Bandsaw tip...UPDATE

I just got through one of the all time best experiences i have had in woodworking to date.

Bought a new type of blade from R&D bandsaw made for resawing veneer to find it go to the specials page. Well i trully did not believe it since i am incredibly skeptical of marketing jargon but this was amazing.




Just as reference my bandsaw is a delta 14 inch X5 bandsaw with riser block and 1.5 HP motor.

Well i always wanted it to resaw wood. Never ever got it right. It would cut all sorts of skew bowed and whatever shapes. That is until i bought this blade and did this tune up.

So for anyone here that is dissapointed with their bandsaw take a moment to pause and check out a few things.


Here is what i did

1) Cleaned the tyres (tire for Americans). My tyres are polyeurethane type and looking at them i never realized the amount of pitch and sawdust that had built up on them over the years. What caused this is the freebie that R&D bandsaws sent out with the pack of blades i bought. Its a small piece of the Maroon3m type scouring pads. Works well but i also used some of the goo be gone orange cleaner.




2) Checked to see my wheels were co planar with my straight edge. No worries here this is part of the X5 qaulity (made in the USA).

3) Mounted the blade after moving all the guides and bearings out of the way and adjusted the blade tracking thumbscrew.



4) I then adjusted the tension so the blade was running nice and straight after fluttering although getting this blade to flutter was very difficult.

5) Now here is where the big wake up came. I have always felt a great deal of vibration for my saw. Yeah for those of you about to say link belt i already did that upgrade when i first got it. But i remember many moons ago opening the cover on the lower pully to clear the dust and seeing the pully nearly sliding off the shaft. Bit of luck i thought at the time and pushed it back and tightened the allen key. At the time i did check to see it was inline with the drive pully but whats inline. So this time i took the straight edge and did a proper check and moved it over towards the bearing quiet a bit. As it says in the manual this is a source of vibration and all too true. What a difference it made. So check this out if you have a great deal of vibration. I still have some and when i checked the pulleys i see they not running quiet true so one upgrade i am going to look into is balanced pulleys. i will also have a plate made to mount the motor on as right now its not a couple of light gauge bent metal bars that can really flex. Sometimes i dont quiet understand manufacturers.



6) Then i set about adjusting the phenolic guid blocks which i had first sanded up nice and square and the thrust bearings.

7) Now there is an adjustment on my saw for the table tilt to be able to bring it back to 90 degrees. What do you know it was out. Wonder why it was cutting wedgesDumas Rob.

8) I have a kreg bandsaw fence, not that sure i love this thing like i thought i did but its what i got and this time i took the time to set it up properly. I thought i had done that in the beginning but turns out i did not use my head properly.

9) Took a piece of an old elder log i had cut up long time ago. This stuff is hard as nails. Jointed it on two sides so as to get a square edge and pushed it through the blade. WOW could not believe my eyes

So just like when you get to sharpen a plane blade for the first time this was the same experience.

Of course i had to stop myself from cutting up all my wood.

Took a piece of cherry and cut a slice less than 1mm off it and meausred it with a digital vernier (caliper to you guys in the USA) and could not believe my eyes. So i jointed the cherry again and put it through the planner to give me an outer side that is smooth and cut it again. Thinking well prior cut was a fluke. No ways i was able to cut another nice thin slice and this time the one side is planed smooth and the other just needs a couple of passes with sandpaper and bobs your uncle its perfect veneer.

Of course it helps to have the extra hp in the motor and do akl the tune ups but the blade was my convert.


Now i will say this, i come to realize a very important thing. Over time reading posts here i dont think we all realize and fully appreciate just how much incremental learning we do. Picking up tidbits along the way that shape some of our thinking and take us up the learning curve. Each success reinforcing the next. It took a fair bit of patience and determination but i succeeded in the end doing what i always wanted to with this machine.

So thanks to all of you who contribute here that help the learning process I dont think this would have happened without you all.

My only wish is this post helps some other newbie that may be struggling to get the satisfaction he/she desired from a machine of theirs.

There is no getting round learning to properly set up a machine and it aint gonna happen overnight. I also dont believe you can hire someone to do it. This is part of understanding how it works and making it work for you.

Sorry i was so excited by the events i did not get pictures of my cuts i dont keep a camera in my shop.

No pic never happened.

