Bandsaw question, what does this gauge represent?

[justinpeer]

Missed that quote.
Can you adjust the cable to put the gauge to the bottom mark then try again?

Not sure, will have a look tomorrow. Spent the afternoon giving it a clean, taking the guides apart and cleaning them as the threads were pretty gummed up and sanding and waxing the table.

Tomorrow I’ll look at the guage, refit the blade and have a go at tuning it up. Need to sit and watch videos from Steve Maskery and Paul Sellers on setting it up properly this evening.

 

[pgrbff]

My small Hammer has blade widths on the indicator but it is pretty much meaningless.
It's all part of learning to set the saw up for effortless drift free cuts.

 

[Nick.]

I'm sure the marks on the scale are for blade width in mm. Looks like max 1" (24mm)
Most bandsaws I sold used this type of scale, although as already said - it's only an approx. reference - all depends on blade material etc. and you are best working the correct tension out yourself by just using this as a 'ball park' guide to get close.
When you unwind the tension, also try manually pulling down the top wheel - it may well drop some more if it's gunked up or stuck on the threads - I've seen that on new machines with grease that has hardened.

 

[Sideways]

Numbers are blade width in mm.
The idea is to tell you to use a high tension for a wide blade, low tension for a narrow blade.
It is out of calibration.

Be aware that if you or any perious owner wind up the tension screw to the point where all the coils of the spring are compressed to touching, you have overstressed the spring beyond it's elastic limit and it will not recover to it's original length. Each time you repeat, the spring will take more set.

Some experimentation with bandsaws has suggested to me as mentioned above, that even quite reputable bandsaws can fall short of their claimed specification and are not strong enough to properly tension their largest size blade. Certainly not if using M42 alloy steel rather than simple carbon steel blades.