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Elements and Performance Criteria

1. Prepare for sharpening
   • Review work order and where required check with appropriate personnel.
   • Select appropriate repair, maintenance and personal protective equipment and check for operational effectiveness in line with manufacturer's recommendations.
   • Plan sharpening process in line with work order.
2. Assess condition and set up sharpening equipment
   • Follow organisational safety procedures thoughout all maintenance and repair processes.
   • Remove band saw blades from designated machinery.
   • Assess cutting performance of blade and determine need to replace or sharpen.
   • Assess condition of prior repairs and blade teeth, set and tension.
   • Select sharpening machine and change or dress grinding wheel.
   • Adjust machine settings to suit required blade geometry and set blade to manufacturer's recommendations.
   • Align blade tooth with machine feed mechanism.
3. Sharpen band saw blade
   • Conduct tests to ensure teeth and machine feed mechanism are aligned.
   • Establish depth of machine cut and in-feed from blade condition.
   • Monitor machine sharpening process to ensure correct grinding conditions and geometry.
   • Finalise process and check blade for sharpness, correct cutting angle and profile.
   • Identify damaged and exhausted saw blades and and dispose of these in line with environmental protection practices.
   • Package band saw for protection during return to service.
   • Identify routine processing and equipment faults and resolve or report to appropriate personnel.

Range Statement

Not Applicable

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Performance Evidence

A person demonstrating competency in this unit must satisfy all of the elements, performance criteria and foundation skills of this unit. If a specific volume or frequency is not stated below, then evidence must be provided that the following requirements have been performed on at least one occasion:

follow organisational policies and procedures relevant to sharpening band saws

sharpen band saws in line with a work order and within prescribed organisational requirements

assess cutting performance as follows:

saw performance balanced against achievement of required production time

degree of deviation in the range of sawn products

assess the condition of blade teeth for:

sharpness of each tooth

damage to teeth

pitch

number of teeth per metre

operate the abrasive wheel at appropriate speed to remove material without affecting steel characteristics

produce a quality of surface texture left by the abrasive wheel along the entire profile and at the intersection of all cutting edge angles.

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Knowledge Evidence

A person competent in this unit must be able to demonstrate knowledge of:

purpose, features and operation of band saws for which blades are sharpened

features and names of different parts of band saw blades

purpose, features and operation of tools and equipment used to sharpen band saw blades:

sharpening machines

grinding wheels

importance of sharpening and setting teeth and tension to match requirements for:

characteristics of various materials sawn

speed of the sawing process

direction of the sawing process

cutting angle for sawing

saw blade specifications

methods for:

removing saw blades from band saws

assessing saw blade condition

sharpening blades to specified requirements

setting teeth to a specified profile

setting tension of blades to specified requirements

aligning saw teeth

tooth pitch and tooth angles at which blades are sharpened (blade geometry)

range of speeds at which abrasive wheels can be operated without damaging blades

organisational policies and procedures specific to sharpening band saw blades:

workplace health and safety with particular emphasis on equipment lock out and use of personal protective equipment

communication reporting lines

recording and reporting processing and equipment faults

environmental protection practices for repairing and maintaining tools and equipment in forest products factory settings:

reducing water and energy use

cleaning plant, tools and equipment

disposing of, recycling and reusing materials

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