A plea to Steve Maskery

[Grahamshed]

I am having big problems with my bandsaw cutting straight after changing the top tire and the blade. Pretty sure it is my fault as I have been fiddling with the adjuster wheel that controls the amount of forward or backward tilt on the top wheel.
I have Steve's set of bandsaw CDs but no longer have a CD player..... however, I remember reading a post by Steve a while ago about which way the top wheel needs adjusting according to what the piece of wood is doing in relation to the fence when you cut it. In my case the wood is being pulled away from the fence.

Can you help Steve ?

 

[Gary]

Have you not got a laptop or games machine?

 

[lurker]

most lap tops have a cd slot ..........have you overlooked that?

 

[Lons]

Don't you have a DVD player in your computer Graham?

edit - Lurker beat me to it #-o

 

[Grahamshed]

No CD player. I used to use the one in my iMac but have a new one and they don't have a built in CD any more.

 

[lurker]

Don't you have a DVD player in your computer Graham?

edit - Lurker beat me to it #-o

Garry beat me :lol:

 

[lurker]

Obviously I am not in the same league as Mr Jig, but I'd put good money on you overthinking this.
It will be the blade.
It's always the blade.

 

[Grahamshed]

Obviously I am not in the same league as Mr Jig, but I'd put good money on you overthinking this.
It will be the blade.
It's always the blade.

And the stock answer to that is get a new blade from Tuffsaws...... Which is what is on it

 

[pcb1962]

No CD player. I used to use the one in my iMac but have a new one and they don't have a built in CD any more.

You can get an external one for a tenner https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-Slimline-External-Laptops-Netbooks/dp/B001GRNS32

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

If you have adjusted the blade to track on the centre of both wheels and your tension is Ok, then you can't really do much more with the tracking adjuster. What is the TPI of the blade? Too many for the thickness of timber will give you drift, as the gullets cannot get rid of the sawdust quick enough and the blade wanders like mad.

Assuming your blade is correct for the timber thickness you are cutting, I would suggest moving the table a little on its mounting bolts so the cut is straight with the fence. Once set, you'll be fine.

Mike.

 

[Steve Maskery]

OK, let's see what we can do here. If the blade was tracking OK before, we can get it tracking properly again.
It helps to understand what tilting the top wheel does to the blade. In this description, left and right refer to viewing from above.
The blade is in tension, so it hugs the wheels and the wheels are crowned, or at least, if they are flat, they BEHAVE as if they are crowned when the top is tilted.
So if the blade is running close to the front edge, the blade will be orientated slightly bottom left to top right like slash, / . As a result, the workpiece will be pulled away from the fence (assuming that you fence is on the left, which it is on most, but not all, bandsaws. The Incra is the other way round IIRC).
If the top wheel is tilted backwards, the blade will be orientated the other way, like a backslash, \ , so the blade will try to wander to the right and pull the workpiece tighter into the fence. The blade becomes distorted, because it gets pushed over to the right, as the workpiece cannot move to the left (because the fence is in the way) and the cut grinds to a halt.
When the tracking is spot on, the blade is orientated true north, as it were, | , which is why most blades behave best when they ride somewhere near the center of the wheel. It's true that if the set is uneven, we have to compensate a bit, one way or the other, but assuming the blade is in good condition, this position should give good results.

 

[david123]

Steve, the cavalry to the rescue

Your DVDs helped me out a lot with sorting my new bandsaw a couple of years ago.

 

[Alexam]

Hope this may help you ...

GET THE BEST TUNING FROM A BANDSAW 'Alex Snodgrass of Carter Industries has an excellent video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU on a tune up method that works well.
Tuning is only that and nothing else. If you really want to get the very best use of your bandsaw on an ongoing basis, then the Steve Maskery DVD's will show you far more and they are a real investment that you should own. http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/ '.

For checking the tension of your blade - Flutter test Video's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chyo9chuwJs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8zZuDosSy0

Carter blade guide video with Alex Snodgrass.
This shows how well they work for smaller blades with a guide only above the table and I have one of these which works well. The back of the blade gullet is also on the centre line on the upper wheel as per his usual advice. https://youtu.be/w_tv7cm0-VU

BEST BLADES FROM ..... http://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/
TUNE WITH SOUND ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPyc2iDQnOA&vl ( UNPROVEN )

Whenever you have put a blade on a bandsaw, ask yourself the following questions:-
....... are you managing to get the that smaller blade running freely and central on the top wheel ( without guides or rear bearing near the blade ) with the gullet of the teeth in the centre of the top wheel. That's the first priority before closing in guides and bearings. ???

Once the guides and bearings have been brought to the correct position, is the blade remaining where it should be when run under power and switched on and off several times ??

Is the blade running vertical 90° to the table alignment, front and back and side to side?
Are you sure that the tension is correct, or as near as it can be. Each blade is different, so needs to be checked whenever changing blades.

If all these things are correct, then you should get a true cut unless you are trying to cut the wood too fast and it's filling the teeth with sawdust and pushing the blade out of line.
Have you checked the blade to see if teeth are damaged in any way.

Malcolm

You could always get someone to copy the CD's you have to a stick that you could use anytime, or download to your PC.

 

[Grahamshed]

Many thanks for that Steve. I have got it working properly with a half inch 4tpi blade now, still having problems with a 5/8 3 tip but mayne it can't tension that enough.

 

[Steve Maskery]

What saw have you got, Graham? My big Basato will do 3/4", but that's it's limit really, I usually have 1/2" or 1/4" on it. So if you have some beef, 5/8 should be doable, but if you shop at ToysRUS you might struggle
As you say, tensioning can be an issue with wider blades.

 

[Bodgers]

Steve should look at the YouTube paid content service - or some other downloadable way of accessing. I might consider buying if it was a little cheaper than the DVD's and it would possibly bring more revenue for him...everybody wins.

 

[Lons]

Steve should look at the YouTube paid content service - or some other downloadable way of accessing. I might consider buying if it was a little cheaper than the DVD's and it would possibly bring more revenue for him...everybody wins.

I don't know if that's possible but am of the same opinion, I would buy also if the price was lower but Steve has to make a living and a return on the considerable effort he's put into producing the videos.
I'm sure they are worth every penny or they wouldn't be praised as much as they are on the forum, just not at the top of the priority list when working to a budget.

Bob

 

[david123]

I know things are tight for a lot of folk, but I do think the DVDs are good value. They have saved me a lot of time and effort making jigs that just don't really work.

Sad it's Christmas morning and I am on here. The off switch is about t be pushed off as the family have just turned up.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

 

[Bodgers]

Steve should look at the YouTube paid content service - or some other downloadable way of accessing. I might consider buying if it was a little cheaper than the DVD's and it would possibly bring more revenue for him...everybody wins.

I don't know if that's possible but am of the same opinion, I would buy also if the price was lower but Steve has to make a living and a return on the considerable effort he's put into producing the videos.
I'm sure they are worth every penny or they wouldn't be praised as much as they are on the forum, just not at the top of the priority list when working to a budget.

Bob

Price doesn't have to be much different, maybe even less than £1.

Convenience more than anything...

I don't think the sign up for YouTube paid content is too bad - 1000 subscriber minimum (which I think Steve already has).



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