band saw blade leads off center

[houstonguy]

I have a shopsmith bandsaw. I'm not the original owner. It came with a 1/4 inch blade. when I try to make a straight cut using a miter bar, the blade runs to the left. It does this every time. The bandsaw manual says that this kind of " leading " by the blade in the same direction indicates uneven teeth and recommends using a honing stone backed by a block of wood while the saw is running to lightly hone the leading side of the blade. I did this and now the blade will run true for three or four inches, then leads to the right. It does this every time as well no matter how slowly I move the stock. The blade guides seem to be set properly. Should I expect a 1/4 inch blade to cut straight? Should the blade be replaced?

[a1gutterman]

I have a shopsmith bandsaw. I'm not the original owner. It came with a 1/4 inch blade. when I try to make a straight cut using a miter bar, the blade runs to the left. It does this every time. The bandsaw manual says that this kind of " leading " by the blade in the same direction indicates uneven teeth and recommends using a honing stone backed by a block of wood while the saw is running to lightly hone the leading side of the blade. I did this and now the blade will run true for three or four inches, then leads to the right. It does this every time as well no matter how slowly I move the stock. The blade guides seem to be set properly. Should I expect a 1/4 inch blade to cut straight?
Probably not.
Should the blade be replaced?
Not necessarily.

houstonguy!
There are several threads on this forum addressing this issue, which is common and correctable. If you please, do a "search" from the red bar (at the top of the page) by clicking on the word "search", and enter the word "drift". I just did so , and got many results, all dealing with this issue. Hope this helps!

[kalynzoo]

I cut and pasted item by HFMAN
Pj,

I just went through this and got terrific results. Previously I had awful and disapointing cuts. I have pretty bad short term memory. So for what it's worth, here's what I remember.

1) I spent an agonizing amount of time precision aligning my table, fence, and blade. (that I remember well).
2) After all the above adjustments are locked in, take a board about 12" long and roughly 3 inches wide, with at least one real sharp straight edge. (I think i used a jointed 1x4).
3) draw a straight line down the face of the board, parallel to the straight edge.
4) With the straight edge to the left but without the fence, by freehand cut along that line, adjusting the piece as you go to keep on the line. Cut about half way down the board.
5). Stop the machine and keep the cut board in place.
6) Soft slide the fence up to the left edge. You'll see how much the board now angles away from the fence. That's the drift.
7) adjust the screws on fence handle to now perfectly touch the jointed edge.
8) Lock down those screws and your fence should be pretty well lined with with the blade drift.
9) you might have to do this a couple of times to fine tune the fence alignment.

Since I'm mostly interested in resawing, I was anxious to see how uniform and thin I could cut a piece.

I was absolutely astounded when I sliced a 4" tall board into uniform 3/64" thick pieces, top to bottom, over the entire length. And I've done it repeatedly over and over again. The time taken to painstakingly align the table, guide blocks and rollers really paid off.

I'm sure others with more experience will jump in here and correct or refine my description. No matter the above description, I did follow the process described in the manual.

Good luck,
Hal

These procedures have worked well for me. I did install cool blocks, and I keep my tension tight (a hold over from scroll work).

[charlese]

Hi, houstonguy!

Many blades have this drift - making re-sawing truly a technique laden operation. I have tried the method described so well by Gary, but have had only limited (less than 100%) success. For amateurs like me that's why they make the 4.5" resawing guide, part No.522514. You can find this part on page 11 of the Father's Day catalog. I think Nick showed the use of this guide in one of his tips, or sawdust sessions.

You can also make your own guide by cutting a 2" long piece from a 4" or 5" wide board, rounding out one end and but-jointing the other end to a longer board. It looks like a T with a very short stem (about 2" long). Now you have a functional guide that you can clamp to your fence.

[dusty]

Does the resawing guide (522514) work on any bandsaw fence or is it an accessory the depends on the Kreg system?

[charlese]

Can't answer your question from personal experience, but the catalog says; "...attaches to the T-slot in the rip fence face."...

I am guessing they mean the 520 fence, but the catalog photo shows a 510 fence. This leaves me confused. However the item reminded me of the home made guides that are seen in bandsaw publications/magazine articles.

[Nick]

"The Bandsaw Manual...recommends using a honing stone..."

From Using the Band Saw by Nick Engler:

"How do you compensate for blade lead? Some manuals advise you to hold a sharpening stone lightly against the "lead side" of the running blade. This removes some of the set and dulls the teeth on one side so it no longer cuts more aggressively than the other. This brings the lead more in line with blade body. Unfortunately, it also shortens the useful life of the blade.

"It's much easier on your blade to readjust a fence or miter gauge to the blade lead each time it becomes necessary..."

With all good wishes,

[charlese]

After posting #4 (above) I had about an hour - so went to the shop and made a guide like I had mentioned. Previously, I had used square pieces of wood or plywood - rounded one edge and clamped the piece to the table. This is because I never thought ahead far enough to spend a little time making a jig. But have to say that a single piece of squared wood works better for me than trying to adjust the fence. The most difficult part of making the jig os to sand the bevel so it is vertical to the table. (parallel to the back of the mounting board) Photos of the new jig below. If you wonder what the squared notch is for - it is for the bar of a small clamp (photo #1).

As far as the guide from the SS catalog, Duh! It probably fits somehow on the Kreg system as Dusty suggested (asked). I had been confused by the catalog's statement that it fits the T slot on the side of the fence. Just didn't read enough of the catalog! It's the Kreg bandsaw fence that has side slots.

The jig I made is simply a poplar scrap glued to an oak scrap. After the glue set, I drilled and inserted two 1 1/2" #8 FHWS to the back. and waxed the bearing face. It should work as good or better than the single piece of wood.

Gotta chime in with Nick, Why file down the teeth of a perfectly good blade?

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[Nick]

"Gotta chime in with Nick, Why file down the teeth of a perfectly good blade?"

Read it again, Chuck -- slowly. Sound out all the words.

With all good wishes,

[Nick]

Nice jig, Chuck. Maybe you and Dusty should go into business.

With all good wishes,