Record bandsaw BS350 - resawing

[Glynne]

I've been watching Cheerup347's posts about bandsaw issues but I have a slightly different one.

I initially set up my bandsaw with a 1/2" x 6tpi balde from Tuffsaws. I aligned the fence using a manual cut to a parallel edge and then adjusting the fence to the actual cut (normal practice). The fence was a few degrees out from the mitre slot and this was down to the table not being tightened down which I corrected. All subsequent cuts were fine.

Yesterday I needed to do some resawing so I swapped the blade for a 3/4" x 3/4 vari tpi blade (again Tuffsaws). In checking the fence position, the actual saw blade was "twisted" to about 15 degrees to the mitre slots. When running the saw, the blade tracks perfectly in the centre of both wheels but runs at this strange angle? I didn't try and adjust the fence to this angle (not sure that it would adjust that far) but used a point guide instead. Apart from initially having too much tension on the blade, I managed to resaw 8" boards quite comfortably and accurately, albeit at a strange angle to the table mitre slots. Altering the tracking using the top wheel had some minor effect but nothing like as much as needed. The guides weren't interfering with the blade either.

Today I swapped back to the 1/2" blade and and this blade runs in the normal plane with the adjusted fence being parallel to the mitre slots.

Whilst I have no immediate plans to cut any veneers, I would like to be able to resaw using the fence and so I'm at a loss as to what is happening or what I'm doing wrong? I haven't done a co-planar check but I wouldn't have thought that the blades would track if this was out?

Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Thanks,

Glynne

 

[Myfordman]

You should be able to adjust the tracking to get the blade parallel to the mitre slot. A wider blade will run in a different position on the bandwheels. You will need to adjust the rear guide too.

A set of Steve Maskery's DVD's could well be helpful.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I have a BS350, and haven't experienced that (running the same sort of blades). I'd call Record Power, who have good technical support. Likely to be wheels or guides I would have thought.

Nick

 

[Glynne]

Thanks for the replies guys.
The strange thing is that I can get the 1/2" blade to run perfectly so I doubt very much that it is the wheels - however Jack (W) kindly sent me a PM which suggested that the rear thrust bearings might be causing the problem.
I have copied the link and it does make interesting watching with some of the advice being the same as Steve Maskery's (I do have his DVDs) and some slightly different - in particular tracking the blade with the deepest part of the gullet in the centre of the top wheel and the views on co-planar. He mentions the effect of the thrust bearings on the blade if they touch under no pressure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

I think that I probably had my lower thrust bearing touching the wider blade as the lower guides aren't the easiest to see on a BS350 and it was this that pushed the blade out. I'll pay more attention when I next swap the blades around.

Nick (and anybody else with a BS350) - does the plastic dust cover over the lower bearings actually do anything essential? It's just that it really gets in the way of seeing where the bearings (especially the side ones) are positioned.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Search back for threads on bandsaw DX. Basically, if you can extract from just under the table, around the bearings (as as close to that as possible), it works wonders for the life of the parts, as dust doesn't get carried round inside half as much.

Regarding the setup issue, +1 for Steve M.'s DVDs again.

I know this is repetitive, but he describes a systematic process that will not only let you sort out the machine, but understand what's going on too, so diagnosis is easier.

Whenever you change blades, you need to set up all the guides at the same time. That's for each and every blade, usually, even if they're nominally identical, and a change from 1/2" to 3/4" would make a big difference to guide positioning.

E.