14 or 16 inch bandsaw recommendation available in th states
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scratch.
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I have a Laguna 1412 and have been happy with it. The guides work well, although it does seem like the wiggle loose and need to be reset. Not a big deal. I’ve used it to within an inch of full capacity, maybe even full capacity, and have never had trouble with it having enough power in walnut and pine. I can’t remember what my widest oak resaw was, but it was at least 8 inches. Anyway, plenty of power, no issues with drift. For resawing, I’ve been using the Highland Hardware 3/4″ wood slicer. One thing I like and have actually needed is that it can accept a 1/8″ blade. Please note that you need special guides for 5/16″ or less. Laguna sells something fancy for this, but the Carter “stabilizer” guide is a fraction of the price, installs more easily, and seems to work.
6 April 2023 at 7:06 pm #797344Hi.
Two things to look into before you Spring for a new machine. The Carter guides are very nice, but they will do nothing to correct for drift. Even they tell you to align the blade without the guides engaged.1) the riser Block addition raises red flags. It may be that the upper and lower wheels are no longer properly aligned. If your alignment problems started when you installed the riser, you may have your culprit.
There are several tutorials on the Interwebs on aligning the wheels and tires. Two places to look are from Carter YouTube offerings and Michael Fortune, also on YouTube. One often overlooked adjustment is aligning the lower wheel assembly with the upper one with shims. Soda cans make good shim stock.2) drift is often just a misaligned table. Most are held on to the saw with four bolts trough oversized bolt holes. Back off the bolts a turn or so and bump the table in the corrective direction, tighten the bolts back up and try again.
Michael Fortune, who has 11 bandsaws in his shop at last count, has a video specifically about drift. Give it a try before you give up on your saw .Ok, three things.
Put a new high quality blade on your saw. It’s very easy in a moment of carelessness to degrade the tooth line on one side of the blade. You can try stoning the other side by placing a stone ( I use an old diamond plate ) on the side of the blade and turning the wheel backwards a couple turns by hand to reduce the set a little, but if that doesn’t work, put a new blade on. It’s a mistake to use a blade too long. They are cheap and disposable unless you are a masochist.
Drift is not a reason to replace a band saw. I’ve never seen a saw that couldn’t be corrected. My current saw is pushing 95 years old without losing alignment with one bearing replacement in that span.
Thanks for aii the good advice gives me the incentive to try to tune one more time. I’ve had the riser block on for a while and that did not start the problem. I think the problem may have started with the urethane tires I put on the wheels. At one time it worked great but I needed to give up woodworking for a year and when I got back to it I was having the problems. So not quite sure of the time lines
I believe the blades I am using are wood slicker from highland however
Thanks for your input7 April 2023 at 11:14 am #797422This may be a silly question, but did you leave a blade in tension on the saw when you took your year long break?
I have an old second hand band saw that needed some attention. I find that because I have no way to look directly on to the blade and wheel, that I am very much guesstimating whether I have the blade centered on the crown or not. It’s a bit of a kerfuffle trying to realign the table every time I change a blade, so I have marked on the back, where the adjustment knob is for the upper wheel, which direction of adjustment will have which affect on the alignment of the blade with the table. This helps me to fine tune the alignment of the blade to the fence / table.
I probably do need new tyres, and if I ever get around to it, I may drill an observation hole in the frame, but given that I don’t use the band saw that much, none of those are a high priority at the moment.Colin, Czech Rep.
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