A pretty cool tool

[Bruce Page]

I bought this Starrett blade tension gage from fellow Creeker Doug Mason. It’s going to be nice to accurately set the tension on my MM16. Surprisingly, the saws OEM gage was pretty close with my 1" Tri-Master installed.

[Mike Heidrick]

Run some wood through the saw and then tell us if the tension numbers match up. I find with my trimaster on my MM20. the tension needs to be MUCH higher than what the factory gauge says for the cut to be good. Sam Blasco also confirmed that is the case with his experience. I do not have a starrett gauge though.

[Joe Jensen]

I bought this Starrett blade tension gage from fellow Creeker Doug Mason. It’s going to be nice to accurately set the tension on my MM16. Surprisingly, the saws OEM gage was pretty close with my 1" Tri-Master installed.

How does that guage work?

[Matt Day]

It measures the deflection of the blade over a known length (between the two points it attaches to on the blade).

[bob hertle]

Hey Bruce,

Congrats on the tension meter! (guess you never got around to building one like we talked about). There are those that don't believe in tension meters but I sure do. My trimaster likes above 25,000 psi in order not to show mild signs of washboarding. Actually I've settled on 27,000 for the absolute best finish with that blade. Most bimetals I run at 25,000, carbon hardback at 25,000, and carbon flexback at 18-20,000. (There really ain't no such thing as a low tension blade!) I have never adjusted for drift, and only had a blade lead when the blade was really, really dull. I cut as accurately as my Unisaw when ripping. I attribute this to properly tensioning my blades. You'll find after a while that you know what "saw" tension setting you need, without needing to "meter" it for the blades you use the most often.

Happy bandsawing!

Bob
123274

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Bob. I still have your plans, I just never could find the time! When Doug Mason decided to sell this at a price I could justify, I decided to just buy it…
Between stuff for myself and requests from friends for little machine jobs, I sometimes I don’t get enough time for woodworking, let alone my normal chores. :(

[Doug Mason]

Hey!! That looks familiar!!

The Starret stuff is top quality--built well and made to last.

[John Harden]

[QUOTE...Surprisingly, the saws OEM gage was pretty close with my 1" Tri-Master installed.[/QUOTE]

Well then, you have little need for it. Send it this way and we'll see how well the tension scale on my MM20 is calibrated.......:D

Congrats on the cool purchase. I've always wondered how well these work, and now I know!!!!

Regards,

John

[John McClanahan]

Does anyone have the link to the homebuilt one discussed?

Thanks,
John

[Bruce Page]

Does anyone have the link to the homebuilt one discussed?

Thanks,
John

John, contact Bob Hertle.
You will need a milling machine to fabricate it.