Shopsmith Forums

Hello to everybody. I've been reading and learning a lot from this forum so far. Like so many others, my father passed away and I inherited his Mark V Model 500 SS. He bought it new in the mid 1970's. I need to get more involved in using it and woodworking, so I've cleaned it up and it seems in good order so far. I've also got a SS bandsaw on a PowerStation. I have a little woodworking background, but am an A & P mechanic (Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic) and work across a range of materials. Lately it seems to have been a lot of composites work.

My first question is this: I've just sawed a simple shape on the bandsaw out of pine. On the vertical axis (up and down line) along the blade, the cut itself came out crooked. It looks like the top was where I cut, but the bottom is off by a few degrees. It seems like the blade may have not been tight enough and it allowed the blade to flex while cutting. I am correct on this at all? What could cause this to happen? I believe the tension adjustment is inside the housing behind the blade when looking from the front. It seems to be set on 1/8, which is what size the blade is.

I have a basic understanding of bandsaws, but the only other bandsaw I've used as of late has a knob to adjust tension to whatever you want on it. That's been used for cutting rubber hoses to replumb the Mustang cooling system on the aircraft, and never needs to be as exacting as cutting wood for woodworking...so I haven't run into this before.

Any answers will be appreciated!

rb61 wrote:Hello to everybody. I've been reading and learning a lot from this forum so far. Like so many others, my father passed away and I inherited his Mark V Model 500 SS. He bought it new in the mid 1970's. I need to get more involved in using it and woodworking, so I've cleaned it up and it seems in good order so far. I've also got a SS bandsaw on a PowerStation. I have a little woodworking background, but am an A & P mechanic (Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic) and work across a range of materials. Lately it seems to have been a lot of composites work.

My first question is this: I've just sawed a simple shape on the bandsaw out of pine. On the vertical axis (up and down line) along the blade, the cut itself came out crooked. It looks like the top was where I cut, but the bottom is off by a few degrees. It seems like the blade may have not been tight enough and it allowed the blade to flex while cutting. I am correct on this at all? What could cause this to happen? I believe the tension adjustment is inside the housing behind the blade when looking from the front. It seems to be set on 1/8, which is what size the blade is.

I have a basic understanding of bandsaws, but the only other bandsaw I've used as of late has a knob to adjust tension to whatever you want on it. That's been used for cutting rubber hoses to replumb the Mustang cooling system on the aircraft, and never needs to be as exacting as cutting wood for woodworking...so I haven't run into this before.

Any answers will be appreciated!

Welcome! The Shopsmith bandsaw comes with the table not plumb to the blade. Good for resawing thick stock in straight lines. Not so good with cutting shapes in thick stock. Throw a square against the back of the blade and you will see how much you need to shim the table to get it all plumb.

Also check that the table itself is square to the side of the blade.

Blade tension could be an issue.

Also an issue could be the height of the Blade guard. It should be adjusted close to (but not touching) the project (This adjusts the height of the guide bearings). If you push too hard during a curved cut, the blade can flex leaving a cut that is not square to the surface especially if the guide bearing and blade guard are in the upper position. This is also more common in the thinner blades.

Adjust the blade guard and reduce the feed rate for optimal results.

I haven't checked to see if the blade is parallel to the table. If not, it's a fraction of an inch. I know my father had been using it as it is now just before he passed away....and the things he cut were square.

I had the guard set about an 1/8" above the material, so that should have been good too. There were no curves to the cut I did, straight lines and cuts into the side of the material being removed to prevent having to go around corners.

By reducing the feed rate, do you mean the speed I push the wood into the blade, or the speed of the blade itself?

Not mentioned yet, your problem could be the guide blocks. I assume you are using carbon guide blocks that are original equipment. If the blocks are not set correctly such a slant as you had can occur.

First consideration for the guide blocks is to make sure the surface facing the blade is flat and at the proper angle. Next, tension your blade using the tension scale. Next, move the blocks away from the blade letting the blade center. Now, using carbon blocks, carefully set each block next to the flat part of the blade just behind the teeth. Don't push on the tensioned blade with the blocks, but leave a space equal to the thickness of a dollar bill between all blades and blocks.

If you are using Cool Blocks gently just touch the blocks against the blade without pushing the blade sideways.

Yes feed rate is the speed you are pushing the wood into the blade.

Is the table tilt at the 'zero' stop? I believe if not, the result you described will occur(IIUC your description).

Thanks for the input so far. I can't drag it out and check anymore on it for a few days...because I accidentally bought a Craigslist Mark V today. Its crammed into the garage to keep it indoors and out of the rain. I went to see if the Jointer and Belt Sander were decent and ended up bringing the whole thing home. I has a jigsaw, belt sander, jointer, dado set-up, a number of blades, a 12" disc sander and the head unit sounds good when its running. Guess I will service it, clean it up and painted and then decide if I am keeping it or selling the unit and keeping the accessories I wanted...

Once I get at the bandsaw again, I'll post what I figure out. I hate threads that don't have endings....somebody else might need the same information as I needed now someday.