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Gramps' shop Gramps' shop is offline
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Default Bandsaw guides update

Hey, Mike ... the next time you're in my neighborhood come by my shop and help me get my BS humming. Cold ones are always in the fridge!

Larry


On Saturday, September 21, 2013 11:00:18 AM UTC-5, -MIKE- wrote:
On 9/21/13 10:35 AM, Leon wrote:

On 9/21/2013 8:41 AM, woodchucker wrote:


On 9/20/2013 10:26 PM, -MIKE- wrote:


On 9/20/13 8:18 PM, Gramps' shop wrote:


For -MIKE- and anyone else interested:




Received the Carter look-alike guides and they fit my JBS 14MW


nicely. It appears that the spacing between the two rollers is


not adjustable, so the gap between the rollers and the blade is


a tad more than I've been led to believe is appropriate.


Solid construction and at $55 is about one-fourth the cost of


the Carters. Ran a couple of test cuts and am quite satisfied.




Larry






Thanks for the update, Larry. I'm going to bookmark that ebay


seller.




I wouldn't worry too much about the gap. I learned a lot about


which adjustments on a bandsaw are truly important and which


aren't when I was needing to re-saw some 8" bamboo plywood.


Proper blade tension is so much more important than the guides.




This is the original post I made on the topic...


http://goo.gl/J7Z3vs


https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec....I/OM85a1vy8HIJ












I disagree with that. I have my band saw set up very nicely now and it

all matters. I can resaw without variation (minimal). Those guides


prevent it from twisting to some degree. Twist at the top and you


will not track. I use cool blocks just slightly touching so that


they don't pinch the blade.




Of course my fence is set accurately too.






It all depends on the particular BS and blade. My old Craftsman had


to have everything just perfect and the blade had to be retentioned


often during an operation.




Enter my Laguna LT16HD. Guides are handy on tight radius cuts but


totally unnecessary for moderate cutting.






Exactly. I jokingly wrote in my other post that I'm convinced blade

guide were invented for poor saws, dull blades, and poor technique.

Unless I'm turning tight corners, like you, I keep them up at the wheel

all the time.





If the back bone of the saw flexes when under tension the blade will


loose tension and the blade will not track properly. How ridged a


saw is built is directly related with how critical or not critical it


is to set up. The more the saw flexes the more the blade will rub


the guides and the more heat generated.






You bring up another great point. What I also learned in all that

research I did and the subsequent practice is that most people put *too

much* tension on their blades. I think the default practice for many

users when a saw that isn't tracking well is to tighten the blade. An

overtightened blade causes its own set of problems.



After installing new tires and shimming the wheels so they were

perfectly *coplaner, and marking the lead angle for each blade, I was

amazed at how little tension was needed to get the saw cutting

perfectly. This is when I also became aware of the problems with too

much tension on the blade, some of which you mentioned.





(*Coplaner means on the same plane. The top bandsaw wheel can be

adjusted easily so it is parallel to the bottom wheel, but that doesn't

mean it's on the same plane, just a parallel one. The two wheels must

be truly *coplaner* in order to cut perfectly.)





--



-MIKE-



"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"

--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)

--

http://mikedrums.com



---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply