Bandsaw blades advice

[Togalosh]

Hello Gents,

I've an ok Record BS250 with a blade that I'm finding it difficult to cut straight with the blade it came with as I expect it's for cutting curves.

I need to cut 50mm wide x 7mm thick strips acurately & am thinking of buying a/some new blade/s to improve things - can you give me advice on:

_ will this machine really work as well I am hoping it will with a better blade?
_ it will hold a 1/2" blade - is this too narrow for milling (only good for shape cutting) ?
- What brand/website would you recommend?

Thanks
Togs

 

[Steve Maskery]

There are three good suppliers of blades, Tuffsaws, Tuffsaws and Tuffsaws. Ian John is a member on here and will give you excellent advice and sell you only what you need. With one of his blades and a proper fettling of the machine there is no reason why it should not do exactly what you want it to do.
S

 

[Jensmith]

+1 for Tuffsaws

 

[Peter T]

+2 for Tuffsaws

 

[Derek S]

I have the very same bandsaw and the blades i use are axcaliber from axminster i find them to be decent blades i've never used tufsaw blades so can't comment on them. Here's a link if your intrested http://www.axminster.co.uk/bandsaw-blad ... 13018_pg1/

 

[Togalosh]

Thanks Gents..I'll give Tuffsaws a call.

 

[Togalosh]

I have the very same bandsaw and the blades i use are axcaliber from axminster i find them to be decent blades i've never used tufsaw blades so can't comment on them. Here's a link if your intrested http://www.axminster.co.uk/bandsaw-blad ... 13018_pg1/

Hello Derek.

What blades do you use & do you mill acurately with them? ..or course I'm not expecting to through & through cut an Oak tree but I'm after an acurate, dependable cut through 70mm section if possible...& up to 100mm if I could be so lucky.

As I've said I use the blade it came with & using a fence it does not cut a staight line..but is that me pushing the wood through too fast or the incorrect blade tension or because I'm using the wrong blade for the job ?? I have tried to tension the blade but it does not sound so happy now.

Thanks for your help

 

[Steve Maskery]

Tog
Have you fettled your machine properly? AS well as fitting one of Ian's blades you need to make sure it is adjusted properly. That means tracking it properly as well as tensioning it properly. You should be able to get it to cut straight without twisting the fence. All blades, even one of Ian's, will drift if it is not adjusted properly.
As I said above, you should be able to get it to do what you want it to do.
S

 

[Togalosh]

Tog
Have you fettled your machine properly? AS well as fitting one of Ian's blades you need to make sure it is adjusted properly. That means tracking it properly as well as tensioning it properly. You should be able to get it to cut straight without twisting the fence. All blades, even one of Ian's, will drift if it is not adjusted properly.
As I said above, you should be able to get it to do what you want it to do.
S

Ace..that's good news. I'll fettle tomorrow.

Thanks Steve

 

[JakeS]

Also bear in mind that if you've been cutting a lot of curves with it (or the previous owner did, if it's a second-hand saw), then the teeth will start to wear unevenly on one side, which can make it harder to cut straight with the same blade in future. Because of the uneven wear it'll naturally cut more on one side and thus drift in that direction, and if the grain happens to run in that direction it'll make it all the more likely.

Ideally, if you want to cut straight lines with your bandsaw it's safest to keep a separate blade for it.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Jake
Do you find that in practice? I've oft heard it said, but I've never found it to be a problem. I've cut curves and never found it difficult to cut a straight line afterwards.
I do agree that if the teeth are worn more on one side than the other that te blade will drift, but I think you would have to cut a LOT of fairly severe curves to wear the blade like that. Perhaps it was more of a problem in ye olden days when blades were plain carbon steel, but I've certainly not found it a problem with any modern blade. Anyway, I tend to break mine before they get blunt...
I'm not trying to pick a fight here, just exploring the situation.

Discuss.

 

[JakeS]

Jake
Do you find that in practice? I've oft heard it said, but I've never found it to be a problem.

