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Steve Turner[_3_]

On 7/7/2010 7:12 PM, wrote:
I am using a Delta 9" benchtop bandsaw. I bought
it years ago to just make some rather small cuts quickly.

I made what I thought were the right adjustments. I noticed that
the guides are a bit coarser than my 18" Jet, but again,
it's simple cuts I'm making.

Anyways, I'm trying to make a simple straight cut. I noticed
the blade drifts dramatically. More so than I thought. Over
a simple 4 or 5 inch cut, it drifts about 1/4 inch or more. I'm
using a straight fence. That's a lot of drift. I'm cutting 3/4" ply.

Is this much drift t to be expected with these smaller saws? The
blade is very small as well.

I know I could get a straighter cut with the JET, but I'd
like to use the smaller one for this work that I'm doing.
Would a larger blade help?

Help!

MJ

Even though that's an itty bitty saw, it should still have a tracking
adjustment mechanism; you should follow the procedures in the manual to make
sure the blade is tracking correctly. Basically, the blade should be tracking
directly in the center of the upper and lower wheels to give it the best chance
of being resistant to drift. The wheels are crowned, so if it's riding in
front of or behind the crown, the vertical section of the blade in the cutting
area will be slightly "turned" to the left (or right), contributing to drift.
Other factors will play into this, such as the "set" of the teeth or the
tension on the blade, but the tracking is the most significant contributor.

You don't mention the exact model of the saw so it's hard to guess at the exact
procedure, but the basic steps are to loosen the upper and lower guide and
thrust bearings and get them out of the way, mount the blade, tension it,
adjust the upper and/or lower guide wheels so the blade tracks in the center of
the wheels, then bring the guide and thrust bearings back into place so they're
just "kissing" the blade (or a RCH shy of that). If everything is correct and
you have a fresh SHARP blade, those guide bearings should hardly ever need to
spin, and unless you're force feeding the work into the blade the thrust
bearings needn't see much of a workout either. If all these things are true,
then you know the blade is tracking as well as can be, and any "drift" you have
at this point is simply a function of that particular blade, and you just need
to account for it by changing the angle of your rip fence to match the drift angle.

Hope this helps.

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