Ripping on a bandsaw . . .

[Charles Wilson]

I have been away for a while but have returned to ask some questions.

First off, I purchased an old American made 14" bandsaw a few years ago. Last year, I upgraded the fence to a Kreg fence in hopes of using the bandsaw to rip lumber. I stopped at the Woodcraft in Rochester while I was on business and picked up a Timber Wolf 1/2" width, 4 TPI blade that was recommended by a gentleman that worked there.

Specifically, I am interested in ripping 1" lumber to make some storm windows.

I do not have a TS and have been using my Festool stuff to cut sheet goods.

Anyone have any suggestions for setting up the saw for ripping?

Thanks,
Chuck

[Jerry Thompson]

Buy a bandsaw book. It will show you many, many things. Keep it around for referece. It was one of my best buys.

[Van Huskey]

Nothing special about a ripping setup, I would tension the blade near the 3/4" mark and make sure the fence was spot on for drift. You may want to use something (table rollers etc) for infeed/outfeed and then go to work. If you end up ripping a lot you may want to switch to a bi-metal blade as carbon and especially silicon steel (like the TW blades) will dull quickly.

[johnny means]

What other machines do you have? Lately, I've found that in some cases I prefer to rough cut my rips with my bandsaw, then straighten and size on my j/p. So for me, bandsaw set up is not all that crucial. I string up my biggest resaw blade, 1 1/2" 3tpi, eyeball the fence and start ripping. Of course, this wouldn't work if I was after tablesaw like results. This works for me, because jointing and planing are really easy in my shop. Your mileage may vary. My point is, that a little more information may get you ideas and tips more suited to your situation.

[Thomas Canfield]

You should keep the resawing blade for only resawing. Cutting curves on a blade tends to wear the teeth more to one side and will greatly impact your drift. It is a chore, but also an investment that will last and work better with care.

[Doug Colombo]

Is there a book that you would recommend ?

[Van Huskey]

There are a couple of others that are good but the best IMHO is Mark Duginski's and it is cheap on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Comple...4375609&sr=8-1

[Jim Matthews]

+1 on the Duginske.

Have a look through Google for Michael Fortune's articles on setting up a bandsaw to run straight and square.
I would say that if you're making long rips, you'll need an outfeed table, wedge to insert as a splitter (to avoid springback at the cut side) and a push stick to keep your fingers clear.

Lastly, I found that a sharp blade makes most everything easier. I have also determined that I can't see if a bandsaw blade is really sharp.

[Bill Huber]

I am in the NO drift school, I work with the saw until I get the blade set so there is no drift. I have a Jet 14" and there is no drift when I put a new blade and adjust it. The key is to adjust the tracking on the blade so it will not drift. I have a blade that I use for straight cuts only so the teeth ware the same on both sides.

I set my blades up different then most, I use my fence (kreg) and a 1/4" scrap plywood with a line on it, the 1/4" will show a miss adjust blade up really quick. I put the board against the fence and start the cut, if the blade is tracking off I adjust it and try again, I also have the bearings set about 3" high so the blade can do what it wants more.

The other thing is the amount of force you use to push the wood though the blade, it should not be a lot and you should let the blade do the work, if you try and force it then it will track off no matter how you have set the blade up.

Bandsaw blade.jpg

[lowell holmes]

+1 for Duginski.

He also has a great video.

[Michael Peet]

Bandsaw blade.jpg

Thanks Bill, this is how I always pictured it working as well.

Mike

[Van Huskey]

Bill's method will work but will only work well on a saw with significant relative crown, a saw with very little crown or none (like most European saws) won't benefit much from these efforts. There is no question this method will work on 14" Delta cast clones of which most have a significant crown.

[Peter Quinn]

I was making some lattice today from mahogany scraps I'd been saving, used a timber wolf 1/2" blade, might have been a 3TPI? Might have been 4TPI, don't remember honestly. The material was 1 1/2". I get my blade tracking pretty much on the center of the wheel (20" Italian saw with pretty flat tires), then do a quick check for drift. I've often found that making a minor adjustment to the fence for drift is quicker than fussing with the tracking searching for some perfect spot where all blades run straight. The critical thing is that the stock doesn't try to walk off the fence during a cut, so the fence has to be parallel to the blades cutting path. To me how you achieve that is not particularly important; set fence to blade, set blade to fence, a bit of both in my case, both work well. I have never found a tracking setting where every blade I use lands on the same place on the tires and tracks true every single time. I may be daft?

Anyway, I ripped about 400LF of 1/4" strips in just under 1/2 hour, which is a very casual pace. I could certainly have pushed much faster. I left .070" for the planer to clean up BOTH SIDES! Yup, just over 1/32" per face, I could probably have left less but there was no point in this case. My point is that the BS is a fine way to rip quickly and accurately. I suppose with a CT blade it would be a bit more accurate still? The lattice I'm making sells for $120 per 4X8 sheet at my local building supplier, I make it from scraps, I could throw out a carbon steel blade per sheet and still be way ahead.

Ditto the Michael Fortune articles in FWW, there is also a good video featuring him as well if you have the online membership. I learned the basics from the old Duginski video series I got from my local library, so anything by him is worth a look IMO.

[Mark Engel]

I am in the NO drift school, I work with the saw until I get the blade set so there is no drift. I have a Jet 14" and there is no drift when I put a new blade and adjust it. The key is to adjust the tracking on the blade so it will not drift. I have a blade that I use for straight cuts only so the teeth ware the same on both sides.

I set my blades up different then most, I use my fence (kreg) and a 1/4" scrap plywood with a line on it, the 1/4" will show a miss adjust blade up really quick. I put the board against the fence and start the cut, if the blade is tracking off I adjust it and try again, I also have the bearings set about 3" high so the blade can do what it wants more.

The other thing is the amount of force you use to push the wood though the blade, it should not be a lot and you should let the blade do the work, if you try and force it then it will track off no matter how you have set the blade up.

Bandsaw blade.jpg

Thank you Bill!

The no drift method is what I have always worked towards with very good results. Now I know that I am not quite as crazy as I thought (or was told). At least on this issue.

[Van Huskey]

I get my blade tracking pretty much on the center of the wheel (20" Italian saw with pretty flat tires), then do a quick check for drift. I have never found a tracking setting where every blade I use lands on the same place on the tires and tracks true every single time. I may be daft?

.

Not worth the time Peter, the less crown the harder it is compensate for blade drift with tracking. With no crown wheels I track all but the smallest blades with the teeth off the front of the tire.

Flat tires are much better for wide blades IMHO as they reduce fatigue on wide high absolute pressure blades but require a very well set up and high tolerance bandsaw to track narrow blades well. Tires/wheels with significant crown are much easier to track small blades. One reason I am not a big fan of Delta cast clone saws is the crown being in the wheel, I like to adjust crown on the tires based on the expected use of the bandsaw.