rickluce wrote:

Yes I too had (and I emphasize had) the Ridgid 14 " bandsaw. A couple
of things are important. Upper blade guide as close to work as
possible. Tension tighter than on scale. Make sure your using a sharp,
good blade. The blade makes all the difference. Timberwolf is the
best...Yes I said it.. I am being narrow minded. If you are so
inclined, I would fork out a little cash for the carbon fiber blade
guides, can't remember what they're called, they cost about $10
dollars per set. Forget the dollar bill trick with these babes just ram
them up directly to the blade as close to the teeth as you dare. My
guess is that when you make a left turn you get blade tweeking. I would
start by tensioning up the blade tighter. With a good 1/2 blade I would
tension to the max. Just remember to untension when your done and it
won't do any damage to the saw. Other than that, you could just be
using too wide of a blade. There are plenty of sites out there that
give radius vs. blade width charts. I find they tend to be optomistic.
In order to get descent tight curves with my Ridgid I used an 1/8 "
blade. It can handle thick wood. I used it to cut 2" Zebra wood with no
problem.
Barry wrote:

Thanks in advance. Spend most of my hobby time metalworking but
occasionally need to do something in wood. I am having trouble with my
bandsaw. It is an inexpensive RIGID. The problem is that it only cuts a
curve in one direction. If I go the other direction, the blade just twists
and it doesn't want to make the curve cut in the wood. I believe I have
adjusted the guides as recommended in the instructions. Am I doing
something wrong with the adjustment? How tight against the blade should the
guides be? Could it be the guides are out of square allowing the blade to
twist? Is it something more obvious that I am not seeing? Is it my cutting
technique?

Thanks

Barry


All your instructions make me darn glad I got a Powermatic! It tracks
blades straight and guide adjustment is non critical. I can resaw
without having to compensate for blade drift, as it's always dead on
straight. I can tension the blades LESS than what's indicated and still
get unbowed resaws up to full height.

Dave