Band saw woes

[michaeltoc]

I understand (I think) the stated purpose of the Carter Guides but I still need some help.

How do the Carter Guides relate to (serve to correct) the problem stated in the beginning of this thread (first post)?

The Carter guides are rollers (bearings) that you can set very close to the blade. This helps keep the blade straight and prevents wandering without creating friction.

[dusty]

The Carter guides are rollers (bearings) that you can set very close to the blade. This helps keep the blade straight and prevents wandering without creating friction.

I agree and I think the operative advantage of the Carter Guides is that they produce no (or less) friction. Otherwise, in my opinion, the two are functional equivalents in that they both serve to keep the blade aligned.

I don't recognize a huge advantage with regard to keeping the blade from wandering when resawing.

[gr8mesquite]

If you open this link ,you will find a resawing tutorialthat explains what you are experiencing and how to correct it. I have also faced your problem and found that you can get it right but it will take a few trial cuts and drift adjustments. When you get close, the adjustments have to be very small or you will overshoot the other way.

I read the tutorial with interest, but I must be band saw challenged. It instructs me to align for drift, and then do it again? There's just so much out of parallel you can do with a fence! What am I not understanding?

Thanks

[JPG]

I think we be stabbing in the dark with no pix.

I would check to make sure both the upper and the lower blade guides are NOT pulling the blade away from a straight line tangent to both wheels.

[tdubnik]

I read the tutorial with interest, but I must be band saw challenged. It instructs me to align for drift, and then do it again? There's just so much out of parallel you can do with a fence! What am I not understanding?

Thanks

This is the operative part of the tutorial. I have done it this way for years and have never had to skew the fence by more than 1/2" front to rear.

Take a piece of 8/4 scrap wood two or three feet long, joint an edge straight, and mark a line parallel to that edge. Rip freehand along the line, adjusting your feed direction until you’re cutting consistently straight down the line. When you’ve split the line for 4 or 5 inches, stop. Hold the stock still on the table and shut off the saw. Mark a pencil line (which can be erased later) on the saw table along the straight edge of the test piece, then set your rip fence parallel to the pencil line. This is a first approximation]If the blade bowed to the left, adjust the rear of your fence slightly to the right; if the blade bowed right, reset fence angle slightly left at the rear. [/color]Make another test cut and check the face of the wood again. It may take three or four tests to get the fence set for flawless sawing, but once that’s done you can resaw piece after identical piece, with cuts so straight that one pass through the planer is all its takes to produce clean, flat wood at your target thickness.

[Ed in Tampa]

I know you said you have used a new blade but your problem sounds like the set on the teeth on the left side of you blade is flat and the teeth on the right are okay.

A bandsaw blade usually has every other tooth set to the alternating side.
What I mean is if you look at the blade head on the one tooth should slightly be bent pointing left and the next slightly to the right.

If something flattend all the set on one side of the blade the blade will cut toward the opposite side until it binds.

Check your blade does the teeth alternate pointing left and right. Some blade have no set but if the you see teeth pointing one direction there should be an equal number pointing the other direction.

The set can get flattened a couple of ways
One something sat on the blade and flattened the set.
But the most likely cause is either something is rubbing on one side of the blade or the guide blocks aren't all cool blocks and a steel on is rubbing the set off one side of your blade.

Check each cool block with a magnet if one is attracted someone messed up the installation. Next get a new blade and adjust the guide blocks so they aren't touching the teeth of the blade. Then put a grease pencil against the blade and run it the teeth should have a uniformed coating of grease pencil now run band saw for a few moments and see if either side has the grease pencil worn off. If so look around in your bandsaw you should see a clump of grease pencil stuck somewhere. If so that is what is rubbing the set off you teeth and making the blade go crazy.

[dusty]

Jerry' I have recovered from the SNAFU that I mentioned in my PM. I had a number of self induced errors in my setup.

It is important that the table be square to the blade and that the table tilt lock is secured.

It is equally important that the home made resaw fence (if used) is square to the table.

Somewhat to my surprise, it is necessary to determine the drift using wood with characteristics identical to the wood to be resawn. This tells me that the drift of a blade is dependent not only on the characteristics of the blade itself but also upon the wood to be cut (and how the two interact).

A couple times I have noticed that my blade was bowing more aggressively than at other times. I now believe that this occurred when the blade somehow got moved out from between the cool blocks (maybe when I tried to back out of a cut).

OBSERVATION: The fence definitely introduces some issues that do not occur when free handing. Being able to fine tune the resaw fence may be more of a requirement than just an advantage.

The more I play with this the more I like the solution that Charlese described here on the forum.

I will resolve this issue somehow BEFORE I attempt to resaw any expensive wood.

Good Luck with your resolution.

[camerio]

"The more I play with this the more I like the solution that Charlese described here on the forum."

Could you tell us where Charlese described his solution ?
Not on this thread .... I must have misted this ...

[dusty]

"The more I play with this the more I like the solution that Charlese described here on the forum."

Could you tell us where Charlese described his solution ?
Not on this thread .... I must have misted this ...

Using the "Search" function and the search criteria of "resaw" and "Charlese", you will be offered a few different places to look. One of those is a thread that contains the post by Charlese to which I referred.

[dusty]

A Question for those who repeatedly resaw successfully. I could not reply to this question because I only occasionally resaw successfully.

When resawing with a fence, do you position the piece to be used between the fence and the blade OR is the piece to be used "the cutoff"?