bandsaw tracking problems BS350

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hunggaur

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hi folks i have record BS350 which i have just changed the blade on to a 3/4 fast cut tuffsaw blade.

The blade is great and on anything but to about 2 inches it cuts just fine but as per my last post having some problems getting it to cut straight on wider boards

Below is a photo of the drift which is to the right away from the fence. the photo shows a 50 mm long cut

IMAG0221.jpg


I have checked and rechecked the the set-up. The upper guides are just touching the blade on both side with no play and the back guide is all but touching and touches as soon as you start to push the work though.

i have also set-up the guide to the right of the blade (looking from the front) in place first to ensure that everything is square to this.

The lower guides are set the same as the upper guides.

The tension is set to 3/4 inside the bandsaw.

i have also rechecked the fence and it is nice and square to the mitre slot

guard/guide head unit is set 5mm above the piece of work i am trying to rip down.

having run some work through and checked the drift from behind the band saw the drift seams to be coming/starting from the top of the blade which is then pulling the lower part of the blade out

Any help would be welcomed as i am pulling my hair out with this and have never had this problem with any blades before.

Cheers frustrated of stourport.
 
thanks for the link but all it gives you is an option to buy a dvd so not much help. but thanks anyway
 
I had this problem all the time with my old bandsaw and initially with my new bandsaw. Then I bought Steve Maskery's excellent bandsaw setup DVD and, suddenly, the penny dropped.

Just because the fence is parallel to the mitre slot doesn't mean it's parallel to the direction of cut of the blade. Depending where the blade tracks on the top wheel, this will effect the direction of cut.

So now, after changing the blade, I do the following -

1. Adjust the tracking of the top wheel to get the blade running as near as possible in the centre of the wheel
2. On a piece of scrap ply, which has a straight edge, mark a line parallel to the edge about 2 inches onto the piece.
3. Cut along the line, guiding the piece freehand.
4. When I'm happy that the ply is following the line of cut of the blade, stop the saw, and, without moving it, clamp the ply to the table.
5. Adjust the fence to the straight edge of the ply.

Having done this a few times I find I can adjust the tracking of the top wheel well enough that I don't have to adjust the fence.

I don't know if this is the best method of setting up a bandsaw after a blade change but it works for me and it's simple and quick.

Good luck,
 
thanks for that peter i will try it.

You saying that i have just had a thought it will be worth me checking to make sure the table is parallel to the blade as the fence may be parallel to the mitre slot but if the table is not square to the blade it will never work.
 
ungaur,
A few things to check.

1) Are both wheels co-planar. That is if you open the doors and place a long straight edge across the two wheels are they in the same plane. Preferably vertical. If not then adjust them to be co-planar.
2) Mount a blade and see if it tracks across the middle of the top wheel and the same for the bottom wheel. If not then check that the tyres are crowned properly, if not then make a 5 degree crown on each wheel.
3) Replace blade. Now check that the table is level and at 90 degrees to the blade. If not adjust. When adjusting by the way its better to adjust just past the point you want it at and then to come back to the desired position. This removes backlash. Don't forget that you need to also make sure that the table is also aligned so that the fence and mitre track are parallel to the blade.
4)Adjust guidses. Back of blade guide first. Then side of blade guides. Because all of the other main bits are at 90 degrees to each other the guides merely need to be fitted to the blade.

It can all get a bit fiddly and painstaking but a bandsaw is a simple machine. The trick is not to assume that anything is adjusted properly until you have proved it is or done it yourself.

Good luck
Alan
PS Steve Maskery CDs are excellent value and very instructive.
 
cheers for that Alan I will try again tomorrow. If you see a posting for a band saw for sale slightly damaged you will know it has all gone wrong.

jon
 
at last found out what the problem was.

yes it was blade drift however this was compounded by the fact that the screws holding the table in place had slightly loosened. this meant that every time i pushed work through the blade the table moved about 3/4 of a mm throwing everything out of alignment.

thanks for all your help

jon
 
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