Help with my new axminster 250 mm bandsaw

[mqbernardo]

Hi again and thanks for looking. After some deliberation (with the mandatory what should i buy? thread) i finally settled for this little saw: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ho ... rod886302/

not appropriate for the highest degrees of tool fetishism, i suppose, but seemed good enough for a cheapo BS (cast iron frame and table, 10 inch wheels, quiet motor, ...). in the end i opted for a more meager saw for my day-to-day needs (quite mundane they are: sawing some 1/2" ply, some spruce guitar tops and backs, and - i was expecting - cut some spanish cedar neck blanks) and let heavy resawing for the pros - this seemed an appropriate saw for an amateur luthier and bandsaw noob (take this into consideration please ), and axi´s customer service has kept me happy so far. enough with the blah, blah... sorry about that.

but unfortunately the saw is apparently pretty useless. tracking the blade is a nightmare: the blade keeps wanting to jump from the the front to the back of the tire, without sitting in the middle (and i´m not talking about the euclidian middle, half-there would be nice) and the tracking knob seems to have quite some backlash. tensioning the blade also interferes with tracking, although i guess that´s to be expected.
anyway, i got the tracking the best i could (took quite a while), thrust and side bearings in proper place (to the best of my knowledge), tension seems fine but the saw just won´t cut. 1st i tried 2 inch thick brazilian rosewood - no can do, the saw stops before getting 1/8 inch into the wood. Ok, now 1 inch thick ash - sligthly better, maybe 1/4 inch into it. Next 3/4 inch walnut - it can cut, but veeeery slowly; took me almost a minute to rip through 4 inches of it ...
the blade does cut straight and does not wander. i tried axcaliber and tuffsaws blades, the result is the same.

any suggestions? they´d be most welcome.

thanks in advance,
Miguel.

 

[mqbernardo]

oh, and before someone says it, i have Steve Maskery´s BS setup DVD on the way - but am tired of waiting ...


cheers,
Miguel.

 

[Chrispy]

You do have the blade the right way round haven't you?

 

[devonwoody]

One minute to cut a length of 4" (100mm) sounds terrible.

Is your electric supply OK?

 

[Noggsy]

I had an Axi 400 bandsaw and it had a few things wrong with it. The main issue at the beginning was that the bottom wheel was not aligned. Until that was sorted, nothing I did to align the blade worked amd unfortunately (and wrongly in my opinion) the instructions said do not alter the bottom wheel. Steve M's excellent DVDs do show you how to sort that out, but I didn't have them at that stage, so a friend showed me how to do it, by measuring the distance form the top of the bottom wheel to the casing and then the bottom of the same wheel. The distances should be the same, meaning that the wheel is in alignment with the frame. Once that was sorted, the usual means of tracking and tensioning worked (although the saw had a few other issues and eventually went back).

Good luck.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Miguel
How many TPI are there on your blade?
S

 

[NikonD80]

I have one of these and it cuts fine - I just use the standard Axcalibur blades and am able to resaw Oak and Ash no problem. A board that's say three feet long I'd expect to resaw in a couple of minutes if it's using the full depth available (about four inches if I recall).
I do use the fewest teeth per inch blade that I can get away with but as I say, I use the standard cheap blades
http://www.axminster.co.uk/axcaliber-hi ... rod876133/
For most work I'll use the 3/8 blade at 4 tpi which is as wide and tooth free a blade as they seem to supply for my machine.

If you're trying to cut with a blade with a high TPI you may find this is working against you as the blade can't clear the waste from the cut fast enough. Apologies in advance If I'm preaching to the converted.

 

[mqbernardo]

thanks all for the replies.

i checked the blade i have at the saw ATM and it´s 14 tpi - maybe not ideal for fast cutting - could this be it? but i´d expect it to at least cut through ash (even if slowly). right now it just deosn´t

this gets me frustrated as i finally have a saw that cuts straight and maintains the angle of the saw table quite accurately (i had experience with cheapo einhells and a 9" hobby JET - so my expectations are quite low) but just doesn´t cut it (pun intended).

once more, thanks again. i´ll try to find a 3 tpi blade somewhere.

cheers,
Miguel.

