Narrow blades feasible on Agazzani B-24?

[ian maybury]

The recent thread got me thinking - I need to get set up for tight curve cutting, and am not sure what the limits is on my Agazzani B-24. The alternative is to buy a small saw for this sort of work, but space is tight.

Just wondering if anybody has run very narrow blades (1/8in or 3/16in) successfully on a B-24 - with or without a Carter guide or similar? What has your experience been, and what needs watching out for?

Thanks

ian

[Van Huskey]

My solution is to buy another saw (I am sure nobody saw that coming)... but I understand that is a space issue and I have no idea if you have a supply of cheap used 14" saws like we have in the US.

The problem as I am sure you know is the flat tires. I have not used a B-24 with a narrow blade my only experience has been with a wide blade and resawing when it comes to that saw. I have tried small blades on my MM20 which also has flat tires with decent success. I would probably never have tried it but when I bought my saw the previous owner included a bunch of new blades from 1/8" to 1.5" so I figured what the heck. It tracked OK with 1/8" but required more fiddling than I am used to, better with the 3/16" and just fine with the 1/4". I actually bought a Carter Stabilizer for it just to play and it did make the 1/8" and 3/16" much easier to use and quite frankly acceptable. The first thing I would do is determine the absolute largest blade you can use to comfortably do the tasks at hand and go from there and without a Stabilzer I would TRY to stay with 3/16" as a minimum. Since narrow carbon steel blades are cheap (here) I would try it without the Stabilizer first then decide if you want to spend the extra money. You can make a temporary crown on a flat tire with gaffers (duct) tape BUT with such a large wheel it would be a pain and you would need to use it a good bit without changing blades to make it remotely worth while.

BTW did you see this thread regarding small blade guides for "euro guides"? http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?26314-Simple-Small-Blade-Guide-For-Euro-Guides&highlight=sam+blade+guide Without them or phenolic inserts (MM sells them for their guides and I would not own a set except the previous owner of my saw paid the $75 for a set) it is next to impossible to control a 3/16" or smaller blade with euro guides IMO.

PS Sam (the guy that started the above thread) worked for Minimax US at the time and was using them on flat tired Minimax saws.

[ian maybury]

Spot on Van, that's great. I have seen Sam Blasco's fix before, but having an unreliable memory had forgotten about it. The issue as you say is where the limit lies on narrow blades with the flattish tyres - and how much the guides may contribute to tracking. My guides are pretty much identical to those in Sam's pictures, except I have the later no lock ring version - so for sure it's the first option to try.

I'm thinking it might be possible to bury the blade almost entirely inside a phenolic block which would give excellent twisting resistance. That it would be possible to use the back of the saw blade to mark the line of the required slit on the block of phenolic, and to actually cut it by hand with a saw leaving a kerf of similar width to that of the 1/8 or whatever band saw blade is required. The set on the band saw blade might leave too wide a slit.

Blades are cheap here, but the budget and space are presently a bit tight and as you guessed decent quality 14in saws are not all that available. Lots of cheapie models of questionable quality all right....

It was Sam's video that you linked recently of the MM16 re-sawing with a carbide blade that turned me on to what a big saw could do in that regard.

Thanks again,

ian

[Van Huskey]

I think you are on the right path, as I said it may be a little of trial and error but since those thin carbon steel blades aren't expensive, if you go one step too small it isn't the end of the world! Let us know your findings, some Agazzani people will probably be interested.