Glossary of Terms
- Accuracy
- The closeness of approach of a measured dimension to the "true" or nominal value specified. Since both the "true" value and the measured dimension can only be approximated within some tolerance limits rather than exactly determined, the most probable value derived, examined for sources of error, is used as the "true" value. See Precision.
- Additive
- A chemical added in small quantities to cutting fluid to impart certain properties.
- Add Mixture, Admixture
- A mixture of cutting fluid concentrate and water used to replenish the original cutting fluid mixture.
- Age Hardening
- A process of aging that increases hardness and strength and ordinarily decreases the ductility of metals.
- AISI
- American Iron and Steel Institute. Initials are used as prefix to numbers designating metal alloys by composition.
- Alloy
- A substance with metallic properties composed of two or more chemical elements, at lease one of which is a metal.
- Alloy Steel
- Steel containing significant quantities of alloying elements (other than carbon and the commonly accepted amounts of manganese, silicon, sulfur, and phosphorus) added to effect changes in the mechanical or physical properties.
- Alloying Element
- An element added to a metal to effect changes in properties that remains within the metal.
- Anneal
- The process of heating and slowly cooling a metal to relieve stresses and eliminate hard spots.
- Antifoaming
- Pertains to decreasing the stability of a foam.
- Back Clearance Angle
- The angle of the back of a saw tooth measured in relation to the cutting edge of the band tool.
- Backoff
- Rapid withdrawal of band tool from contact with work piece.
- Backup Bearing
- Thrust bearing mounted in the saw guide to support the back of saw band.
- Bactericide
- A substance that inhibits the growth of bacteria; may be used to protect cutting fluid.
- Band Machine
- A machine employing continuous band tools for either sawing, slicing, filing, or polishing.
- Band Tension
- The relative tautness imparted to the band tool on the machine after the idler wheel has been adjusted to exert a pulling force against the opposite loop of the band anchored around the fixed drive wheel.
- Band Tool
- Any saw, wire, file, or other tool in band form for use on band machine.
- Band Wheels
- Wheels around which the continuous band tool revolves on a band machine. One is known as the drive wheel, the other as the idler wheel.
- Beam Strength
- The resistance a band tool has to back deflection when subjected to the edge thrust of feeding force.
- Band Test
- A test for determining relative ductility of metal. The specimen is usually bent over a specified diameter through a specified angle for a specified number of cycles. It is used in band machining to test strength of weld under flex.
- Billet
- A bar of semi-finished steel or iron about 1-1/2 to 4 in. square.
- Bond
- In band welding, the juncture of joined band ends.
- Bowing
- Deviation from flatness.
- Braze
- To solder with a relatively infusible alloy.
- Brinell (Bhn)
- A metallurgical scale system used to measure hardness of metals. See Rockwell C (Rc).
- Brinell Hardness Test
- A test for determining the hardness of a material by forcing a hard steel or carbide ball of specified diameter into it under a specified load. The result is expressed at the Brinell hardness number, which is the value obtained by dividing the applied load in kilograms by the surface area of the resulting impression in square millimeters. See Brinell (Bhn); Rockwell C (Rc).
- Built-up Edge
- The deposit of metal that accumulates at or near the cutting edge of the saw band tooth as heat generated by the cutting action softens the work place enough to weld particles of it to the tooth face.
- Burden
- Overhead or fixed costs; known as "burden rate" when expressed on per hour or similar time basis.
- Burr
- A turned-over edge on work resulting from cutting. Also Burl
- Butt Welder
- Machine that welds the butted ends of a saw blade together to form a band.
- Buttress
- A tooth form consisting of a shallow gullet with widely spaced teeth to provide for ample chip clearance.
- Camber
- An arcing, or bending, of the back or cutting edge of the band tool; in positive camber, the cutting edge arcs backward, in negative camber, the cutting edge arcs forward.
- Carbide
- A compound of carbon with one or more metallic elements.
- Carbide Tools
- Band tools, made of tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, tantalum carbide or combinations of them in a matrix of cobalt or nickel, having sufficient wear resistance and heat resistance to permit high machining speeds.
