MM 16 and 1/8" blade

[Jim Barrett]

Is anyone using or has used a 1/8" blade on their MM16? If so what are you using for guides and how well did/does the setup work for you?
Thanks!

[Jim O'Dell]

I don't have the MM16, but the guides on my E16 are basically the same. I saw a post by Sam Blasco a few years back where he gave his solution. You can find a drawing of it here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=132216&d=1257708138 I haven't tried it yet as I haven't bought a small blade yet, but it looks like it would work great. Jim.

[Jim Barrett]

Jim,
Thanks for the link....I'll give that a try!

[Jim Becker]

Yes, I use a 1/8" blade on my MM16 occasionally...with the stock guides very carefully adjusted. It's not ideal, but it works quite well for those few times that I need to do some "scrolling" with the bandsaw. (I do have "cool blocks" for the machine, but have never installed them to-date) In retrospect, I wish I had kept my 14" Jet bandsaw to dedicate to small stuff, but then again, I don't do it very often and the space savings of only having one bandsaw is convenient.

[Van Huskey]

I don't have a MM16 but AFAIW the guides on my 20" are the same. Sam's block is a little kludgy to me but it should work. I like Jim have never used my cool blocks but they are more expensive than what I consider THE solution. Even though I have bandsaws coming out of my ears and one set up for nothing but 1/8" blades I have the desire to have all my bandsaws be as useful as possible, just in case... The best solution I have found is the Carter Stabilizer, they don't market one specifically for the MM saws BUT one of the Jet versions, I think it is JET4 fits and works perfectly. I PSwood.com has line drawings with dimensions on their site that I have not seen anywhere else that I sued to pick the correct stabilizer based on the diameter of the guide rod on the MM. The other problem you MAY run into, I haven't but know people that have, is running a 1/8" blade on a flat tire, it can be an issue to get tracking correctly.

[Peter Quinn]

I haven't used a blade that small on my 20" meber with euro guides because blocks or not, there isn't enough radius on the tires to let the set of the blade project. So you are chewing up tires for the benefit of scrolling. I guess you can't eat your cake and have it too. You get a saw that can spin and tension a 1" blade, the same saw is not ideal for scroll work. I suppose if you pick a forward spot on the tires and run the thin blades there it may not interfere with your use of bigger blades?

[Van Huskey]

I haven't used a blade that small on my 20" meber with euro guides because blocks or not, there isn't enough radius on the tires to let the set of the blade project. So you are chewing up tires for the benefit of scrolling. I guess you can't eat your cake and have it too. You get a saw that can spin and tension a 1" blade, the same saw is not ideal for scroll work. I suppose if you pick a forward spot on the tires and run the thin blades there it may not interfere with your use of bigger blades?

I haven't seen any damage to a flat tire with 1/8" blades, my guess it is the low tension and relatively minute set of the 1/8" blade. If one was worried about it and willing to spend a little time you can wrap the tire first with painters tape and then with duct tape (duct tape can be a mess to get off cleanly by itself). One would be surprised how long a duct tape tire will last, I have used them in a pinch before and they last FAR longer than I would have ever thought. You could even use a narrow strip or two under the top layer of duct tape to produce a crown. I use a 1/8" strip under a 1/2" strip on top of my PM141 wheels then add a non-crowned urethane tire to avoid paying stupid money for a OE tire that I would still have to crown. Further, though it may cause other unintended issues it might be possible to produce the duct tape crown near the back of the tire and if you didn't use too wide of a blade for resawing the wide blade might never touch the tape and you could leave it on all the time??!!??

In the end the BEST solution is another bandsaw... then again that is always my solution.

[Peter Quinn]

I haven't seen any damage to a flat tire with 1/8" blades, my guess it is the low tension and relatively minute set of the 1/8" blade. If one was worried about it and willing to spend a little time you can wrap the tire first with painters tape and then with duct tape (duct tape can be a mess to get off cleanly by itself). One would be surprised how long a duct tape tire will last, I have used them in a pinch before and they last FAR longer than I would have ever thought. You could even use a narrow strip or two under the top layer of duct tape to produce a crown. I use a 1/8" strip under a 1/2" strip on top of my PM141 wheels then add a non-crowned urethane tire to avoid paying stupid money for a OE tire that I would still have to crown. Further, though it may cause other unintended issues it might be possible to produce the duct tape crown near the back of the tire and if you didn't use too wide of a blade for resawing the wide blade might never touch the tape and you could leave it on all the time??!!??In the end the BEST solution is another bandsaw... then again that is always my solution.I'm with you there on the second BS Van. Unless the work pieces in question are very large I'd think it might be preferable to get a table top unit or other small machine if such tight scrolling is a regular thing. Or often a forschner bit will do the tight radii and a wider blade will handle the rest.