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Bandsaw drift, is this normal?

EYoung

I'm hoping you can help me understand what I'm doing wrong.

I was trying to resaw a log with a 1/2" blade in my bandsaw. I haven't used it in a while so when I saw that the blade was "turning" in the wood, I figured I needed to do some alignment. Basically, as I ran wood along the fence or if I ran a log on a sled going along the slot, the blade would start to pull away from the body of the bandsaw until the tension in the blade finally got tight enough that the bandsaw slowed down. I tried with a 2x4 as well just to be sure it wasn't the log (it was Osage Orange).

I followed along with Doug Reid's video on compensating for drift, but this seems extreme. My other alignment looks good as far as I can tell. The blade has only been used a few times. Is this normal?

In the picture you'll see:

I followed Doug's instructions, you can see the gap between the 90 degree fence and the sawn piece of oak plywood.
You can also see the kerfs from some attempts to verify the problem. From right to left, you see two attempts for me to ride along the fence as it was adjusted to the maximum amount that I could for drift. The center one was just a freehand attempt to go straight.

Do you think I need a new blade or am I missing an adjustment? Cool blocks are against the blade (mostly) and they are as far forward as they can go without interference to the blade from the cool blocks mounting bracket.

Thank you for any help you can give.

bainin

I had this problem with mine on resaw until i added a teflon screw to hold the guide shaft from moving side to side.

I could actually see it shifting during the resaw cut. Mine typically would start straight then cut in toward the fence..where it would generally stay for the rest of the cut.

It wasn't the blade that was drifting on mine, it was the entire guide shaft.

Look on page 4- Ed Reibles posts here. (corrected - thanks RF Guy ! )

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8361

I see you have the original guide blocks - i exchanged mine for the carter bearing style...but only as one of my originals had broken.

Of course the defacto-are your blades sharp, is the tension correct..etc etc still apply :)

I still go thru the Doug Reid fence alignment-I believe that should be checked-I guess Im not a trusting soul ...

b

dusty

I would first make certain that the blade is properly tensioned and that the cool blocks are properly positioned.

I would then like to see how the blade reacts when cutting wood rather than plywood.

All of this assuming that you are using a sharp blade that has not been abused/misused.

RFGuy

bainin wrote Look on page 4- Ed Reibles posts here.

https://www.vrbo.com/1335967?adultsCount=5&arrival=2021-06-13&childrenCount=1&departure=2021-06-20&unitId=1894303

Bainin,

I think you might have grabbed the wrong weblink and pasted here (see above).

garys

If you have spare blades on hand, I would pop a new one on the saw and try again. If the existing blade has more wear on one side than the other, it will drift like that. Blades, unlike the other parts of your saw are comsumables so they are a good place to start trying to clear up the problem.

wa2crk

A few other things come to mind to me

1. Make sure that the table is perpendicular to the saw blade.

2. Use an auxiliary fence to support the stock.

3. The side of the stock that rides the fence should flat against the fence to prevent wobble

4.the edge against the table should be 90 deg to the face of the stock, again, to prevent wobble

Also, the teeth on the blade have to be equally set to prevent drift

Bill V

P.S. Go slow

P.S. 2 put the table stiffener bolt back in the table

EYoung

@all, thank you for the input. You've helped me to confirm that this is not normal :)

I'll check the guide shaft to see if that's the issue. Otherwise, I'll order a new blade. I don't think I've used it much but it could have been "abused" in some other way in my messy shop. I'll post an update when I find out.

dusty

In your opening image I see that there is an important bolt missing (not installed) on the front edge of your bandsaw table. This does not contribute to your stated problem but it should be there for other functionality reasons.

JPG

Osage orange is not easy to saw - blade tends to follow grain.

'Very' sharp blade is needed.

Opinions vary, but blade drift is commonly accepted as typical(normal). Biased feed angle is the accepted solution.

rlkeeney

I have two Shopsmith bandsaws, One iron table, and one with aluminum tables. I don't experience drift on either. When I first got my bandsaw in the early 80's I had some issues with drift. This was fixed by switching to a high-quality blade and carefully aligning my saw. Many things can cause a saw to drift.

Dull or damaged blade. I once had a blade just lightly touch a staple and it immediately started to turn to that side and was useless.

Poor quality blades. I only use Wolf blades.

Saw misalignment. The table must be aligned square to the blade.

Feeding the wood so fast that it can't clear the sawdust. Let the saw do the cutting. Don't force it

Teeth that are too fine for the material you are cutting.

Using a saw blade for resawing that has previously been used for cutting curves. Your resaw blade should only be used for resawing.

I sure there are some that I missed.