The short answer is "probably, but not with Tuffsaws blades [yet?]". ;-)

The first blade I had in my first (second-hand) bandsaw was... not very sharp, so without thinking I bought a couple of cheap blades off eBay, stuck one on and it cut fine... for while. After some time, it would occasionally wander to the left, particularly when resawing stuff. It was still cutting through stuff, just not in a straight line. I tried re-adjusting it but it seemed unimprovable, I took it off and put the other one I'd bought at the same time on, and it improved. At that point I looked around and found this explanation and it seemed to fit what I'd seen, so I just accepted it as truth. And since I'd been doing things like trying the cut-a-reindeer-out-of-a-single-block-of-wood thing, in chunks of wood which realistically were too hard and too tall for the tiny motor on that saw to cope well with, it still doesn't seem unlikely to me.

Since then I've been keeping a separate blade for straight cuts - but then, I've also been buying more appropriate blades for each task, low-tpi wider blades for the straight cuts of ripping/resawing which I change when I want to cut curvy stuff, and I've also started buying better blades (first Axcalibre, then moving on to Tuffsaws after finding out about them from this forum). Maybe I wouldn't notice the problem if I used the same blade for everything now anyway?


(Still can't fold the damn things back up, though!)

 

[Steve Maskery]

LOL!
OK, that's fair enough, thank you for expanding on it.
And talking of expanding, or not as the case may be, I'd like the world to know that I have lost 12lb in 5 weeks. Yay!
S

 

[Harbo]

Well done Steve!

Rod

 

[JakeS]

And talking of expanding, or not as the case may be, I'd like the world to know that I have lost 12lb in 5 weeks. Yay!

Well done - I had to look up what it was in kg, but it's more than I've managed in a similar timeframe!

 

[Steve Maskery]

At the risk of hijacking the thread...
No, I'll post of Off Topic.
S

 

[Derek S]

As has been mentioned by the above posters fettling the machine is the most important, 1 problem i had with the bs250 was the side rollers i contacted record about it as when i tightened the handle to secure the roller assembly it always pulled 1 of the rollers into the blade, i dunno if thats whats causing you problem but its well worth studying the manual carefully and set the rollers, blade tention fence guide, table etc so its as near perfect as u can get. if you find that when you have set everything up as stated in the manual and that when you lock the blade guide assembly in place at whatever hieght you require and it does pull 1 of the rollers into the blade the solution is to slacken the 2 bolts which are above and below the handle centre the rollers as they should be tighten the handle then tighten the bolts and that should solve the problem if this is a problem you are experiancing and this is at all unclear let me know and i'll take a few pics and try and explain it more clearly. good luck.

 

[Togalosh]

I fettled & found that I had not done so properly before - unless things had loosened by themselves..& that my blade is dull (even though I've done what I'd say is very little work with it due to it's wonky cutting) which always seems to catch me out.

So I'll get a few new blades & then see.

Derek - I did not quite grasp your explanation (perhaps my brain is dull too)..but what I found is that the user manual is a bit crap & the rollers do not sit full on to the side of the blade but more to the middle & rear - especially the lower set even though I've centred the blade with the tracking adjuster. Do they need to sit against the blade or away from them? To the rear or 90 deg to the blade?

Steve - well done on the slimming.


Thanks

 

[Derek S]

Adjust the whole guide assembly so the blade runs centrally on the thrust bearing which is the rear bearing The 2 side rollers need to sit as close to the blade as possible without touching it set them so they sit just behind the teeth of the blade so if your looking at the blade side on the roller should be sitting just behind the teeth/gullet of the blade and the rear roller again needs to be as close to the blade without touching it, i set mine at around 1mm away from the blade that way if theirs any deviation in the actuall roller assembly when moved up or down and when tightened it wont push on the blade. Hopefully thats a little clearer if its still not let me know and i'll take some pics which should help more. Good luck.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I use Steve Maskery's trick: fold a piece of paper and wrap it round the back of the blade. Set the side guide rollers with the paper in place, then remove the paper. Simples!

E.