Bandsaw Alignment

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 9:59 pm

OK, so I'm new. I went to fire up my bandsaw for the fist time, I've got the hardback SSGuide. I have a 1/4" blade in it and have been through the procedures of set up for several hours.

When I rip along my fence with a test 2x4 on end, the cut bows out. The book says-dull blade (new)-not correct blade tension (looks right to me).

Here's the thing, if I am standing facing the direction of feed, the entire assembley that guides the blade and sets the heigth wiggles left and right with alot of play. There is no adjsutment for that and the book does not address that. If you physically hold it to the right, it makes a better cut. But if you just feed it through nice and easy, the wood slowly comes away from the fence and if you try and hold it tight, there is a bind type feeling.

I looked at the other bandsaw that I got with the greenie, it has the same play in it.
This SS has a 1988 serial number and all the items were bought together, but it is the cast table identical to my other one. I don't know if the age helps answer the question.

I wish I was a better auditory learner, I'm visual. So I might get lost in everyones help....but lay it on me.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:19 pm

Sounds to me that you badly need to do an adjustment of the Guide Post and the Guide Post Bracket. Items 70 and 71 in this exploded diagram.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/partscat/bandsawexpview2.htm

You will need a bandsaw manual to read the adjustment proceedure.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:13 pm

charlese wrote:Sounds to me that you badly need to do an adjustment of the Guide Post and the Guide Post Bracket. Items 70 and 71 in this exploded diagram.
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/partscat/bandsawexpview2.htm

You will need a bandsaw manual to read the adjustment proceedure.

And a whole lot of patience!!!!!!!!!!:p

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:48 pm

JPG40504 wrote:And a whole lot of patience!!!!!!!!!!:p

Have you ever been to Idaho in April? Oh it's nice here....worth the drive...and maybe you could give a bandsaw demonstration.
There should be a traveling SS guy who comes to your house for free and guides you through these things.
I'm just thinkin out loud..

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:53 pm

mrhart wrote:Have you ever been to Idaho in April? Oh it's nice here....worth the drive...and maybe you could give a bandsaw demonstration.
There should be a traveling SS guy who comes to your house for free and guides you through these things.
I'm just thinkin out loud..

Or, you could haul it to KY!:D

Tucson is closer!:rolleyes:

michaeltoc · Post by **michaeltoc** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:03 am

mrhart wrote:OK, so I'm new. I went to fire up my bandsaw for the fist time, I've got the hardback SSGuide. I have a 1/4" blade in it and have been through the procedures of set up for several hours.
When I rip along my fence with a test 2x4 on end, the cut bows out. The book says-dull blade (new)-not correct blade tension (looks right to me).
Here's the thing, if I am standing facing the direction of feed, the entire assembley that guides the blade and sets the heigth wiggles left and right with alot of play. There is no adjsutment for that and the book does not address that. If you physically hold it to the right, it makes a better cut. But if you just feed it through nice and easy, the wood slowly comes away from the fence and if you try and hold it tight, there is a bind type feeling.
I looked at the other bandsaw that I got with the greenie, it has the same play in it.
This SS has a 1988 serial number and all the items were bought together, but it is the cast table identical to my other one. I don't know if the age helps answer the question.
I wish I was a better auditory learner, I'm visual. So I might get lost in everyones help....but lay it on me.

Four things to check:
1: blade tension - check the gauge
2: guide blocks - should only be a few thousandths gap. Put a piece of scotch tape on the blade then adjust the guides so they touch the tape.
3: feed rate - go nice and easy, and let the blade do the cutting. Forcing the stock can cause the blade to bow.
4: buy or make a resaw fence - when the stock pulls away from the fence it is caused by blade lead. A resaw fence will compensate for that.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:30 am

Unless you are doing an awful lot of ripping why don't you just do it without a fence. Follow the line.

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:33 am

One more thing -- too many teeth per inch in the blade can cause trouble clearing the dust. A nice rule of thumb is about 3 teeth per thickness of workpiece, or not much more than that many teeth.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:36 am

If the stock pulls away from the fence you're using, you likely are suffering from "drift" and that simply means that the blade is sharper on one edge than the other and therefore cuts more aggressively on one side of the blade than the other.

Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone (either hardcopy or the on-line version) will describe drift and how to deal with it by adjusting the angle of your fence in relation to the blade.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 9:42 am

pennview wrote:If the stock pulls away from the fence you're using, you likely are suffering from "drift" and that simply means that the blade is sharper on one edge than the other and therefore cuts more aggressively on one side of the blade than the other.

Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone (either hardcopy or the on-line version) will describe drift and how to deal with it by adjusting the angle of your fence in relation to the blade.

Which is basically what happens when you rip free hand. You adjust the angle of attack to compensate for the tendency to drift.