Poor cuts on a band saw

[Ray Newman]

Gents: yesterday, I went to use the ol’ Delta 14” BS, fitted with a ¼” Delta blade. Adjusted tension turned it on and made cut in a scrap piece to check that was running well. Much to my dismay, the cut had ridges on both pieces. Tried again and did the same with a slower and a faster feed rate. Didn’t stop and start the stock feed into the blade. Last time i used this blade it cut perfectly.

Thinking it was dull, I changed the blade to a new Delta ½” and adjusted the guides, check for wheel coplanar, etc. Same results on a piece of ½” cherry and ¾” plyw’d. scraps. Started to get a bit aggravated so I let it be overnight.

Today, adjust the tension, guides again, tec., and same results on a test cut.


The saw itself:
--OEM ¾ HP motor on an independent circuit.
--Carter blue urethane tires, and Carter guides. Tires and guides are just about 3 years old and have no apparent defects.
--Adjusted and set the guides per the Carter instruction using a dollar bill.

Any ideas??

[Paul Atkins]

Check the tires? Do they have a crown or are they loose? Also clean any gum/sawdust off them. Send a picture of the bad cut too.

[Ray Newman]

Paul: tires were cleaned off and there is a brush to clean the lower tires.

Tires are tight on wheels which are crowned.

Blades rides on the crown.

No way to post a picture....

[Pete Bradley]

A common cause for this is to bend a tooth uncoiling or storing the band. That wouldn't explain the bad cut with a new band though (although I have very little trust in anything new from Delta these days).

If the ridges are accompanied by a shrieking noise, the band is fluttering in the kerf. More tension, proper guide adjustment.

It's not out of the question that both bands are bad.

I don't think tires are an issue here, it's either band, flutter, or guide adjustment. When you adjusted the guides, did you back both guides off and adjust them to where the band wants to run? Are the blocks adjusted just behind the teeth with the thrust bearing properly set?

[Ray Newman]

Gents: went back this AM and fiddled with the BS, re-doing all of the blade and guide adjustments.

Found two of the four motor mount bolts were a tad loose, so I re-tightened all bolts on the mounts and stand as well as checked the coplanar on the motor and lower wwheel pullies.

Ran it under no-load for about 5 minutes and did a cut with a new, but old Delta, 1/4" skip tooth blades. Perefect cut !

'Dunno' what the problem was, but all is well now. Have a feeling that it was the loose motor mounts and a set in the belt. 'Gonna' make it a point to run the lesser used stationary machines for a few minutes each month as well as periodically check the belts, motor mounts etc.

Again, thanks and a tip o' the hat....

[Johnnyy Johnson]

Ray...this was a great post. I struggled with my band saw for about a week. Not the same problem but none the less, I know my saw much better now. As I have said before, anytime you have to struggle on start up of a new machine, or as in your case older machine messes up..you learn!! Hey...if it was easy everyone would be woodworking. Your idea about running the machine regardless of it's use it what I learned from your post...Thanks..JJ

[Johnnyy Johnson]

Ray...just read your post again and saw you used a different blade and declared victory over your problem.(after working on bolts) I would like to know if you went back to the original blade and it cuts OK now. I had a problem with two new Wood Slicer blades and could not get them to work (thin kerf) I went back to the Timberwolf blades and was happy. I dont like to make to many changes at once when trouble shooting or I may not know for sure what fixed it. If you put the original blade back on and it's fixed...Your The Man!!