Bandsaw blades: SS 5/8" .vs. Highland Woodworking 1/2" WoodSlicer

[billmayo]

Anytime I see or hear that no changes has been done to the Shopsmith Bandsaw upper and lower roller bearing or bushing guides, I have to recommend switching to the a set of the auto track bearings and bolts for these upper and lower guides. With a little adjustment, the blade will track between the 2 bearings. Only one size bearing is needed for the bandsaw with this change. I use 6 higher quality 627 bearings in each bandsaw. Sometimes I use a very thin round shim from the roller bushing between the 2 bearings at all 3 locations.
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This is the Carter Stablizer guide which is much higher priced.
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I have been using this change for a few years on my bandsaws that I use and rebuild. Prior to this change, I have been machining a center "V" groove in the roller bushing for the upper and lower blade guides to make this modification work as a blade stablizer too.

[reible]

Thanks for the additional information bffulgham.

Ed

[keakap]

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Unless it's a trick of photographic lighting, there appears to be a very large gap between the angled block and the blade. If that is so it could account, by itself, for the rough cuts with both blades.
If those blocks are "Cool Blocks" (they appear to be to me) they can be adjusted right up against the blade (not forcefully).
A re-cut test may be in order (?).
Those are good photos imho. Close-ups like that really tell the story. I believe I'll try that with mine.
Thanks.

[bffulgham]

Unless it's a trick of photographic lighting, there appears to be a very large gap between the angled block and the blade. If that is so it could account, by itself, for the rough cuts with both blades.
If those blocks are "Cool Blocks" (they appear to be to me) they can be adjusted right up against the blade (not forcefully).
A re-cut test may be in order (?).
Those are good photos imho. Close-ups like that really tell the story. I believe I'll try that with mine.
Thanks.

Good comment/question. I just did a quick check and I believe the gap is a photography optical delusion. I wish they were cool blocks, but they are the standard factory issue guide blocks. I did the standard trick of sticking a piece of scotch tape to both sides of the blade to do the spacing of the blocks. I'll try to do a closer examination tomorrow when I have some daylight...set the blade tension, and check the gap again.

[bffulgham]

This kind of ties into one of Dusty's recent threads.....And, ties back to here.

I'm building another bookcase project, this time out of white ash. I needed 5 slats for the back. The slats are approx 5" wide and 38" long. I ripped 3/4" material to width and used the bandsaw to resaw. One modification I made to the BS from when I started this thread was to get a set of Cool-Blocks. Set-up for the BS was done following the tensioning directions from Highland Woodworking.....
I moved the blocks away from the blade and raised the guard to about 5" above the table.
Set the initial tension using the scale for a 3/8 blade.
Powered up the BS and adjusted the tension until there was no flutter. (I forgot to check to see what the scale read)
I adjusted the Cool-Blocks so that they just kissed the blade, and made sure there was no binding at the weld by rotating the blade by hand.
Buttoned up the cover and cut a test piece to check for drift.

I did have about the same amount of drift with the WoodSlicer that I experienced earlier. So, I set the fence to match the drift and cut a test piece. I got, IMHO, a really good result. I got a much smoother cut than I first experienced.....I'll have to give the credit to the Cool-Blocks for that. One pass thru my lunchbox planer removing about 1/64" and I was good to go.

Bookcase:
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Test cut Macro shot:
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Test cut a little further back:
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Stack of slats:
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[bcone1381]

Bud;

Thank you for sharing your experience. This is great information, and very applicable to what I have been doing lately.

Brooks

[letterk]

Thanks for the review and the concrete examples of each brand. I might have to try those brands. I got mine from http://www.sawblade.com . Works very well for me.

Ah, the truth comes out now. I stick to Shopsmith Blades because Sawblade.com has no ethics. They load up the forum with lots of one line posts and shill their products with false reviews.