N4400 bandsaw cutting issue

[Steve Maskery]

Late to the party, but Hey! I have a DVD, too! It's much better than Peter's, oh yes, much better. It must be, my Auntie Mabel says so.
OK, in a nutshell:
Make sure you have the right blade for the job. The width of the blade and the tooth count make a BIG difference.
Make sure that the tension fits the blade: Wide blade, high tension, narrow blade, less so.
Learn to adjust the tracking to eliminate drift. Skewing the fence to compensate for drift is a very poor solution and works only for ripping.

You have a perfectly decent machine there, you just need to learn how to use it. It's like buying a car without having driving lessons...

 

[custard]

So, I replaced the blade with a 3/8" M42. A little better this time around. I am wondering if there is something wrong or would an upgrade to the ceramic guides improve things..

I upgraded my N4400 to ceramic guides. To be honest I'm not sure I can see much of a difference! The original guides are actually better than you'll find on most bandsaws.

The M42 blades are interesting, they last far longer than normal bandsaws. Not just 50% longer but more like 3x longer or more. And they shrug off plywood, MDF, laminations with glass hard UF glue, and even the odd nail! But on the other side of the coin they need a ridiculous amount of blade tension. At least you've done the sensible thing and bought a fairly narrow M42, but I bet you'll still need to tension it to somewhere between the 1/2" and 3/4" mark.

The other thing is that the set on many M42 blades is pretty extreme, that gives a very wide kerf which saps the power and consumes a lot of expensive timber, but a wide set allows you to cut tighter curves than the same width bandsaw with a more moderate set. However M42 blades with a pronounced set have another feature, I tend to agree with Steve's point that tracking (and even rotating your table) should be done before adjusting the fence, but I've found the extreme set on some M42 blades can actually limit your ability to use tracking to fully adjust out drift.

I guess what I'm saying is that M42 can introduce some odd side effects, so are probably probably best saved until you've mastered the basic band saw set up.

 

[Prizen]

Late to the party, but Hey! I have a DVD, too! It's much better than Peter's, oh yes, much better. It must be, my Auntie Mabel says so.
OK, in a nutshell:
Make sure you have the right blade for the job. The width of the blade and the tooth count make a BIG difference.
Make sure that the tension fits the blade: Wide blade, high tension, narrow blade, less so.
Learn to adjust the tracking to eliminate drift. Skewing the fence to compensate for drift is a very poor solution and works only for ripping.

You have a perectly decent machine there, you just nead to use it. It's like buying a car without having driving lessons...

Don't worry Steve, I have your DVDs too! About time you made some new material? !

 

[Steve Maskery]

I did see a bolt, however I cannot see myself adjusting this for various blade sizes.

Hmm. I'm not sure to which Bolt you refer, but I can't help thinking that your approach pretty much equates to a driver saying that he's seen the gear lever but can't see himself using it to accomodate different gradients...

 

[Steve Maskery]

Don't worry Steve, I have your DVDs too! About time you made some new material? !

Well I'm delighted to hear it, of course, but that makes me wonder why you are having so much trouble. If you need a walk through, you can always call me. Phone, Skype or WhatsApp, I'll help you if I can. Just make sure you have watched WE4 before you do so!
As to new material, SIgh. I have a YT channel. I make films. It takes time and I believe that what I make is good quality. A FEW HUNDRED people see them. It needs to be a few HUNDRED THOUSAND. I've never received a single penny from it, and, quite honestly, I wonder why I bother, I really do. It seems like I'm always chasing a rainbow.

Now if only I had a kitten...

 

[Peter Sefton]

I have replaced the small bolt with a wing nut (on the right) as it's easier to use, in the past I drilled a hole through the bandsaw casing and used a longer bolt to be tightened from the outside. If you do not set the thrust wheel correctly you may push your blade backwards onto the side guides which will damage them and the blade, leading to quality of cut issues.

I did have Felder FB510 with ceramic guides as used in the DVD filming along with the much smaller old Kity. Since then I have gone back to the Hammer 4400 with guide bearings. I was not so keen on the ceramic guides, I found them bulky, not giving uniform support and they sparked, I never sleep well knowing sparks may be in my dust extractor bags.

 

[Prizen]

Thanks Peter and all. A much better day today as I paid more attention to the lower guide assembly and didn’t fiddle with the tracking - as you say Peter, may never need to adjust the tracking again. I guess I need to be more patient. Lesson learned