G0555 or any bandsaw - truing the fence to the blade

[Dave Macy]

I'm finally able, using a 3/4" iturra blade, to cut thinner than 1/16" on my Grizzly G0555. The table is square to the blade and I'm pretty excited. The problem for me though is the stock fence is not very tall, and it's not really square with the blade. Any tips on how to square this fence or is there a decent modification to make to get a taller fence that's square? We had school off today for MLK, so I spent a good part of the day messing around with it. Tall strips of walnut look great but would be better if they were flat lol. If it makes any difference, it's off by about 5/32 with the top being further from the blade. Thanks

[Van Huskey]

The first thing you need to do is determine if it is the blade not square to the table or the fence not square to the table (or both). You can make a simple cheap resaw fence by using a flat piece of MDF drilling countersunk holes into it and bolting it to the fence.

[John TenEyck]

Does your owner's manual tell you how to square the fence to the table? It does with my G0636X, and involves adjusting one or more set screws in the fence cross arm (the part that locks to the rail). If yours does not have that or some other adjustment capability, and/or you want a taller fence, then you will need to make a fence to attach to your stock fence, and shim it or taper it until it is square to the table. That's what I did with the fence on my Delta 14".



This set up will cut veneer with less than 0.005" variation top to bottom.

If you are happy with that 3/4" blade, fine, but it's not the best choice on a 14" saw like yours, or mine. You can't apply near enough tension on it to take best advantage of the blade. A 1/2", 3 tpi blade would be a better choice for slicing veneer.

John

[Dave Macy]

I'm confident that the table is square to the blade. I'm using a machine square to check. I think it's that the fence isn't square to the table. The owners manual that's only is for the newer version. There were a bunch of changes made to the g0555 years ago that aren't reflected in the current manual. I guess if I use MDF, I can always feed it through the blade so that it will be square. Thanks, will get some mdf and try it.

[Van Huskey]

I'm confident that the table is square to the blade. I'm using a machine square to check. I think it's that the fence isn't square to the table. The owners manual that's only is for the newer version. There were a bunch of changes made to the g0555 years ago that aren't reflected in the current manual. I guess if I use MDF, I can always feed it through the blade so that it will be square. Thanks, will get some mdf and try it.

Use the square to check the fence to table as well and report back. The fences on those are rather rudimentary so they may not have a specific adjustment to square the fence to the table BUT you just have to shim one side of the fence to locking mechanism if it has no adjustment. Easy peasy. Have you also verified the guide post to table alignment?

[Dave Macy]

Ok will do that after I get an essay for school done. Guide post? I never thought about that. Man there is a lot of stuff to check on these things. Making stuff is the easy part

[keith micinski]

Even the re saw fence that came with the g0555 doesn't come with a way to square the fence to the table. Shimming the fence to the locking body will work. I'm thinking about adding two nylon bolts to the ends of the locking body like the unifence has.

[lowell holmes]

Squaring the fence to the table will not cure blade drift. When making that cut, I leave the piece a bit wide and then run it through the thickness planer. I will make a pencil line down the length of the board and then plane or joint it. The planer will keep the thickness dead on. I have an after market fence that has a rip attachment, but I can't saw on the line exactly.

[Van Huskey]

Squaring the fence to the table will not cure blade drift. When making that cut, I leave the piece a bit wide and then run it through the thickness planer. I will make a pencil line down the length of the board and then plane or joint it. The planer will keep the thickness dead on. I have an after market fence that has a rip attachment, but I can't saw on the line exactly.

He still needs to get the saw and fence setup correctly before he deals with blade drift, but it should be minimal with a new Bladerunner blade. When you cut veneer you really don't have the luxury of planing the surface it needs to be very close to even off the saw. With a well setup bandsaw, the proper blade and proper tension I shoot for .003" variation over the entire veneer and see it as a fail if it is over .006" off at any point, though my setup is a little more heavy duty. On 14" Delta clones .005" variation is actually achievable in anything but the hardest exotics.

[lowell holmes]

I agree with Van.