Central Machine Bandsaw riser kit upgrade ?

Dan Mosley

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Palm Springs, Ca
Finally got around to putting the riser kit on my central machine 14" bandsaw in between many other projects. Put the kit on very quickly and
Put a new blade on that i got from Louis Iturra and adjusted the tension per the gauge on the back of the machine (tension knob-and the twang method). Then adjusted the tracking with the other knob until it ran in the middle of the tire per the instructions.
Then set the guide blocks (black cheap ones that came with the saw) so that they kiss the dollar bill between them and the blade, and the thrust bearing to just touch the back of the blade......
Problem is that the blade seems to favor touching the right side of the guide block ........now way to adjust right to left.........
Anybody got any ideas on why this is happening ?
 
Dan, I'm not sure I'm following you. You said you adjusted the guide blocks, but they cannot move left to right. How did you adjust them? Maybe a picture or two would help explain the problem better? :dunno:
 
bandsaw blades are always going to have some amount of drift in them; that is to say, a cut is always going to want to go to the right or to the left at least a little. This is why bandsaw fences are adjustable. If you have the saw set up pretty well, chances are its the blade. Put a different one on and it might pull less or more to that side.
 
If the blade has drift (all have some) and your fence is not set to allow for that drift, this would happen.
Is it when you are on the middle of a cut that you experience the blade going against one of the guide blocks? If so, that would further suggest you fence needs to be adjusted.
Take a piece of wood which is known to be square (I usually use a plywood cutoff). Use a good square to mark a long straight line on the wood. Freehand (no fence or miter gage) cut up the marked line until you feel you are tracking the line well. At this point, clamp the wood in this position (I keep hand clamps ready so one-hand can apply clamps while the other is holding the wood)! Turn off the bandsaw. Slide your fence against the side of the wood. If the fence is not flush with the wood from front to back it needs to be adjusted. On the Delta fence, there are two bolts on top of the fence which are loosened to allow repositioning. Not all fences have the ability to be adjusted, but it is crucial to obtaining a fine cut from the bandsaw.
Note that the fence adjustment is dependent on the blade and needs to be reset whenever you change blades.
 
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