An experience, an observation and some advice...

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I have had my MM-16 bandsaw for a number of years and this evening I had an interesting experience.

While cutting some angled tenons on the seat support for a porch swing I'm building, the 1/2" blade broke. I can't remember having a blade break before. It was an interesting experience but not as terrible as I thought it would be. But...I was able to make some observations...

When a blade breaks balanced cast iron wheels can spin for one or more minutes. Don't be in a hurry to open doors. A broken blade could end up in that spinning balanced wheel and you could have another incident that was more catastrophic!

It really was underwhelming when it broke. I immediately just stepped on the footbrake which shuts off power and brakes the lower wheel. Then I opened the upper wheel cover and watched the top wheel spin for another minute or two. Then I realized the danger to which I had exposed myself by opening the door while the wheel was still spinning.

I investigated the break in the blade. It just broke straight across with a very slight tear near the back of the blade. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the original blade that came with the saw. I have had the saw for at least 4 maybe 5 years so I have gotten money's worth out of the blade.

Since my wife woke me up at 0300 this morning to take her to the airport, I decided to replace the blade and continue cutting tenons tomorrow.
 
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Probably a hair raising moment none the less and glad it wasn't anywhere dramatic.

I remember one breaking on our BS in HS and recall it wasn't very dramatic, just a slight pop and remember my shop teacher pulling on my shoulder to step back as he shut off the machine. They had a blade welder on the BS in the metal shop, so they did a quick repair and stuck the same blade back on a few minutes later.
 
Did you notice a slight thumping before it broke? Maybe heard a bumping sound? Mine always crack and I can hear a small thumping or bumping sound. Before I put it together and let them go I would start to feel a slight bump as I am cutting, then they let go suddenly. Now I can recognize it and change the blades.
 
I investigated the break in the blade. It just broke straight across with a very slight tear near the back of the blade.

Did it break at the weld?



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The break didn't occur at the weld.

I normally detention my blade two turns on the tension wheel after a period of use. I will explain. I am getting ready to cut some curved parts on the porch swing I am building. Normally I would cut all 6 of the curved parts and then detention the blade two turns until the next time I use it. I think what happened is I didn't detention it the last time I used it and I just cranked up the tension 2 turns resulting in it being overtensioned.

I am deaf and have been diagnosed with Meniere's disease. Though I wear a hearing aid (HA) on one ear and have a cochlear implant (CI) on the other ear, my hearing isn't normal. As a result of the Meniere's disease, my hearing varies from day to day. I will have periods of time when I have pretty good hearing, other times poor hearing...some times things sound fairly normal and other times things are distorted.

When the blade broke, I heard the bandsaw motor running the dust collector running and then the "BANG".
 
I have had an older blade break on my 10" Beaver saw. It was pretty unspectacular. It has lighter nylon wheels of course, which stopped right away, and the blade didn't go anywhere dangerous. Still, when I'm installing a blade with the covers off, I stand back and use a stick to switch on. :whistling:
 
Part of the time when I was going to school I worked in the maintenance of technical equipment and building custom equipment for experiments. We had a Sear's three wheel bandsaw. That thing broke blades so often that I got to know the names of all of the people that worked at the place that welded our blades. Every breakage was a non-event. The blade stopped cutting so I would turn off the machine and reach for another blade.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
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I installed a new Olson 3/8" bi-metal blade, rounded the corners on the back edge using a stone hone and it cut like hot knife through butter.

Tomorrow I will order a new 1/2" Olson.
 
I've broken a bunch. Usually blades break after developing stress cracks in the gullets of the blade. I also work with a band-saw mill occasionally and it is standard practice to inspect the blade for cracks every so often. If a blade breaks at the weld it is because it was either improperly annealed after welding or was improperly ground. Most of the time I break blades re-sawing thick stock or binding the blade a bit.
 
I installed a new Olson 3/8" bi-metal blade, rounded the corners on the back edge using a stone hone and it cut like hot knife through butter.

Tomorrow I will order a new 1/2" Olson.

Ken, I'd highly recommend talking to the folks at Ellis. I think you'll find better blades at a better price than Olson.

http://www.ellissaw.com/

For comparison, I buy Ellis blades for my bandsaw that are as good or better than the venerable Timberwolf blades everyone raves about, and I pay about one third the price.
 
I agree with the bang, but the only bump I felt was at the same time...may have been my heart jumping into my throat, not sure. It got my attention, that's for sure.
I agree that the Ellis blades are very good, much better than the Olsens that came with my MM E-16. I wasn't real happy with their shipping price though. In talking with them about it they recommended asking for a shipping quote prior to ordering. I will do that next time...that is after I break the 7 or so blades I bought. Only used one of the three 1/4" so far. I think I also got two 1/2", one 3/4" and one 1". Jim.
 
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