Bandsaw woes

[smallpatch]

OK,

Got my planes figured out yesterday......

Now, can someone please help me figure out why my bandsaw just WILL NOT cut in a straight line.  VERY FRUSTRATED!!

No matter what I do, it just seems to wander back and forth.  Really hard to cut out a stock profile when I can't get it to follow a line.

I have a 14" Rigid saw on a stand.

Any hope?

[Rolf]

The only way I can get my bandsaw to follow a line in thick wood is to use a wide blade. But this cause problems following curves. I solve this by cuting 1/8" away from the line. I then make a plywood pattern out of 1/8"-1/4" birch plywood , stick it on with carpet tape and use a router.

Best regards

Rolfkt

[P.W.Berkuta]

Like your hand planes your band saw needs to be tuned-up and adjusted. Buy yourself (or find it in the library) "Band Saw Handbook by Mark Duginske, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York. In it he explains all you need to know about band saws  .

[Lucky R A]

     Make sure you have a good blade, preferably carbide tipped.  I use a 3/8 wide blade with 5 teeth per inch in my Grizzly Ultimate 14, and have no problems.  I slab the excess off the sides of a blank and then profile using the saw....not recommended if you are not sure of what you are doing.  My saw will follow a track very well.    I used to have problems like you describe, but found the problem to be largly the blades that I was using.   

[Kermit]

Adjust the guides and tension--carefully. You can find directions on the web. Then use the widest blade recommended for your saw, changing to narrow blades only when you need to cut tighter curves. Carbide is very nice--if you can take the cost. The 18" in the shop lives with 1" carbide all the time, cuz it's used for resawing  veneers in figured hardwoods. If all you have is the blade the saw came with, you most likely do not have what you need. Lucky's recommendation of a 5tpi carbide is a good one. My home Griz 14" lives with a 1/2" most of the time.

[Scott Semmel]

Or you can by a Bosch jig saw! Takes up tons less space, not nearly as finicky and goes through 21/4in. hardwood with ease. Cost is about $160

[elk killer]

a zero clearance table insert works well too

[Meteorman]

+1 on Kermit's advice to adjust your tension and guide wheels.
very critical.
and don't forget the guide wheels under the table !
Keep your top guide foot as close to your work (down as far as) as possible.
and maybe try cutting slower.
I use a Griz with 3/8" blade and it tracks pretty well as long as I take my time.
Wobbles are usually a result of me over-correcting, not the set-up.
/MM

[Dave Dolliver]

Use a sharp blade and let the saw CUT.  Don't try to force the wood into the saw which is a common falt with new people on the band saw.  Stock wood is HARD and also 2.5 to 3" thick; that is a load on the blade especially if one tries to hurry the job by forcing the wood into the blade.

Dave Dolliver

[flehto]

My 14" Jet bandsaw came w/ plastic block blade guides and it was impossible to saw on the line. Promptly bought a set of roller bearing guides from Woodcraft and what a difference. ....Fred

[Kermit]

Boy, is Meteorman right! I'd like to have $10 for every time I've helped with a new saw that "won't cut right," only to find that the new owner seems not to have noticed in the manual that there are guides BELOW the table!

And as to tension, I NEVER leave the blade under tension. To make sure, I release the tension each time I shut the saw off. Habit has me resetting the tension lever every time I go to the saw to turn it on. Especially important with those pricey carbide blades. Can't 'seem to get the guys at the shop to do the same. 

BTW, if you are shopping for a bandsaw--new or used--look at the guides. Figure in what it's going to cost you when you realize that you really need to upgrade those puppies. A fellow furnituremaker runs a 36" bandsaw built in 1895. Bought it as "scrap." Babbit top bearing and bronze on the bottom. Wheels have steel spokes, but the rims are wood. Runs like a dream, but one of the things he did when he rehabbed it was to get the best guides he could find and fit 'em to the saw.

[Dave B]

All of the above is good advice. I would add only one other thing and that is to buy the best blades you can afford. Cheap blades will cause you trouble. You also may find if your guides are set perfectly and the saw wants to dive off to the side one way only you may have a damaged blade with teeth on one side having been dulled. You can not cut a straight line with half of the blade sharp. I up graded my band saws guides and have never looked back. I also put a two horse motor on it when the 3/4 hr was burned up by my dear old Mum cutting up some of her hard wood for lathe work. Bless her.  Its great to slice through hard maple with out the rpm dropping when cutting a 3" thick blank.