Bandsaw Alignment

[segovia]

Hi

I purchased a Record Power Bandsaw recently which is much improved on my previous Metabo. I swapped the blade today for wider blade, the teeth were always a bit close the the edge on a smaller blade but on this they are hanging over the wheel - See pictures

What is the impact of this and how can I adjust the wheel ?

I am showing two pictures one of the top wheel with the blade centered and the bottom wheel - the first picture is the bottom wheel

J

 

[Henning]

There is a really simple solution to this. Buy the Workshop essentials DVDs about bandsaws: http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/ ... duct_id=57

Then you don't have to worry about any other things later on either!

(Sorry i can't be of more help, i have the DVDs but not a bandsaw. They are that good!)

 

[Steve Maskery]

There are a number of steps required to get the blade to track properly.
I hope the new blade you installed came from Ian John at Tuffsaws. They really do make a difference.
You adjust the tracking on the bottom wheel by adjusting the bolts holding the axle at the back of the saw. Then the top wheel is tilted back and forth with the tracking knob until the blade rides about right. Then you do a test cut and see how true it's cutting and adjust the tracking further until it cuts true north.
You have to get the tension and blade guides set right along the way, but that's it in a nutshell.
HTH
Steve

 

[segovia]

Hi Steve

Thanks, I did start to slacken off the 4 bolts and then thought better of it, If I understand you correctly the bottom wheel tilts rather than moves in an out ?

As the blade on the bottom wheel looks parallel to the rim of teh wheel it looks to me as though the whole wheel need to pull out 3/16". So it ok to slacken those 4 bolts and power up ?

J

 

[segovia]

PS - They are Tuffsaw blades and I have you video

J

 

[JakeS]

So it ok to slacken those 4 bolts and power up ?

Personally I'm not sure I'd ever power up the saw while I was in the middle of adjusting stuff! I think rotating the wheels by hand should always be enough to sort out tracking issues. And less likely to break something! If a blade slips off while under power it can easily become buckled, which would mean you'd have wasted a fair bit of money and you'd need to start again with the next blade anyway.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Hi Steve

Thanks, I did start to slacken off the 4 bolts and then thought better of it, If I understand you correctly the bottom wheel tilts rather than moves in an out ?

As the blade on the bottom wheel looks parallel to the rim of teh wheel it looks to me as though the whole wheel need to pull out 3/16". So it ok to slacken those 4 bolts and power up ?

J

In general the bottom wheel could be moved to make it coplanar with the top however it is the top wheel that has a tilt mechanism. So you adjust the tracking by fractionally tilting the top wheel. Make sure not to power up the saw until you think the tracking is just about perfect.

Some times with some blades I need to make fractional tracking adjustments with the saw running. However the lightest touch is needed to avoid running the blade off the wheels.

This is not a recommend method and not for the faint of hart. It is VERY easy to over adjust. A band saw blade comming of the wheels under power with the cover off is exciting :shock:

 

[custard]

Segovia, I'm going a bit off topic here, but are you sure that your new bandsaw blade is within the capabilities of the machine? It may be the photo but it looks pretty wide.

There's no trades description protection on bandsaw widths, so most bandsaw manufacturers are stuck having to over promise in order to compete. Personally I work on the basis that for small and medium machines the maximum blade width is at least one level down from that quoted, otherwise you just can't tension the blade sufficiently.

In any case, a 1/2" 3 tpi blade will do pretty much all the ripping that it's fair to ask of a small/medium machine!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wouldn't have thought that blade was near the capacity of the saw.
Surely any false claims in advertising are illegal?

 

[JakeS]

Surely any false claims in advertising are illegal?

I expect the manufacturers' claims are all perfectly correct in that you can run a 5/8" blade in saw X, it just won't necessarily perform so well as a 1/2" blade would... after all, if the tension is too low you may have difficulty making straight cuts, but you'll probably still be able to make cuts.

 

[custard]

Surely any false claims in advertising are illegal?

I expect the manufacturers' claims are all perfectly correct in that you can run a 5/8" blade in saw X, it just won't necessarily perform so well as a 1/2" blade would... after all, if the tension is too low you may have difficulty making straight cuts, but you'll probably still be able to make cuts.

Exactly. All woodworking equipment manufacturers are trapped in a specification war, so a £500 bandsaw with a 3/4" blade capacity sounds better than a £500 bandsaw with a 5/8" capacity.

Once you get up to the £1500+ bandsaws that sort of nonsense fades away, presumably because the buyers are more professional and experienced and can see through it. But the maximum quoted bandsaw width for small and mid range bandsaws are very misleading. I suspect this partially accounts for the popularity of the "Silco" style narrow kerf bandsaw blades. As well as having less set they are also made of thinner steel than regular blades, so for any given width are far easier to tension correctly.

 

[segovia]

Hi

It's a 20mm blade with I think about 20 tpi, thsi is the blade that I use to cuts a scarf joint with a jig I made and the faces don't need much planing after the cut.

I called Record Power tech support and they said under no circumstances should I adjust the settings, so I ignored that advice.

Taking Steve's advice I slackened north and tightened south by about half a turn an the blade on the bottom wheel is now central.

Back to my scarf joint, when I cut the last one I had to tilt the table so the blade came out the back of the wood at the same time (does that make sense?) Now I am hoping I can set the table an blade sqare and I get a square cut. I'll post some pictures at the weekend.

J

 

[segovia]

I just checked the blade is

1 x 5/8" - SuperTuff Carbon 2298mm - 2742mm = £12.65
Blade Length ***CUSTOM LENGTH***
Bandsaw Model No. (optional) Record Power 350S
TPI 14

The bandsaw model is the 350S which has a max capacity of 3/4 according to the manufacturer


Blade length: 2630mm (1031⁄2”)
Blade width: 6mm - 19mm (1⁄4” - 3⁄4”)
Max depth of cut: 230mm
Throat depth: 340mm
Table size: 550 x 500mm
Max width blade to rip fence: 280mm
Table height (from floor): 1040mm
Extraction port: 100mm
Motor power (output): 11⁄2hp
Weight: 100kg
Footprint: 710 x 560mm
Dimensions: 1760mm (height) x 740mm (width) x 830mm (depth)