Bandsaw help

[Ken Stephens]

I'm a new user of a bandsaw. Each time I run it, I seem to burn the wood. I have tried several times to set it up according to the instructions which came with the unit. It is King 14" and so far overall, I like it's performance. Except for burning the wood. I have tried different feed rates, faster or slower in making turns, various radii (? sp.) all to the same end result. I first used a 1/2" blade, and now have a 1/8" 14tpi.I look like a teenager with dad's car the first time alone, smoke all over the garage!! any ideas?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

try a good blade.....go to www.suffolkmachinery.com in addition to having great "wolf brand" blades, they also have a very good tutorial on bandsaws and when you order your blades, they will help with what kind, number of teeth and most problems you have with a bandsaw....imho (and these blades are not any more or as much as some blades that are not as good!)

[AlArchie]

Dave's right about getting a better blade.....most that come with the saws are really poor quality. In addition to that, you may try taking either a carbide or diamond stone, and while the saw is running, let the stone rest against both BACK corners of the blade....sort of rounding it over. This will allow for less friction in the turns.

Another suggestion is to carefully watch how you feed the material into the blade. You should always feed the material directly into the teeth. It is quite common for beginners to want to turn the wood, but knd of push into the side of the blade. This is really hard to recognize, as you will want to force the turn more than the blade will generally allow, and the tendancy is then to push s bit sideways on the stock.

If you have set your blade guides wrong, you may have ruined the set on the teeth, too. When you install a new blade, make sure the guides (both top and bottom) extend ONLY as far as the gullets.

Al

[Ken Stephens]

Thanks guys for the info. Cheers
I'll look into getting better blades. The narrow one I got at a woodshow in Ottawa, last Fall. It is supposed to be industrial grade, but who knows when you are a newbie? I'll try to round over the back edges, and look again at alignment of the guide blocks. Perhaps the biggest error is the line of cut in relation to the blade itself. I'll pay real close attention to that.

[AlArchie]

Ken, if the set is ruined, there's really not much you can do to salvage the blade. I picked up a hand operated "saw set" a few years back and started re-seeting the teeth. It works wonders, but takes forever; about an hour to do one 90 inch blade. and individually setting each tooth makes my eyes cross!

Al

[JeffB]

All great suggestions
You may want to try a skip-tooth blade
also be sure to cut enough "relief cuts"
thick carving stock will tend to heat up a blade (especially if green) stop and let it cool off if necessary
Order extra blades, carvers tend to be hard on them
Don't worry about smoking out the shop, we've all been there...cherry smells the best!

[Hugh]

Might be poor tension , causing the blade to run and take the set out of the teeth. Just a thought, as the only thing that I can think of is a dull blade. As mentioned before, setting the guides and tension is all important in the operation of a band saw. When all else fails , read the instructions.

[JIM QUILICI]

Ken,
I was having the same problen you are having , my neighbor across the street who was a professional band saw user (worked for thre goverment as a full time pallet maker and a band saw watcher.) lol ,told me to use a skip tooth or a blade with about 4 -6 teeth per inch and this problem would stop. it did stop .when I was using the blade like you the teeth would plug up with stuff and gunk and would burn ,I would have to clean them several times durning the cut out . Hope this helps.
Just old Jim

[Ken Stephens]

Great tips guys! My thanks to everyone who responded. I have so far put in a 3/8" blade, adjusted the tension and will shortly see if it is better. So far, it runs much quieter, so if I watch the line of movement in relation to the blade, I hope to smoke less!!
My question now is how does one clean them. Do you immerse the blade in a solution and scrub it? What solution works best? Do you spray something on it afterwards to prevent rusting?

[MDWine]

Uh... No one gets to laugh out loud...

Make sure the teeth of the saw blade are pointing down!

DAMHIKT!!! Talking Head Bange