Cleaning/lubricating bandsaw blades

[tigerturnings]

Hi all,

I recently upgraded my bandsaw to a Jet 18" and have been pleased with the machine overall. I'm running a Dragon blade, 1/2" 3TPI, and using the supplied "euro" blade guides.

The problem I'm having is that when I'm cutting wet wood for turning blanks, wood dust/sap/etc builds up on the inside of the blade (ie the side that touches the bandwheels). The blade then goes through the guides much more roughly and this can lead to excess vibration. When hand turning the wheels today, sometimes the blade got pushed forward out of the guides due to the increased thickness.

I always use a good dust extractor when using the bandsaw (not sure of flow rate but it's an industrial unit and there's virtually no dust left in the saw cabinet after use).

A wire brush held against the blade while turning the bandwheels by hand brought about enough improvement that I could get on this evening but it looks like it may become a problem again. Any ideas how I can prevent this from continuing?

Cheers

 

[PowerTool]

Is it possible to fit a small brush to sweep the blade as it goes ?
My benchtop bandsaw has one on the bottom wheel,I'm sure something similar would help (and cleaning the blade with resin cleaner or similar)

Andrew

 

[Dickymint]

Hi TT,

My Record RBS300 suffers the same problem, I haven't come across a way of avoiding it yet. Like you, I have resorted to cleaning it of the blade however, I use a small sharpened (2") wall paper scraper , which I lay flat on the saw table and carefully move the scrapers leading edge from the back of the saw's blade forwards to just behind the teeth on both sides. I have found this much quicker and far more thorough than a wire brush. I do still use the wire brush to clean up the gullets (between the teeth) when the blade is stationary.

This "darn sticky dust" also adheres to the rubber on my band wheel, I find this far more tricky to remove. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Dicky Mint

 

[Alf]

A tip I've seen in a few places (this pulled from bandsawtips.com):

Make-it-yourself bandsaw tire cleaner
It's a fact that Bandsaw tires will last much longer if they're kept clean. You can make a simple, self-cleaning system for your tires from a couple of old discarded toothbrushes. Just cut the handles off to about 3" long, heat them up with a candle or torch and bend them to a 90-degree angle. Then, simply screw them to the inside of your bandsaw's "cabinet" so the bristles ride constantly against the tires' surfaces during operation..."sweeping" the dust and debris off as you work.

Cheers, Alf

 

[ProShop]

Alf's tip is a good one, and similar to the one I use.

I'm using a strip of the draught excluder used on the botom doors (the brush type) and have self tapped it onto the side of the collector plate inside the machine and it's made a huge difference.

 

[tigerturnings]

Thanks all for the suggestions. The lower wheel on my machine already has a brush fitted and (so far) appears to stay reasonably clean, however I've noted the remedies in case that changes. Dickymint, the scraper method for cleaning the blade sounds a lot more efficient than a wire brush and I'll certainly be giving it a go.

Thanks again

 

[builderchad]

Hi TT,

My Record RBS300 suffers the same problem, I haven't come across a way of avoiding it yet. Like you, I have resorted to cleaning it of the blade however, I use a small sharpened (2") wall paper scraper , which I lay flat on the saw table and carefully move the scrapers leading edge from the back of the saw's blade forwards to just behind the teeth on both sides. I have found this much quicker and far more thorough than a wire brush. I do still use the wire brush to clean up the gullets (between the teeth) when the blade is stationary.

This "darn sticky dust" also adheres to the rubber on my band wheel, I find this far more tricky to remove. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks,

Dicky Mint

I'm guessing you have to be really careful not get the scraper caught in the teeth as that could be disasterous!

The toothbrush idea to keep the tires clean sounds great but I wonder if you void any warranty if you start drilling holes in your cabinet to mount the brushes?

I've also seen it mentioned somewhere that beveling the back of the blade with a special stone helps lengthen the life of the tires. Where can one find these stones though?

 

[tigerturnings]

Hi builderchad,

I was under the impression that the rounding of the rear corners of the blade was mainly to increase the longevity of the rear (thrust) bearing in the guides. Often, the rubber tyres will have a slight crown, in which case the blade's rear edge will not generally touch the rubber tyre, except for very small blades or non-central tracking. In any case, I used a small diamond "stone" that I got free from Planet Manufacturing when I bought some lathe accessories on the back of my blade and had no problems. If you do it under power, you may want to clean all dust away first just in case it sparks but in my (limited) experience this is not likely.

More generally, on keeping blades clean/lubricated, I have just read this on the Suffolk Machinery site. What do people think of it?

For the woodworker using 1" and 1 1/4" bands, not only is water unacceptable as a lubricant, but it also rusts the bands causing deep pitting, and inappropriate chip swelling. This prematurely destroys the body of the band and its gullets. It also dry rots your tires or V-belts.

For proper lubrication mix HIGH ADHESION CHAIN SAW BAR OIL, with 50% kerosene or diesel fuel. Apply the solution with a spray bottle to BOTH sides of the band about once every four minutes, while the machine is running. When this lubrication is applied, the sound of cutting decreases over 50%. DO NOT APPLY AGAIN until the sound of cutting starts increasing. I guarantee you will be amazed! Longer life; No pitch buildup; No rusted or pitted bands! A great delivery system is the 12 volt windshield washer assembly out of an old car!

 

[Jake]

I think that might be for metal, I'd hate to get chainsaw oil over my newly ripped timber.

 

[Dickymint]

Chain Saw oil does sound rather messy....

BuilderChad, Because I've sharpened the edge of the scraper (to fairly sharp) if I go a little too far, 2 things happen:
1) I get a chattering noise and
2) the leading edge of the scraper is immeadiately cut/destroyed (for want of a better description).
I would like to say that as I keep the scraper flat on the table I have not suffered from any snatching or pulling of the scraper at all, to me it seems quite a comfortable method of cleaning the blade. I am cautious to keep all my fingers and both thumbs and wear safety specks just in case!

Dicky Mint