Embarassing question about how to use a band saw...

[Rick Cicciarelli]

So I don't have much experience with band saws, but being that they seem to be pretty key with furniture makers I'd certainly like to get my skills up to where they should be.
The issues I've run into with my past experiences is wandering blades. How the heck is someone supposed to make a straight cut with a band saw blade...I know it can be done as I've seen people cutting through some pretty thick lumber with these things. I am sure it has to do with machine setup.
Can someone give me some tips and pointers on what I should be checking to make sure the saw is setup correctly to prevent this wandering blade problem? What would be the cause of this?

[Karlan Talkington]

I am by no means an expert, more amateur like yourself but what I have seen done is running a piece scrap through the bandsaw and measuring the drift of the blade and then making the same adjustments to the fence to produce a "straight" cut on the stock.

Hope that helps.

[mike holden]

Rick,
Bandsaws are deceptively simple machines.
Suggest that you go to your library and get the "bandsaw book" by Duginske, there is also a related video by Taunton Press.

In the meantime, read the owners manual and make sure your bandsaw is properly setup and then make a test cut and set the "drift" of your blade.
Be aware that this drift setting is ONLY for that blade and if you remove the blade and put it back on, you will likely have a different "drift"

Basically you take a square board, with a line marked parallel with one edge, and put it partway through the bandsaw. You will note that to follow the line, your board will not be parallel with the edge of the table, this angle is the "drift". Stop your saw, and WITHOUT moving the board, align your fence to the edge of the board.
Now try cutting the rest of the board, the cut should be much closer, and a little more tweaking will get you there.

However, I find it easiest to simply draw my cut line and follow it freehand without the fence. YMMV

Resawing thick material is another problem entirely, here the blade has a great deal to do with cutting flat and square.

Hopefully, this will get you started.

Mike

[Ken Casser]

I would only add that if you want straight lines, the wider the blade the better, and make sure it is tensioned sufficiently. I think there are two kinds of 'wander'. One is where you're ripping along a fence and you get a bad cut which is caused by 'drift', and can be solved as others have stated. The other 'wander' might happen if you're cutting freehand, and the blade just doesn't cut where you expect it to. This can be caused by a dull blade, insufficient tension, too narrow a blade for the type of cut, or even incorrectly setup guides and/or thrust bearings. i.e. if the thrust bearings are too far away from the back of the blade, or if the guide blocks aren't close enough, the blade can wander on its own. I think that the first kind of wander - drift actually - can be solved by checking the tracking. Your wheels are probably 'crowned'. And, if you think about it, depending on whether the blade is running smack in the center of the crown, or in front or behind it, the angle of the blade relative to the miter slot will be affected. Getting that blade right on top of the crown should fix the drift situation. Hope this helps. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I've had a Sears bandsaw for years, and just traded it for a Delta 14", and am going through all these issues right now myself. I found that on my new used saw, the tracking arm is bent, causing its own problems.:eek:

[Dave Cav]

Another thing to consider is to use separate blades for separate jobs (and use good quality blades). Use a 1/2 or 3/4 3 TPI blade for ripping or resawing and a narrower blade for curved work. Never use your rip/resaw blade for curved work, even a little. My experience is they cut pretty straight as long as you ONLY make straight cuts with them. Make sure you know how to tension the blade adequately, too.

[Lee Schierer]

So I don't have much experience with band saws, but being that they seem to be pretty key with furniture makers I'd certainly like to get my skills up to where they should be.
The issues I've run into with my past experiences is wandering blades. How the heck is someone supposed to make a straight cut with a band saw blade...I know it can be done as I've seen people cutting through some pretty thick lumber with these things. I am sure it has to do with machine setup.
Can someone give me some tips and pointers on what I should be checking to make sure the saw is setup correctly to prevent this wandering blade problem? What would be the cause of this?

In a word or two "Proper alignment" and "Proper Blade for the cut". THere are numerous previous posts and lots of books on aligning you saw for best performance. I would talk to the folks at Suffolk Machine about what Timberwolf blades to buy for the type of cuts you plan to make once your saw is tuned up.

[Ken Casser]

Some of this also depends on what saw you're using. My 12" Craftsman wouldn't handle a 3/4" blade, and even the 1/2" Olson 3 tpi I put on it was a little stiff for it. My Delta can handle the 1/2", and I put a 3/4" Timberwolf on it and it seems fine so far, but the books I've been reading tell me that 3/4" is a stretch for a 14" bandsaw. It can't produce sufficient tension to get the blade to work right. I think it depends on the blade you're using, too. They come in different thicknesses and different metalurgies, etc. It can be very confusing, but the answers are out there.

[Tony Bilello]

Band saws by their very nature were not designed for straight cuts. The reason the blades wander is part of the design that helps making curves.
Having said that, band saw can cut relatively straight with a little knowledge.
First thing, get out your service manuel and make sure saw is set up properly. Then add the blade. You want the widest blade with the least amout of teeth. Hmm , sounds like the night shift at the Waffle House. Sorry, lets get back to the saw. Typically, most 14" Bandsaws take up to a 3/4" blade max. Get one with 4 teeth. Now we are back to the ....sorry. At my age I easily get sidetracked.
Anyway, install the 3/4" or larger if your saw can handle it with 4 teeth. Check everything out again and be sure your saw is set properly.
Now walk away from the saw and over to the table saw and make a re-saw jig. This is used in lieu of a fence. Basically it is a pivot point next to but even with the front of the blade that will help you steer by.
While steering try to use leverage off the back of the blade.
Keep in mind that the better quality of saw the easier it will track straight.
One of the main things to also consider is the blades. You must buy quality blades. That part is very important.