- Carbon Alloy Steel Blade
- Saw blade with hardened teeth but a relatively soft back.
- Chatter
- Rumbling sound in a band machine caused by trying to take too heavy a cut. The sound comes from overloading the machine or transmission or springing the saw guide post or worktable.
- Chemical
- Cutting fluid containing no mineral oil. Used with water.
- Chip
- A small fragment of material removed by a cutting edge.
- Chip Clearance
- The gullet area between two saw teeth.
- Chip Load
- The average tooth advance into the work. This is the feeding rate divided by the saw band velocity times the number of teeth per foot.
- Chip Welding
- The fusing of a portion of the chip to a tooth face. It is caused by extreme heat and pressure in the cutting area.
- Claw Tooth
- A tooth form consisting of a shallow gullet and widely spaced teeth having a positive rake angle.
- Clearance
- Space provided between the relief of a band tool tooth and the work piece surface. See Side Clearance
- Cold Work
- Plastic deformation of metal at such temperature and rate that substantial increases occur in strength and hardness.
- Coolant
- A liquid used to dissipate heat in the saw band and work piece. The term often is used loosely as a synonym for cutting fluid encompassing the concept of lubricating properties as well as cooling effects.
- Curtain Cutting Fluid
- A horizontal band machine attachment that delivers a broad "curtain" of cutting fluid to the saw band and kerf through perforations in telescoping tubes mounted between the saw guide arms. Recommended for use with a nesting fixture.
- Cut-Off
- A process of cutting a piece of stock into usable parts.
- Cutting Rate
- The speed at which the cross-sectional area of the work piece is cut, expressed in sq. in. of cutting per min.
- Dart
- A type of high-carbon, spring-tempered-back saw blade superior to standard carbon alloy blade in tooth hardness, abrasion resistance, and ability to be tensioned for faster, more accurate cutting.
- Deburring
- Removing burrs, sharp edges, or fins from metal parts by filing, grinding, or rolling the work in a barrel with abrasives suspended in a suitable liquid medium. Sometimes called burring.
- De-ionization
- Removal of ions, usually metallic ions, from a solution by chemical means. A form of water treatment.
- Detergent
- A composition that removes soil.
- Diamond-Edged Saw Band
- Continuous saw band having industrial diamonds bonded to the cutting edge. Used to cut super hard or friable materials.
- Dish
- The curved surface of the sidewall of a cut produced when the band tool wanders from the natural course of cut in sawing round work pieces.
- Ductility
- A property of metal that enables it to be drawn or hammered thin.
- Emulsion
- Intimate mixture of oil and water achieved by the use of emulsifiers to produce more or less even distribution of oil throughout the water.
- Fatigue
- The phenomenon leading to fracture under repeated or fluctuating stresses having a maximum value less than the tensile strength of the material. Fatigue fractures are progressive, beginning as minute cracks that grow under the action of the fluctuating stress.
- Fatigue Life
- The number of cycles of stress that a band tool can sustain prior to failure for a stated test condition.
- Feed
- See Feeding Rate.
- Feeding Force
- The pressure exerted by the work piece against the cutting edge of a saw band, expressed in pounds.
- Feeding Rate
- The linear travel of the work piece into the saw band, usually expressed in in. per min.
- Ferrous or Ferric
- Of, containing, or derived from iron.
- Fines
- Tiny chips that collect in the cutting fluid system. Can interfere with cutting action and rob fluid of antitrust properties, so should be periodically removed.
- Finish
- Surface condition, quality, or appearance of a metal work piece.
- Fixed Costs
- In contrast to variable costs, are incurred and remain about the same regardless of level of activity. See Overhead.
- Fixture
- Any device used for holding material in the proper position or guiding it during cutting.
- Flash
- A bulge of excess material left at the point of a saw blade weld.
- Flash Welding
- A resistance butt welding process in which the weld is produced over the entire abutting surface by pressure and heat, the heat being produced by electric arcs between the members being welded.
- Flex, Flexation, Fleute
- The bending a saw band undergoes as it revolves around the carrier wheels of a band machine.
