Bandsaw blade mounting
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I have a band saw, with three different blades. One for ripping, on for general work, and one thinner one for fine curvy work. I set the rip blade up on the wheels, so it was running as centrally as I could get it (I am not able to look directly at the upper wheel, so I have to feel it out with my fingers, or with some form of gauge). I then set the table to be square and the miter slot parallel to the blade. After having restrung the saw with the other two blades and worked with them without the need for a fence etc., I came back to try some ripping again tonight. The blade is central on the upper wheel, but now is always wanting to pull the work piece away from straight.
I know that the only adjustments to the table have been on the trunnion, so the squareness has not been changed, the table has not been whacked and the nuts are still tight. I am assuming that the blade is not actually in the same place on the wheel that it was when I set the table, and that I will now have to go through an iterative process to get the blade back in line with the table.
Has anyone else run in to this? How have you reacted?Colin, Czech Rep.
Does your saw have an adjustment to change the centering of the blade on the top wheel? If so, small adjustments in how the blade centers on the upper wheel will affect what you are describing. When I first set up my saw, I made sure the table was perpendicular to the blade. I don’t even know if there is an adjustment for the table to affect the direction of the miter slot / fence. I handle that by the positioning on the upper wheel.
In a recent note from Paul (his blog, perhaps), he commented that he just makes sure that the blade is perpendicular to the table in both dimensions. In other words, test against the side of the blade (bevel angle of the cut) and test against the back of the blade. I’ve never checked against the back of the blade, but you might use that to get your starting point and see if you get the cut you want.
I sat a square on the table, the blade is square to the table both up the side of the blade, and up the back of the blade. I made a little indicator with a couple of magnets sandwiched around a straight stiff piece of plastic. I can just about see when the blade is not parallel to the table for the blade removal. Now to pinch a couple of 45 degree plastic squares from the kids, and create a sliding parallel to check how parallel the blade removal slot is to the miter fence slots, and how parallel they all are to the improvised blade indicator. (I also used this to allow me to mark the effects of the wheel adjustment on the blade position on the back of the frame.
Colin, Czech Rep.
OK, so the two plastic squares method seems to work quite well. A picture attached for those that may be interested, looking from the top blade guide, back along the in feed side of the saw.. It’s not perfect, but I can work with the results. The blade removal slot is parallel to the miter slots, so I can also use that in the future to align the blade.
Colin, Czech Rep.
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