Shopsmith Forums

I thought I had tuned my bandsaw OK but I'm getting 'bandsaw lines'. Since this is my first bandsaw I thought that might just be normal but then I saw this side-by-side comparison picture and am wondering if I'm missing something:
from song of the great lakes. Mine looks like the board on the right (not quite that extreme but not as nice as on the left).

I'm using a 1/4" Shopsmith blade. I think my tension is right as the red indicator disappears behind the silver piece at 1/4". I am using cool blocks pressed right up against the blade and I lower the guard to just above the workpiece.

Last night I cut some 3/4"x3/4" red oak and got these lines.

Is there something else I should try?

EYoung wrote:I thought I had tuned my bandsaw OK but I'm getting 'bandsaw lines'. Since this is my first bandsaw I thought that might just be normal but then I saw this side-by-side comparison picture and am wondering if I'm missing something:
from song of the great lakes. Mine looks like the board on the right (not quite that extreme but not as nice as on the left).

I'm using a 1/4" Shopsmith blade. I think my tension is right as the red indicator disappears behind the silver piece at 1/4". I am using cool blocks pressed right up against the blade and I lower the guard to just above the workpiece.

Last night I cut some 3/4"x3/4" red oak and got these lines.

Is there something else I should try?

Get yourself a blade saw blade that is intended for resawing.

I suggest the Shopsmith blade 521987 would be a good start.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... blades.htm

Agreed. 1/4" is great for cutting curved pieces but resawing needs a wider blade.

OK, thank you. When I get the funds I'll get one. I knew I'd get a quick answer here.

They have a 4 for sale at the moment

Unfortunately I'm back and I've apparently made it worse.

I accidentally overtightened the upper block bracket breaking it (2nd time since I've owned it). Since I wsa going to have to pay shopsmith shipping anyway, I ordered a 5/8" blade from them (555421).

I mounted the new blade up up and tried some cuts with it that all looked like below.

I have tried this on multiple 2x4s, and tried readjusting to make sure the blade is riding the guide wheel. The right side (as you're facing the front of the blade) is always rough and the left side is basically smooth (just like I wanted).

Is this normal? Any thoughts?

It appears I'm still doing something wrong. Any ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated. I have bits of log just waiting to be turned into something useful.

In case anyone reads this in the future, the cause of this shredding was a single bent tooth. I bent it back in to place and it is much better now (not perfect but much better).

EYoung wrote:In case anyone reads this in the future, the cause of this shredding was a single bent tooth. I bent it back in to place and it is much better now (not perfect but much better).

Fascinating! I studied your photo for some time this morning. It was clear that there was some sort of asymetrical cutting phenomenon happening, but I couldn't come up with any theories as to why.

Having now seen this extreme example, I have a hunch that a smooth-cutting blade has a very consistent set on all teeth. And a rough-cutting blade, not so much.

EYoung wrote:In case anyone reads this in the future, the cause of this shredding was a single bent tooth. I bent it back in to place and it is much better now (not perfect but much better).

Thank you for revealing that. Learned my new thing fer the day!