- Floating Feed Vise
- An accessory for horizontal band machines for handling heavy, crooked, badly scaled stock impossible to index with standard vises.
- Flushing Hose
- A flexible hose connected to the horizontal band machine cutting fluid system and terminating in a nozzle. It flushes chips off the worktable rapidly and speeds up cleanup operations.
- Foam
- A mass of bubbles on the surface of any liquid formed by injection of air.
- Forging
- The hammering or pressing of metal to join or shape it, usually at high temperatures.
- Free Machining
- The property of materials that makes it easy to cut.
- Fungicide
- A substance that inhibits mold growth in water-soluble cutting fluids.
- Gage
- The thickness of the back of a saw band, expressed in thousandths of an in. See Set, Kerf, and Side Clearance.
- Gullet
- The throat within the curved area between two saw band teeth.
- Gullet Depth
- The distance from the tooth tip to the bottom of the gullet.
- Hardness
- The measure of a material's resistance to indentation, normally expressed in Brinell (Bhn) or Rockwell "C" scale (Rc) units.
- Heat Treatment
- A combination of heating and cooling operations, timed and applied to a metal or alloy in the solid state in a way that produces desired properties.
- High-Speed Sawing
- Band machining at saw band velocities between 2000 and 6000 fpm.
- High-Speed Steel
- Steel that does not soften even at red heat, which therefore can be used in saw blade and other cutting tools at the high speeds and feeding force that generate great heat.
- Hot Rolling
- Diminishing the thickness of metal by softening it at high temperatures, then running it through pressure rollers.
- Inserts, Saw Guides
- See Saw Guide Inserts.
- Jig
- A device made to guide a tool or to act as a template for cutting a part.
- Job Selector
- A dial located on band machines that is used to select the correct band tool, band speed, feed force, and cutting fluid for the most commonly used materials.
- Kerf
- The slit or slot made in a work piece by a cutting tool as it removes a portion of the material to part it; knife-edge bands part a material, but take little or no kerf. Set, not gage, determines width of kerf.
- Lead
- The tendency of a saw band to wander from the natural course of cut.
- Lubricity
- A property of cutting fluid that reduces frictional contact between the work and the tooth face.
- Machinability
- Metallurgical property of metals and alloys that makes them relatively easy or difficult to machine as measured under specified standard conditions.
- Machinability Index
- A relative measure of the machinability of an engineering material under specified standard conditions. Must be adopted for different machining methods; sawing recommendations are better guides for band machining.
- Machine Tools
- Basic machines of mechanical production. Like other power tools they make piece parts, or products, but unlike others they alone can reproduce themselves. Every product made begins with a machine tool.
- Machining
- Removing material from work pieces in the form of chips, usually through the use of machine.
- Metallurgy
- The science and art of extracting metals from their ores, refining them, and preparing them for use.
- Microstructure
- Detailed structure of a metal as revealed by the microscope.
- Mitering
- Angle cuts made possible on horizontal band machines by turntables, and by head tilt on vertical cut-off machines.
- Nesting, Nesting Fixture
- Assembling multiple work pieces in a pile, or "nest," in order to saw a large number of parts at one time. Same as stacking, but nesting usually refers to rounds or tubing. Usually accomplished in a "nesting fixture," but may be done by securely bundling work or tack-welding butt ends.
- Ninety Degree Saw Guide Bracket
- an attachment that twists the saw band 90 deg.; used on traversing head cut-off band machines.
- Nonferrous
- Relating to metals or alloys free from iron.
- Normalizing
- A process of relieving stresses and eliminating hard spots in ferrous metals. Similar to annealing but employing a faster quench, or cooling cycle, to produce a more uniform grain structure and to remove hard spots without excessive softening.
- Notching
- Sawing operation on band mill or plate saw in which two straight cuts intersect to remove a single piece of material.
- Overhead
- The cost of maintaining a plant or shop's physical facilities; also known as "fixed costs" or "burden."
- Pickling
- Chemical or electrochemical removal of oxides from the surface of metals.
- Pitch
- The number of teeth per in. in a saw blade.
