Measurement of Wood Cutting Forces during Bandsawing Using Piezoelectric Dynamometer

Optimization of wood cutting conditions can decrease the cutting forces, which directly relates to the energy consumption. The aim of this study was to measure cutting force components in bandsaw processing of green oak and beech wood at 90°-90° cutting direction (mode A). For this purpose, a piezoelectric dynamometer (KISTLER type 9257A) mounted on the log carriage of vertical bandsaw machine (ESTERER model EB 1400) was used to measure the parallel, normal and lateral cutting forces for different cutting speeds (20, 30 and 40 m s-1) and feed rates (20, 30 and 40 m min-1 ). Results showed that all cutting force components change by increasing the cutting speed and feed rate over the analysed range. However, little changes were observed for lateral force. Overall, oak wood required greater cutting forces compared to beech wood. Conclusively, in the studied range,with increasing cutting speed ratio to feed rate, main cutting force and normal force were decreased.