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Chris Friesen Chris Friesen is offline
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Default What factors affect bandsaw drift?

wrote:
All of the blurbs I've read which tell how to deal with bandsaw drift
tell you to just saw a straight line down a straight piece of wood,
stop half-way, and mark the angle on your saw table, and then clamp a
fence on the table to that angle, and you're done.Don't forget to tip
your waitress and drive safe on your way home everybody!


I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out the fact that you can *adjust*
your drift angle.

The tire is crowned, so depending on where the blade rides on the tire
it can be made to angle one way or the other. By adjusting the blade
tracking you can compensate for any drift.

On some scrap, draw a series of straight lines parallel to one of the sides.

Freehand cut a couple inches along the first line then turn off the saw.
This will give you your drift angle.

Now adjust the tracking. Bringing the blade towards the operator will
tend to twist it clockwise.

Now cut a few more inches and check the effect of your adjustment.

A few iterations of this and you should be able to get rid of the drift.

Chris