 

[rdesign]

u definitely don't want 14 teeth in an inch! you want 3 for rough 4 for medium and 6 for fine 8 would be the finest i would use. as people will recommend get on to tuff saws and get good blades.

 

[Steve Maskery]

That's your problem.
Ripping produces big long curls of wood. They need big gullets to carry them away. Big gullets mean few TPI. 3 or 4 at most. The rule of thumb is at least 3 tpi in the wood, but as few as possible.
Cross-cutting is a different scenario.
Sort your blades out and all shall be well.
S

 

[mqbernardo]

ok, i feel like a moderate *****, but that´s a good thing i suppose. my blades are from Ian, BTW. i can try crosscutting and see if it goes better.

i do have a 6 tpi blade - think that would do it?

all the best and thanks,
Miguel.

 

[Steve Maskery]

The blade itself is not the problem - it's what you are using it for!
6 TPI is general purpose, i.e. it will do most things adequately but not superbly.
S

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've just re-read this thread. 6TPI should be good for a lot of your work. Thin stock does need a higher tooth count to stop the blade hammering the workpiece.

Anyway, your DVD appears to be Delivered, so if you haven't got it, someone else has!
Regards
Steve

 

[mqbernardo]

ok, i sent you a PM before reading this thread. apparently you´re well informed
thanks again Steve!

miguel.

 

[mqbernardo]

ok, so i just changed to a (brand new) 1/2 inch 6 TPI blade and matters got a little bit better, but performance is still rather lackluster... feeding very slowly i manage to rip that ash board maybe one inch before the saw idles. with the rosewood (which is now only 1/2 inch thick - yay tablesaw!) i can´t cut more than, say, 1/8 of an inch without the saw stopping. rather obnoxious. cross cutting goes a lot better, but saw also stops in the middle of the board, even if i don´t push it too quick.

the blade itself seems to be tracking much better (maybe because it´s wider?) and tends to stay in the middle of the tires. thrust and side bearings are as good as i can put them (which is rather by the book). any suggestions? should i call axminster ? i wrote them an email when i first created this thread but they haven´t replied me yet, which is also strange.

thanks all,
Miguel.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Does it stop because the motor slows down or because the blade just gets clogged? 6TPI for 1/2" material sounds about right to me, all other things being equal.
S

 

[mqbernardo]

good question! how do i tell it apart? it seems to my untrained eye that the motor is slowing down...

thanks,
Miguel.

 

[Steve Maskery]

If the motor is slowing down then it does not have enough power to do the job. Also bear in mind that rosewood is very hard and dulls blades very quickly. I've only ever used a very small piece, but I do remember David Savage writing about making rosewood veneer on a bandsaw. He changed the blade every 9 feet or so. Yes, that is less than 3 metres.
It's not easy stuff to work.

 

[mqbernardo]

i don´t doubt that, and i really appreciate your help but i could rip through rosewood (and kingwood and cocobolo, even denser stuff) with my old saw (a Jet JWBS 9 inch bandsaw, with slightly less power). true, the cut drifted and wandered like crazy and i had to pay my dues hand planing that stuff afterwards but it was doable. i also have cut walnut quite easily on my Jet.

But you´re right - right now it seems like an underpower issue. i thought the bandsaw could have the low wheel out of plane, and was watching your DVD to find out how to adjust it properly, but this blade seems to be tracking OK so i´m out of explanations. maybe i should try a 3 tpi blade?

all the best,
Miguel.

 

[Steve Maskery]

You could certainly try, although at 3 TPI, at some points there is only one tooth in the wood if it is only 1/2" thick, so you will probably get some knocking.
S