- Plasticity
- The property of a metal that enables it to deform non-elastically without rupture. See Ductivity.
- Precision
- The closeness of approach of each of a number of similar measurements to the arithmetic mean, the sources of error not necessarily being considered critically. Accuracy demands precision, but precision does not require accuracy. See Accuracy.
- Precision Tooth
- A tooth form consisting of a deep gullet with a smooth radius at the bottom.
- Preset Cut Counter
- A counting device on a horizontal band machine I that tallies the number of pieces cut and automatically stops the machine when the preset number of pieces have been cut.
- Rake Angle
- The angle the tooth face makes with respect to a perpendicular line from the back edge of the saw band. It is positive when the | tooth angles forward in the direction of the cutting action and negative I when it angles backward from the direction of the cutting action.
- Raker Set
- A saw tooth pattern in which one tooth is offset to the right, the next to the left, and the third is straight.
- Relief
- A section at the corner of a part that is ground or scraped away ) to provide clearance for a nesting part. Also sometimes used interchangeably with "secondary clearance" for cutting tools.
- Rinsability
- The relative ease of removing a substance from a metal surface with a liquid such as water.
- Ripping
- A term for dividing work into Pieces. It usually refers to sawing sheet or plate material into strips.
- Rockwell C (Rc)
- One of 3 scales used to measure and compare the hardness of metals in the Rockwell system; Rc is the one most frequently used in metalworking. See Brinell.
- Rough Machining
- Sawing or machining at highest possible rates with out regard to finish or accuracy, since additional metal will be removed in subsequent operations.
- SAE
- Society of Automotive Engineers. Initials used as prefix for metal designations developed by the society.
- Sash
- A frame for holding the saw blade on early power-driven saws.
- Saw Band, Saw Band Tool
- Blade or other tool in form of a continuous loop or band, used on a band machine.
- Saw Band Velocity
- The rate of travel of the saw band through the work, expressed in linear or surface ft. per min. (sfpm).
- Saw Gage
- A slotted piece of metal used to align saw guide inserts.
- Saw Guide
- A device mounted to either side of the work piece on cutoff band machines that holds saw guide inserts and backup bearings for positioning the band tool properly in relation to the work.
- Saw Guide Inserts
- Metallic pieces, normal By h.s.s. or carbide, mounted in saw guides to support and resist lateral movement of the saw band.
- Sawing
- Cutting a work piece with a band blade, circular disk, or hacksaw blade having teeth.
- Scale
- A dark, hard coating of oxide on the surface of metals.
- Scarfing
- Removal of defects such as seams, scab, or scale from the surface of metals by oxyacetylene flame or abrasive powder.
- Scratch Pitch
- The endless pattern of ridges and grooves on the sidewalls of a cut produced by the saw teeth under the combined actions of band speed and feeding force.
- Sectioning
- A word used to describe be a straight cut that separates stock into usable parts.
- Segmenting
- Another word for notching, a sawing operation in which two straight cuts intersect to remove a single piece of material.
- Set
- The amount of bend given to saw blade teeth to create side clearance for the back of the band when cutting through material. The amount of set is measured from the outside corner of a tooth bent to the left to the outside corner of a tooth bent to the right.
- Shear
- A cut-off device on a welder for cutting saw blade square.
- Shear Strength
- The capacity of a material to resist separation in allele planes, as in cutting.
- Sheet
- A flat-rolled metal product of some maximum thickness and minimum width arbitrarily dependent on the type of metal. It is thinner than plate.
- Shim
- A thin piece of material used between two surfaces to obtain a proper fit, adjustment, or alignment, or to level a machine.
- Side Clearance
- The difference in dimension between the set of the teeth and the back of the band tool that provides band clearance. It provides space for maneuvering, prevents leading, and minimizes transfer of frictional heat to the work. See Kerf and Gage.
- Slab
- A piece of metal, intermediate between ingot and plate, with the width at least twice the thickness.
- Slabbing
- The process of cutting thin pieces from heavy work such as billets.
- Slitting
- Cutting into strips, usually lengthwise. See preferred term, Ripping.