Oh and yes you can hire some one else to set up a machine for you.
The problem is that once they leave that's the only thing the machine can do.
That is until the blade dulls than it can't even do that.

Glad you had a Eureka moment there Rob. They sure are fun. I find that once I get things do go well, it is easier to keep them going well as I now have a feel for it (whatever "it" may be). While I had my pulleys off to put a link belt on my G0513X I must have corrected an alignment problem that I didn't realize was present. The saw is now spooky-quiet. I mean more quiet than just the link belt could be credited for.

P.s. I agree with Chuck that your grievous behavior in expounding your tale of thrills and chills with a thread that is conspicuously devoid of pictures is inexcusable. Do not temp the shop gods wrath ;- )

Thanks for the tips Rob

Great tip Rob

It's great when you make an investment and your highest hopes are realized

Excellent advice Rob. My bandsaw has been finicky lately, I think I'll follow your lead and see if it behaves better. It's an old PM 141.

Good write-up, Rob. I did a few short re-saws a few nights ago, and didn't take the time to set things up as accurately as I should have. I nearly ruined my workpieces, and spent longer fixing the bad cuts than I would have spent just setting up the saw correctly from the get-go. I also ended up with thinner material than I'd intended, so I had to make design changes to accommodate it.

I'm thinking Rob and Vaughn are finally getting around to building their bird houses!!!!

Thanks Rob. I'll need to check the pulley's on mine as I've got the Delta as well, though mine is the 12" and the motor mounts differently, but have always had a thumping noise from it. It's due for a tune-up anyway.

Now here is where the big wake up came. I have always felt a great deal of vibration for my saw. Yeah for those of you about to say link belt i already did that upgrade when i first got it. But i remember many moons ago opening the cover on the lower pully to clear the dust and seeing the pully nearly sliding off the shaft. Bit of luck i thought at the time and pushed it back and tightened the allen key. At the time i did check to see it was inline with the drive pully but whats inline. So this time i took the straight edge and did a proper check and moved it over towards the bearing quiet a bit. As it says in the manual this is a source of vibration and all too true. What a difference it made. So check this out if you have a great deal of vibration. I have always had a bad vibration wam bam I open the cover I had the same problem got the pully moved over and it now runs quiet. Thanks Rob

Gayl you made my day for the second time today. First was Jay with the organ and now the fact that this post help you well thats what our forum is all about.

Rob, I just now read this post for the first time. I have basically the same Delta, mine is about 25 years old. I just got a riser block a few months ago and haven't installed it yet.

I have that same vibration you talk about in point five, mostly upon start-up and shut-down, and I've never understood where it could come from. The top and bottom wheel are co-planar, and I've already done everything else you discuss. BUT it never occurred to me to check out the orientation of the drive and slave pulleys to see if they were aligned properly. Now, there's something else for me to do when I get home tonight.

Thanks for the tip.

I dont know how many are aware of this but i discovered another interesting tidbit of news about my Delta bandsaw. Turns out the 1.5 HP motor Delta uses in my version of this saw runs at just over 3000 rpms.

I called R&D bandsaws today to enquire about the balance pulleys and discuss vibration with the owner. He was very helpful by the way.

The pulleys available from them or Iturra are not suited to my saws motor speed and are set up for the 17XX speed motors.

He also mentioned to get rid of additional vibration try a flat rubber mat underneath the stand to make the saw as solid as possible in contact with the floor. Since this is the one machine i have that does not have a mobile base i am gonna give it a try.

While on the phone i discuss the new blade with him told him how impressed i was with it and asked what i should be expecting in the way of smoothness after the cut. He did say if i wanted it smoother to try the thier little ripper 5/8 blade with different teeth etc. Also on asking him about feed rate he said as fast as it will cut.

Just for kicks and giggles i will get some pics of how well this cuts when i am in my shop next and post them.

There is also some real good bandsaw info for the hobbiest and pro shops on Suffolk MAchinery site. I am pretty sure that Timberwolf, LV Viking and Tufftooth are all the same blade manufacturer by the looks of the exact duplicate descriptions in places. Just my guess.

Take a look here if you want more good background info. You need to browse around too there are many tidbits like his 6 rules to resawing.

Seems to me if one looks into a few relatively small cost items their is a big gain to be had on these 14 inch bandsaws. Mine is still relatively new but the info this guy supplies on bearings and tires is pretty valid.