Woodworker II blade

[Sazerac81]

I wanted to share some pictures of the new blade and cuts. Nice looking blade, clean, shiny and very sharp.



Nice cut in some 4/4 Walnut. A little tear-out on the back end of the crosscut, very minimal tear-out on the bottom with the ZCI.



Nice and square.



It's a much nicer blade than anything else I have on hand and have been using.

If you look closely, you'll see very fine saw marks along the cut, but I think that is more a problem with me controlling the piece through the cut with my incra miter guage V120 with the trigger hold down setup.

I will say, I feel like my Shopsmith definitely vibrates quite a bit when I get into the greater than P range on the shopsmith speed range controller. Not sure how much other people's shopsmith's vibrate at high speed, but the wood and the miter guage can move quite a bit while I am turning up the speed. If I don't act quick, the wood can shake and shimmy many inches.

Cheers,
John

[ChrisNeilan]

Are you using a Mark V? If so, I can't really comment. I use the PowerPro and have little or no vibration.

[Sazerac81]

Are we talking like passing the dime test lack of vibration Chris?

I use a Mark V with the 1 1/8 hp motor. It does vibrate a bit at higher rpms for me.

I suppose I need to see a power pro in person to experience the low vibration at high rpms.


Cheers,
John

[JPG]

How 'old' is the motor belt? When they take a 'set' vibration will occur at various speeds especially the higher.

[Sazerac81]

I am not sure JPG. I bought this machine from a widower who was not the user of the machine. It had sat dormant for about 5 years in the workshop.

Likely, it may be closing in on 30 yrs. It seems to have a bit of set to it as it does like to hold certain positions more than others.

I suppose I should change it out.


With that said, does anyone use the bandsaw warehouse versions, they sell the blue max poly bandsaw bands/tires with which I have been happy with. I ask because they have them in stock and ship fast.

I guess I have been holding off on it because it looks like a PITA to do if you watch Nick Englert's grainy video where he is banging away at the quill to do it.

[dusty]

The Mark V, Model 510/520 does vibrate some.

But, is this mountain made from a mole hill. What impact does that vibration have. It does not shake, rattle and roll; it just vibrates a little.

Oh, yes. The PowerPro is quiet and smooth as silk by comparison. Just how much will that improve the quality of your cut.

I guess maybe my problem is that I grew up in farm land. We used a lot of bailing wire and thought nothing of what it looked like.

I believe my noisy, rattling Mark V will do what I need in my garage shop.

[Dansmith]

The Mark V, Model 510/520 does vibrate some.

But, is this mountain made from a mole hill. What impact does that vibration have. It does not shake, rattle and roll; it just vibrates a little.

Oh, yes. The PowerPro is quiet and smooth as silk by comparison. Just how much will that improve the quality of your cut.

I guess maybe my problem is that I grew up in farm land. We used a lot of bailing wire and thought nothing of what it looked like.

I believe my noisy, rattling Mark V will do what I need in my garage shop.

I am one who tends to make a "mountain out of a molehill" (referring to my thread re cabinet saw). In any event, I would like to try one of those Woodworker II blades. I do have the 5/8 SS arbor so I could interchange the blade between the SS and the contractors saw. Today, I plan on tuning (if needed) my 500 table alignment on the MKV. Haven't used the SS as a saw in a long time.

[dusty]

The Mark V, Model 510/520 does vibrate some.

But, is this mountain made from a mole hill. What impact does that vibration have. It does not shake, rattle and roll; it just vibrates a little.

Oh, yes. The PowerPro is quiet and smooth as silk by comparison. Just how much will that improve the quality of your cut.

I guess maybe my problem is that I grew up in farm land. We used a lot of bailing wire and thought nothing of what it looked like.

I believe my noisy, rattling Mark V will do what I need in my garage shop.

I am one who tends to make a "mountain out of a molehill" (referring to my thread re cabinet saw). In any event, I would like to try one of those Woodworker II blades. I do have the 5/8 SS arbor so I could interchange the blade between the SS and the contractors saw. Today, I plan on tuning (if needed) my 500 table alignment on the MKV. Haven't used the SS as a saw in a long time.

There is no doubt in my mind at all. You'll love the performance characteristics of a Woodworker II and especially if you are working with heavier, harder wood. Based only on the blades reputation, I'd also bet that it will stay sharp longer.

When you get ready to perform your shop test, just be fair. Don't give points to the Woodworker II while the blade you are running against is an old, needs to be sharpener saw blade whose logo has not bee legible for years.

Run your test against a blade like the Shopsmith set of three. http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... ackage.htm

[Sazerac81]

Hey Dusty,

I understand the argument. I suppose I am one to focus on the details (it does tend to help with my profession). I imagine, I will change out the belts since they probably are end of service life and due for a change and call it a day and not worry so much about the vibrations. I do think it vibrates enough that it does cause just enough perturbation in the cut to cause those fine saw mill marks on bigger crosscuts and rips.

Sounds like the powerpro is something down the line for me. . I want to experience the smoothness and the power. The powerpro head is why I had the 220/240V outlets installed.

Cheers,
John

[jms]

Since you don't know the birthplace of any of them, you should not be surprised. They may have all come off the same production line.

Look for all the similarities. You might be surprised.

Forrest blades are made in the U.S. per their web site. Seems to me we went recently went around on the source of the Shopsmith blades and determined it was Europe. EDIT: Shopsmith blades say made in Germany.

In this recent thread it was shown via the 2016 Christmas Catalog that the SS blades are now manufactured by CMT in Germany.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 90#p225490

I bought all 3 SS blades in December and have been very happy with them. However, I don't have any experience with other high quality blades to compare them to.