[Rick Cicciarelli]

Huh..what the heck is the point of the fence if the durn thin don't cut straight to begin with? Jeesh. No wonder I haven't dived into this sooner. So the 'experience' I was referring to was in regards to a Craftsman 12" bandsaw that we have here at my workplace. I've tried using it a couple of times in the off hours for a few of my own personal projects only to find that the blade wanters in the horizontal as well as the vertical planes. Granted I didn't set the thing up myself. Perhaps I should try to do that. As far as I know, my boss probably just pulled it out of the box and plugged it in. I probably shouldn't be trusting that it was 'set up' at all.....

[Mike Cutler]

Rick
It's not an embarrassing question, but the more important question is what do you forsee your self doing with a band saw?

A band saw is more than capable of making straight cuts with no drift. the fence on my 18" band saw is parallel to the blade and the miter slot and there is no accommodation for drift. The cuts aren't jointer perfect, and need to be cleaned up but they are straight. The deviation comes from changing my hand position, which releases a little pressure and the blade can "lead" just a slight amount, which is evidenced by kerf marks. On a shorter piece of material that I can apply a uniform feed rate to the kerf marks a significantly diminished.

Long cuts on a band saw are "rip cuts", or a resaw cut. If you think you are going to be making a lot of longish cuts, look at bigger bandsaws with more horsepower. it takes power to resaw, and yes it can be done on a 14" band saw with a 1HP motor, but a bigger, more powerful band saw will make the job easier.

The blade for a rip cut/resaw is a low TPI blade, less than 4 TPI. I use a 1", Lennox 2/3 varipitch Tri Master carbide blade. Wide blades are not necessary for successful rip/resaw cuts. I know folks that have 3/8" blades on 36" band saws and they work just fine.

Band saws have flat wheels, and crowned wheels. I use flat wheels,and they are heavy cast wheels. The more rotational mass the wheels have, the more energy is at the blade strictly due to mass. I like heavy wheels, the heavier the better, as long as the motor can keep up. Some folks prefer the crowned wheels, but I just never could get them tuned properly, my issue though.

I guess, in short, there are a lot of ways to achieve the same result, but it comes down to tuning. Co-planar wheels, adequate tension, good fence setup, proper blade selection, and most importantly technique.

Determine what you really need a band saw for, and it will help you choose the best one for your needs.

I have two table saws in my shop, and I would give up both of them before I would give up my band saw.

[David Christopher]

Rick, maybe this will help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cj15Is-Wjs

[Matthew Hills]

Huh..what the heck is the point of the fence if the durn thin don't cut straight to begin with? Jeesh. No wonder I haven't dived into this sooner. So the 'experience' I was referring to was in regards to a Craftsman 12" bandsaw that we have here at my workplace. I've tried using it a couple of times in the off hours for a few of my own personal projects only to find that the blade wanters in the horizontal as well as the vertical planes. Granted I didn't set the thing up myself. Perhaps I should try to do that. As far as I know, my boss probably just pulled it out of the box and plugged it in. I probably shouldn't be trusting that it was 'set up' at all.....

If your cut is not straight in the vertical direction, this can be caused by:
- feed rate too high (match with the blade tooth pattern, wood thickness, motor power, etc.)
- dull blade
- insufficient tension
- guide adjustments

Duginske's video is pretty good and will cover most of this, and show some pretty good cutting. (I like his whisper thin straight shaving with the 1/16" blade on his Inca)

Matt

[Chris Padilla]

I'd like to add that wide blades don't necessarily mean straighter cuts and tpi is entirely dependent upon what you are cutting (green vs. dry) and what kind of finish you are looking for from the cut.

Set up and blade is 50% of it...the other half is experience and getting a feel for your bandsaw.

[Stephen Edwards]

I'm no BS expert (just to be clear, we're talking Band Saw for the purpose of this post!) but I've learned a lot by reading posts here at SMC about alignment, blade tension, the correct blade for the saw, etc.

When I ordered my G0555X from Grizzly I also ordered a Timber Wolf 1/2 inch 3tpi blade. For the life of me I couldn't get a straight cut doing resaws with it. Someone suggested that I get a 3/4 inch 3tpi blade instead. I ordered one from Timber Wolf. I also made sure that the whatchamacallit that holds the guide bearings assembly underneath the table was parallel to the trunion. It wasn't exactly on the money to begin with. A few minutes of tinkering with that assembly, with the help of a spacer to make SURE it was parallel with the trunion, took care of that.

What a difference those two changes made! Using the re-saw fence that came with my BS, and the 6" riser block, I can re-saw a 12" board with absoultey no drift whatsoever. None. I've read so many posts about blade drift on BS's, even much more expensive BS's than mine.

If you're doing re-saw work it's important, in my experience, to get the side of the board that rides against the fence flat before you begin sawing. For wide boards I've found that it also helps to use one of the double stack featherboards available from Rockler, and perhaps other places as well. Be sure to position that just in front of the blade so that as the board passes through the blade the "feathers" don't go into the blade.

One of the OP mentioned using dedicated blades for specific operations. I've got an old Craftsman 12" BS that came over on the Mayflower. I'm in the process of restoring it specifically for curved work. I got that idea from someone here on the Creek. Makes sense to me to avoid the hassle of changing blades and setting up for different operations.

Finally, you'll get lots of advice. Some of it will seem to be conflicting. What I've learned about that is that there's often more than one way to do a thing correctly!

Good Luck!