bandsaw refurb

[selly]

I've been given a scheppach basato 3 bandsaw, one problem - it just won't saw straight.

Now then I've done a bit of a search on this forum and they guy who gave it to me is fairly experienced at woodwork and has given up on it, he reckons it has warped or something. He reckon he tried everything.

So seriously is this it all possible? The damn thing will not cut true even after no end of fiddling with the wheels to set it up. Is this actually possible that it is beyond help, its a lovely piece of kit it seems and far to young to completely give up on I feel. Anybody ever had any similar problems, whith this brand - it did cut straight once! Sceppach don't want to know.

all help much appreciated.

 

[Mike.C]

Hi Selly,

menatnma who works for NMA Agencies (the importers of Scheppach) hangs around here now and again, so he might be able to help you. Although if as you say"Scheppach don't want to know" it is probably these people you have spoken to already. But as he is a fellow member he might try and help you. Send him a PM, you have nothing to lose.

As for any advice on restoring it, I am sure that you would be able to, but sadly I wouldn't know where to start, but you can bet that someone on here will point you in the right direction.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Cheers

Mike

 

[dickm]

You say it "won't cut straight" - it's a sad fact of life that bandsaws often don't! The important thing about the saw itself is whether or not the blade will run happily, in a constant position relative to the table, without falling off the bandwheels. If this is OK, then what determines straight cutting isn't the machine, but the blade. I suspect you have a dud blade - it would certainly be worth getting a new one, tensioning it correctly on the machine, then trying to see how it cuts. But even with a new blade, the actual cut may or may not be parallel to the fence.
But maybe you know all this already...

 

[Scrit]

Hi Selly

I'd agree with the comment that if it won't cut straight it is probably the blade, but there's also the matter of blade selection which appears to be an area of misunderstanding. When you say it won't cut straight is it that it won't cut parallel to the fence or that the cut is bowed vertically?

It is true that poor quality blades always have a tendency to drift (i.e. turn in cut) especially if they are narrow, however any blade which has been used for sawing tight curves will probably never cut truly straight lines ever again as turning work like that tends to induce extra set and warps the blade slightly. The moral is keep a separate blade for straight-line work and make it as wide as possible. There are, however, other questions to ask such as how wide is the blade, what pitch/form are the teeth, and how thick is the material you are trying to saw? If you are trying to saw 3in thick stock with a 3/16in 16tpi regular tooth form blade it will bow in cut as well as drift as well as choking (refusing to cut because of clogging) and burn the timber in all probability whereas a 1/2in 3tpi hook tooth blade will perform much, much better. The plain and simple fact is that smaller machines cannot exert as much tension on the blade as larger ones. I have a 28in industrial bandsaw saw and I need to use a tension gauge on it to ensure that I don't just pull the narrower blades apart. This is not an issue with smaller machines as you are more likely to bend the frame before you break a blade in that way. The reduced tension capability of smaller machines, however, means that there is a greater tendency to bowing and drifting in cut. Bowing (vertical) can only be dealt with by using sharp blades with the right form and tooth pitch and by trying to increase the tension, drifting is best dealt with by adjusting the rip fence to take account of the drift as you'll never get the blade to run parallel with the fence.

There is a post here about blade selection.

I'd start by buying a decent 1/2in blade (not APTC!), backing-off the guides and seeing if the blade will run true when correctly rensioned. Then realign the blade guides to the blade ensuring that they are in proper alignment with the blade and are not inducing any twist and make some sample freehand cuts. If you are still having problems at that stage, come back and I'm sure that someone here can advise you.

Even if the frame is a bit warped it should still be possible to set-up the saw to cut correctly by carefully realigning the wheels, etc. but just trying a decent blade freehand first is a good indicator of the machine's capabilities.

Scrit

 

[selly]

Thankyou guys,

I'll start with a blade and no doubt may be back.......

 

[Dan]

Hi Selly,

The Health and Safety site (HSE) can be very useful for information on setting and operating most woodworking machinery.
The following link should should give you the required details

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis31.htm


Hope this helps Dan[/url]

 

[DaveL]

HI Dan,

Your link has been caught by our spaminator, that will stop once you have a few more posts. 8)

Here it is: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/wis31.htm

 

[selly]

Well guys thanks for the advice.

I phoned up Dureedge and got a new blade around £10 and now the machine travels like a knife through butter and I have myself a decent bandsaw for nothing. Lesson learned - get a top quality blade and you're away! thanks great forum.

Now have to look for a nice planer thicknesser and table saw to build up the collection.

 

[Russell]

As a retailer we often get people claiming their bandsaws wont cut straight, they always claim to have tried everything and put a new blade in. Invariably the problem is either set up or blade. I have only been defeated once when a n old band saw had excessive wear and we couldn't get a replacement part.

Methodical step by step set up and good quality blades should solve the problem.

 

[tx2man]

Hi all,
I take it Dure edge are taking orders again :shock:

Cheers Tx