Bill Huber
05-14-2011, 12:09 PM
I see post all the time about drift on 14" bands saws with crowned tires and the problems people are having, They buy a high dollar fence or they work with the fence they have to get it set to the drift.
With crowned tires drift is very easy to control without changing the fence at all. The crown of the tire will control the drift. Now this does not work with flat tires, only the crowned ones that are on most of the smaller band saws.
I am talking about a new good blade and the general set up of the saw is good. There can be many other things that can cause drift. If you have your saw set up well then to control the drift all you need to is to move the blade to the left or right (as seen from the front of the saw) to control the drift.
I have a 14" Jet and I have NO problem with drift, I never change my fence and it is set square to the table. When I install a new blade and center it on the crown, I will check the drift and if it off a little I will adjust the upper wheel for that drift, once set there is no more drift problems.
Before you shoot me I want you to understand this is the way I control the drift and it works for me very well and I can resaw a straight line on a 4' board with it held flat against the fence with no problem.
The images below show how the blade to the crown will effect the drift of the blade. The images are exaggerated some what to show it better.
194584 194585 194586http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.pnghttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png
With crowned tires drift is very easy to control without changing the fence at all. The crown of the tire will control the drift. Now this does not work with flat tires, only the crowned ones that are on most of the smaller band saws.
I am talking about a new good blade and the general set up of the saw is good. There can be many other things that can cause drift. If you have your saw set up well then to control the drift all you need to is to move the blade to the left or right (as seen from the front of the saw) to control the drift.
I have a 14" Jet and I have NO problem with drift, I never change my fence and it is set square to the table. When I install a new blade and center it on the crown, I will check the drift and if it off a little I will adjust the upper wheel for that drift, once set there is no more drift problems.
Before you shoot me I want you to understand this is the way I control the drift and it works for me very well and I can resaw a straight line on a 4' board with it held flat against the fence with no problem.
The images below show how the blade to the crown will effect the drift of the blade. The images are exaggerated some what to show it better.
194584 194585 194586http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.pnghttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png