Shopsmith Forums

Hello and thank you for providing this excellent resource.
I am totally new to the forum and to woodworking. I purchased a used Mark V 520 from FB and it came with the bandsaw attachment. I have watched a lot of videos and read a lot on here. I understand about the canted upper wheel and how that impacts the back of the blade's angle to the table. At least I think I do.
But that is not the question I need help with. I tested the square of my miter gauge with a Woodpeeker 851 square and I feel fairly certain the miter gauge is true. Using the same square with the miter gauge in the miter track on the table, I placed the square, as directed, against the side of the blade at the gullet. Then I slid the miter tool forward in the slot while holding the square in place. When the gauge if fully forward and the heel of the square is on the gullet, there is a defection in the blade by the heel of the square I would guess to be equal to the thickness of the blade (say 1/64 of an inch or less).
How do I correct this? I have tried loosing the four bolts on the table and forcing the back of the table to the rear (counter clockwise if looking at the table from the operator's side of the bandsaw) but this does not work..in fact, I don't see and change once I re-tighten the bolts.
I apologize if this has been covered in other posts. I have done a lot of searching on here and almost all of the discussion (a lot) has been about the tilt of the blade vertically to the table. That is not my concern a the moment - I am trying to to the basic setup adjustment with my question.
Thank you in advance.
Buz

Buz,

I am trying to visualize what you described , but I am wondering how you got the base of the square to set flat on the side of a bandsaw blade? I mean you have tooth set which extend beyond the sides of a bandsaw blade. I am struggling to understand how you can get a square to register true to the side of a bandsaw blade. A picture might help if you can post it here for us.

Is this about table positioning or blade 'twist'?





Here comes the blade 'drift' conversation.





Seriously I also question the veracity of positioning a square against the blade side.

I will try to take pictures tonight. Try to visualize this. Miter gauge into slot on the table. Lay the base of the square against the face of the miter gauge. Looking down on the table as a bird would, the square forms the letter "L". The back of the arm of the square (a the tip) is resting on the side of the bandsaw blade. Holding the square firmly against the miter gauge, I push the gauge forward as if guiding a cut. Once the miter gauge face has moved forward to where it would be the end of a cut, the heel of the square has caused the blade on the bandsaw to deflect the small amount I mentioned above.
Does this help explain my issue? I want to adjust what I need to do to eliminate the deflection. Thanks.

Buz,

If I'm understanding correctly, I think your problem is not in table twist but in either the square is not square (not likely) or that the miter fence is not square. How did you ascertain that the miter fence is square? If you are using the table as a reference, that could be your problem.

With a miter slot and bar, and measuring the way you described, it wouldn't matter if the table were twisted at any angle as long as you were measuring from the same place on the blade as long as the miter and square were both square. But if one or both of the The same applies to a miter slot on a router table.

Now, that said, of course it affects the cut on the bandsaw and what I believe you're doing is trying to get the miter slot parallel with the blade.

Roy, you have grasped my issue and I was wondering if there was a defect in the miter slot in the table. I agree as to the square being accurate, it is a brand new Woodpeeker 851 square delivered this past weekend so I dont think that is the problem. I used square as is suggested in the set up instructions for the miter gauge. I will recheck it tonight.

Are you adjusting the miter fence to the miter bar? Sorry, not sure what the instructions say. Do you know how to manually check squares for square using a board and pencil?

The only defect for how you're measuring would be if the slot and bar both had a curve. I will try to draw up some diagrams this evening on how the way you're measuring doesn't mean much for squaring the slot to the blade.

Buz,

When you said "heel" of the square against the gullet, I assumed you meant the base (fat part) of the square against the blade which is what threw me to being with. Keep in mind the Woodpeckers 851 is an all aluminum square and has a fat bar (rail) in terms of thickness. Unless you are using a very wide bandsaw blade, it will still be hard to get the square rail to fit inside a blade gullet without hitting a tooth in the process. I haven't aligned my bandsaw lately, so I am sure others on this forum can better direct you on alignment procedures. My opinion would be to use the Woodpeckers square to check and adjust squareness of your miter gauge by itself. Whether or not the miter bar track is 90° is kind of irrelevant because there will be drift of the bandsaw blade while making the cut. IF you want to use the miter gauge in the miter slot on the bandsaw, I think you will be spending a lot of time trying to adjust the bandsaw table relative to the blade trying to get a straight cut. Drift varies blade to blade so you will have to repeat this, potentially, any time you change the blade unfortunately.

P.S. Blade drift is why for rip cutting on a bandsaw, typically the fence is adjusted until it matches blade drift, so table squareness is less of a concern.

Also, squaring the miter for the tablesaw table (to the blade) is going to be different than squaring to the bandsaw table. Compound that with bandsaws having inherent drift in them and you may want to re-evaluate what you're trying to accomplish and expectations.

page 17 of my instruction manual is what I trying to follow with this adjustment. please see the attachment - this will I think explain it better.