- Slotting
- A sawing application that produces a narrow slit in the work.
- Slow Approach and Exit Selector
- Control on a horizontal band machine that reduces feed rate at the start and end of the sawing cycle until enough teeth are engaged in the work piece to make full feed desirable.
- Slugging
- The process of sawing blanks, or slugs, from bar stock or billets for subsequent machining operations.
- Soluble Oil
- Mineral oil in mixture with water, used as a cutting fluid.
- Solution
- A homogeneous mixture containing two or more chemical materials.
- Splitting
- A straight cut dividing a part made as a single piece.
- Spring Temper
- A quality imparted to the steel used in certain saw blades that give it higher tensile strength and greater wear resistance.
- Stack Sawing
- A technique of making a pile of several pieces of work material, holding them together by some means and sawing them all at the same time on a plate saw, band mill, or other vertical cut-off machine.
- Starwheel
- control wheel, such as the ones on the saw guide arms of horizontal cut-off machines to control movement of the saw guide post.
- Steel Ink
- A liquid for coating metal so that scribing will produce easily visible guide lines.
- Straight Oil
- A cutting fluid containing no water and whose major ingredient is mineral oil.
- Straight Set
- A saw tooth pattern in which all teeth are set symmetrically, one to the right followed by one to the left.
- Structural Shape
- Piece of metal of any of several designs accepted as standard by the structural branch of the iron and steel industries.
- Synthetic Cutting Fluid
- A chemical-water mixture that usually contains no mineral oil.
- T-Slot
- Narrow T-shaped grooves in the worktable of a band mill or ether power-table band machine or other machine tool; used for hold down.
- Tachometer
- An instrument for measuring revolutions of a shaft, used on band machines to indicate band speed in surface ft. per min. (sfpm).
- Tensile Strength
- The amount of directly applied pull a band tool will withstand before rupturing. Usually measured in pounds per sq. in.
- Tool Life
- The length of useful life of a band tool, measured in total sq. in. that the band cuts.
- Tooth Face
- The surface of the saw tooth on which the chip forms as it is cut away from the work.
- Tooth Form
- The shape of a tooth on a band tool, designed to achieve specific results.
- Toughness
- Ability of a metal to absorb energy and deform plastically before fracturing.
- Tracking
- The process of aligning a band tool on the band carrier heels so that the band tool is in proper relation to the table, work backup bearings, and saw guide inserts.
- Trimming
- Sawing off unwanted scrap elements of a work piece, such as the sprue of a casting, to make a usable part.
- Tungsten Carbide Saw Blade
- A saw blade with tungsten carbide inserts in the tooth tips. Used for cutting extremely hard material.
- Twist
- The tendency of a saw band to spiral after use.
- Upset
- The localized increase in volume resulting from the application of pressure during welding of the band tool. Merging of band end materials forms stronger bond than butt welding.
- Upset Material
- The flash or bulge of material left on the saw band after welding.
- Vibration
- Effect on a saw band caused by improper tracking, velocity, feed force, tension, tooth spacing, pitch, work thickness.
- Viscosity
- Measure of a fluid's resistance to flow at a specific temperature. Varies inversely with temperature.
- Warp
- The rounded surface produced when lead occurs in straight cutting.
- Wave Set
- A saw tooth pattern having one group of teeth set progressively to the right and back to center, with the next group of teeth set progressively to the left and back; has the appearance of a wave when viewed from the top of the band.
- Wetting Agent
- A surface-active agent that produces "wetting" by decreasing the cohesion within the cutting fluid or other liquid.
- Width
- The nominal dimension of a band tool as measured from the tip of the tooth to the back of the band.
- Work, Work piece
- pieces parts, or objects that are to be or are being machined, processed, or treated.
- Work Hardening, Work Hardness
- Hardness that develops in metal as a result of cold working, dull saw band teeth, excessive band speed, or too light feeding force.
- Work Height Selector
- Control on a horizontal band machine that stops the rise of the saw head when it clears the work piece, thereby eliminating waste traverse in the saw head's oscillating cycle and keeping the saw cutting a maximum amount of the time.