Just a bit of gleaning for bandsaw alignment possiblities

[reible]

I'm not going to comment on how to use this but perhaps it might blossom in to some ideas for you.

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It really lets you know how sensitive the blade is to twisting if nothing else.

Ed

[lyall]

You got me thinking.
that would be a way to check how the blade is aligned to the table.
But you would have to check on several spots on the blade.

I do not like to folding the blades back up for storage. I think that each time you fold the blade back up you could put a little twist in the blade.
You could end up with several little twist in the blade in different spot on the blade.

This is my thought on it.

[algale]

I tore down my band saw today. When it came time to re-align my rip fence (Kreg Shopsmith edition) to my 5/8ths blade, I gave Ed's idea a try.

I used a magnet from an old hard drive and the rule part of my Starrett adjustable square. I aligned the fence to the rule. Then I made a test cut and...the board drifted dramatically away from the fence. Tried again. Same result. Tried a third time. Same result.

After three tries, I gave up on the magnet/ruler method and decided to do it the old fashioned way. I jointed a scrap of 2 x 4, drew a line down the middle, and ripped it freehand until the board was across the band saw table. Stopped the band saw, clamped the board in place to the table and then aligned the rip fence to the jointed edge of the board. Made a test cut. Perfect!

Ed's suggestion looked soooo promising and yet it didn't work for me. It would be great to be able to do an alignment like this without wasting a piece of wood. Maybe others can get better results.

--Al

[reible]

I am interested in what other find. So far it is not looking good...... my testing doesn't count as I don't have a fence to test to at this point.

Just in case it is not clear, the magnet much be on the flat of the blade and not involve the teeth of the blade. As has been mentioned any one spot on the blade might be suspect as having a twist so testing several locations might be the only way to eliminate such a situation.

I also found in my preliminary testing the the rule should not touch the table. I also found it very sensitive and any pressure at all on the rule shows up profoundly. In my next testing I want to use a shorter rule, perhaps a 6" one with less lever arm effect.

I'm also assuming at this point the magnet is providing a parallel surface to the blade. I have not as of yet proved that to myself.

I'm working on this because I plan to get a fence for my bandsaw soon. I have had a bandsaw since the early 1970's but have never had a fence. I use a single point reference and it has worked well for me but you don't see the effect of "drift" since you adjust the cut in real time.

I've also found it interesting that some think that by adjusting the saw correctly there is no drift while others claim it is always there. By getting a fence I hope to find out for myself how far off things are and was hoping to use this method to do alignment, or something similar.

If not then back to the drawing board.

Ed

[algale]

I am interested in what other find. So far it is not looking good...... my testing doesn't count as I don't have a fence to test to at this point.

Just in case it is not clear, the magnet much be on the flat of the blade and not involve the teeth of the blade. As has been mentioned any one spot on the blade might be suspect as having a twist so testing several locations might be the only way to eliminate such a situation.

I also found in my preliminary testing the the rule should not touch the table. I also found it very sensitive and any pressure at all on the rule shows up profoundly. In my next testing I want to use a shorter rule, perhaps a 6" one with less lever arm effect.

I'm also assuming at this point the magnet is providing a parallel surface to the blade. I have not as of yet proved that to myself.

I'm working on this because I plan to get a fence for my bandsaw soon. I have had a bandsaw since the early 1970's but have never had a fence. I use a single point reference and it has worked well for me but you don't see the effect of "drift" since you adjust the cut in real time.

I've also found it interesting that some think that by adjusting the saw correctly there is no drift while others claim it is always there. By getting a fence I hope to find out for myself how far off things are and was hoping to use this method to do alignment, or something similar.

If not then back to the drawing board.

Ed

You have the old cast iron table, so if you have a miter gauge and can put an extension on it, you have a fence you can try this with. Incidentally, I was careful to make sure the magnet didn't interfere with the teeth (or vice versa) and the rule was just above the fence.

[reible]

You have the old cast iron table, so if you have a miter gauge and can put an extension on it, you have a fence you can try this with. Incidentally, I was careful to make sure the magnet didn't interfere with the teeth (or vice versa) and the rule was just above the fence.

That is true I can test against that fence setup but I am not at that point yet. The bandsaw is mounted on a shopsmith but not set up to be powered by that shopsmith. Other things mounted have the headstock to bandsaw distance very short, to short for a normal coupling. So until I finish another unrelated project set up on the other shopsmith I have to wonder........

I do have another question for you, have you ever squared up your table on the bandsaw? I noticed in another post that your blade leans to the left I think you said so I was wondering if you were referencing that comment to the table and if so was the table ever lined up to the blade?

If you were to use a miter gauge and cut say a 5" or 6" piece of wood and then measure the cut using the side against the fence as a reference is the cut 90 degrees?

I would also think that the lean you see should be magnified using the magnet and straight edge, is that true?

Ed

[algale]

You have the old cast iron table, so if you have a miter gauge and can put an extension on it, you have a fence you can try this with. Incidentally, I was careful to make sure the magnet didn't interfere with the teeth (or vice versa) and the rule was just above the fence.

That is true I can test against that fence setup but I am not at that point yet. The bandsaw is mounted on a shopsmith but not set up to be powered by that shopsmith. Other things mounted have the headstock to bandsaw distance very short, to short for a normal coupling. So until I finish another unrelated project set up on the other shopsmith I have to wonder........

I do have another question for you, have you ever squared up your table on the bandsaw? I noticed in another post that your blade leans to the left I think you said so I was wondering if you were referencing that comment to the table and if so was the table ever lined up to the blade?

If you were to use a miter gauge and cut say a 5" or 6" piece of wood and then measure the cut using the side against the fence as a reference is the cut 90 degrees?

I would also think that the lean you see should be magnified using the magnet and straight edge, is that true?

Ed

Hi Ed,

The magnet/rule trick made it easier to see the blade's angle relative to the table, but I believe that angle may not have much to do with the way the blade actually cuts.

I have aligned the table. Loosened trunnion bolts, placed the base of a square against the face of a miter gauge and adjusted the table until the blade of the square rested flush against the side of the band saw blade (avoiding teeth), then tightened the trunnion bolts. I re-did that yesterday, in fact, when I had the table off because I wanted a clear look at the blade between the upper and lower guides.

I also squared the table to the blade by loosening the table tilt lock and placing the base of a square on the table and adjusting the tilt until the blade of the square was flush to the side of the blade. But I have not shimmed the table to compensate for the backward lean of the blade.

Incidentally, when adjusted for blade lead, my fence is obviously skewed across the table. Looks terrible, but works (at least when I'm not resawing).

Al

[reible]

Are you familiar with the of a 2 x 4 method to check make sure you have the table tilt set to zero/90 degrees? That is a good test to use just to make sure.

It is a corollary to this tip I posted some years ago.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/gener ... 14553.html

Ed

[algale]

I can extrapolate from the tip. Interesting.

[putttn]

Carter has their new "Fast" system that addresses this. Video is pretty informative