their grinding positions relative to the blade path and such that pivotal movement of the head changes the angular relationship between the grinding wheels and the plane of the blade path;
• a first adjustment on the head for adjusting the angular position of the head about its pivot axis and thus the angular positions of the grinding wheels relative to the blade path;
• a second adjustment on the head for determining the vertical adjusted spacing between grinding wheels while grinding;
• clearance means on the head for increasing the vertical spacing between the wheels from the adjusted spacing to allow the wheels to clear a tooth after grinding and while the head returns to its home position;
• indexing mechanism associated with the work table for moving a band saw blade in the blade path to index a tooth to be ground to a predetermined tooth grinding position in the blade path;
• and
• a blade clamp associated with the work table for clamping the blade adjacent the tooth to be ground to stabilize the tooth when in the tooth grinding position.