Resaw problem

[Eric Einsmann]

Greetings!

I went to do some resawing for the first time in a few months (Florida summers are unbareably hot) and my 14" Powermatic was not cutting consistantly. I had the wood firmly up against the fence, but the cut wobbled back and forth. The blade was not tentsioned during the summer. Any ideas? New blade? re-tension?

Thanks,

Eric

[Greg Portland]

"Not tensioned" meaning it was just draped over the wheels? This should not be a problem. I'm not sure what you mean by re-tension... you of course tightened the blade to the appropriate tension before using the saw, right? It sounds like a bandsaw tuneup is in your future. Check that the wheels are planer, the tires are in good condition, and that there are no kinks in the blade. Setup and tension your blade and set the guides. If your still are having -freehand- tracking problems then it may be the blade. If freehand use is OK but the fence causes problems then you'll need to fiddle with your fence settings to account for the drift.

[Kent Chasson]

Most likely causes are not enough blade tension, dull blade, fence not set to account for drift, or feeding too fast. It's pretty hard to diagnose resaw problems without a lot of info.

[david brum]

I would certainly start with a new, decent blade. That will probably get you back in business. If not, you'll have eliminated the #1 band saw problem anyway, and you can move to alignment and operator error issues as the other guys described. My saw exhibits just that drift problem when the blade gets dull. It seems to happen all at once. I usually fuss around with alignment until it dawns on me to change the blade. It's like getting a new band saw every time.

[Ken Shoemaker]

I just went through this.
#1) Blade
#2) Blade tension
#3) Blade drift
#4) Feed rate
After addressing all of these, I'm back in business.

Good lUCK... kEN

[Eric Einsmann]

Thank you so much! I will look in to all those things... It bandsaw itself is almost brand new, but it has been sitting all summer. the blade may be bad, or I could just be a bit rusty... Thanks again for the info!

Eric

[Eric Einsmann]

Ok, I worked on the bandsaw. Cleaned it up and put a new timberwolf blade on it... Was careful with my feed rate and POOF! resaw problem gone!

Thanks again