Bandsaw Blade Length Issues

[Rich Aldrich]

A bandsaw is a great tool for preparing blanks for turning. A few years ago, I bought a Shopfox W1706 band saw which is the same as the Grizzly G0555, except it has cast iron wheels instead of aluminum. I also decided to buy the 6" riser block so I had more clearance for cutting burls. It should take a 105' blade but most of these are just bit too long. Occasionally I could find a 105" blade that would run on the saw, but tension was to low. Recently I bought some blades from a supplier that also supplies blades for our two production saws at the mill which have 8 feet diameter wheels. These people are experts. These blades were also too long. With maximum tension applied I could still slide the blade on the wheels.

I decided that it was time to dig into the issue deeper and suspected that the riser block was too short.It measures 5 3/4". Knowing the wheel spacing was close with the tension applied, I decided to install a 1/8" spacer between the upper wheel frame and the riser block. I had to make one with a slot for the bolt that holds the upper frame to the lower frame. This bolt was long enough for a 1/8" spacer, but not longer. The 1/8" spacer would actually require the saw blade to be 1/4" longer. I also had to drill holes for the alignment pins. The pins were long enough to go through the spacer block and still go into the alignment holes in the upper frame.

What a difference. I can now tension the blade properly and use all of the blades that seemed to be too long. It will also accept the blades on the lower tolerance of length (I tried a "shorter blade that actually would run on the saw before the spacer was installed.) The saw now feels like any other good saw I have used in the past.

I know I am the only one with a messy shop, so please excuse the mess.

[Roger Chandler]

Rich, I do know that Grizzly has several different riser block kits,depending on which 14" model one has. Perhaps you got the wrong kit.....they all look similar, but are indeed specific to a particular model. Could be that someone pulled the wrong one at the warehouse, perhaps not? Sounds like your fix will make it good for you, however .....kudos on some good backyard engineering!

[Al Launier]

Ditto what Roger said. Nice fix!

[Geoff Whaling]

Rich, I have had similar issues with being able to tension the bands on a Woodfast BS500 band saw (Rikon in USA), though it is standard with out riser blocks.

It doesn't help that the manual supplied with the saw and the label on the saw indicate two different lengths with only 28 mm or 1 & 1/8" difference in a 3607 / 3635 mm or 142.0 / 143.1" band. I ordered new bands of various specifications to the longer length after checking with the saw supplier and after advice from Henry Brothers the custom band saw "blade" suppliers. Henry Bros suggested that the design of most band saws of that capacity could easily handle the 1/2" extra rise required to accommodate the long bands if the shorter length was in fact correct and that they had only ever supplied the longer lengths to customers. Their opinion is that 3635 mm was the "standard length" for that band saw but better to go longer rather than shorter if in doubt. My own measurements of the band length indicated a length mid way between the two figures. The only downside would be that the tension indicator would be incorrect.

Unfortunately, there was no way that the longer bands could be tensioned sufficiently on the saw as the de-tensioning device significantly reduces the length of travel available on the tensioning mechanism. Six bands had to be cut and re-welded and fortunately a local saw doctor could do it to Henry Bros specs to save me freight but at my cost. In hindsight I should have only ordered the one band and gone from there, but being confident in the advice I received I went full hog. We learn the hard way about the pit falls of the many variations in specifications for the one "brand" supplied to importers price point specs.

[Rich Aldrich]

Rich, I do know that Grizzly has several different riser block kits,depending on which 14" model one has. Perhaps you got the wrong kit.....they all look similar, but are indeed specific to a particular model. Could be that someone pulled the wrong one at the warehouse, perhaps not? Sounds like your fix will make it good for you, however .....kudos on some good backyard engineering!

It is possible that it was the wrong one, but it is difficult to know. It was the correct color, but it could have been packaged wrong. Backyard engineering by an engineer. It is amazing how well it cuts now. No drifting and minimal risk of running the saw off.

[Rich Aldrich]

Rich, I have had similar issues with being able to tension the bands on a Woodfast BS500 band saw (Rikon in USA), though it is standard with out riser blocks.

It doesn't help that the manual supplied with the saw and the label on the saw indicate two different lengths with only 28 mm or 1 & 1/8" difference in a 3607 / 3635 mm or 142.0 / 143.1" band. I ordered new bands of various specifications to the longer length after checking with the saw supplier and after advice from Henry Brothers the custom band saw "blade" suppliers. Henry Bros suggested that the design of most band saws of that capacity could easily handle the 1/2" extra rise required to accommodate the long bands if the shorter length was in fact correct and that they had only ever supplied the longer lengths to customers. Their opinion is that 3635 mm was the "standard length" for that band saw but better to go longer rather than shorter if in doubt. My own measurements of the band length indicated a length mid way between the two figures. The only downside would be that the tension indicator would be incorrect.

Unfortunately, there was no way that the longer bands could be tensioned sufficiently on the saw as the de-tensioning device significantly reduces the length of travel available on the tensioning mechanism. Six bands had to be cut and re-welded and fortunately a local saw doctor could do it to Henry Bros specs to save me freight but at my cost. In hindsight I should have only ordered the one band and gone from there, but being confident in the advice I received I went full hog. We learn the hard way about the pit falls of the many variations in specifications for the one "brand" supplied to importers price point specs.

If you have to buy special length saws, it might be better to try a spacer. Otherwise if you have the saw length figured out, that works too.

[Reed Gray]

If you have a local blade supply, they can easily shorten a blade for you, or make it to what ever length you need, and they will keep it on record so the next time you want one, you just phone in.

Bandsaw blade tension measuring things are just indicators, and most are way off.

robo hippy

[Brice Rogers]

On my HF (wood) bandsaw, the blades seem to last a long time and I have never broken one (yet). But on my HF (metal) bandsaw, I will occasionally snap a blade. It is usually because I was cutting some weird shape and it shifted during cutting.

I learned that it is pretty easy to silver solder the blade to repair it. I prepare each end with a "scarf" joint. I suspect that the angle is around 6 degrees. I have about 0.120 overlap but because of the scarf joint, the thickness remains the same. I hold the two (pre-fluxed) blade ends in direct contact with each other in a homemade fixture and insert a thin flat ribbon of 45-55% silver solder between them. Then I heat up with a propane torch. As soon as I see the SS flow the job is done and I remove the heat. After it has cooled, I briefly anneal the blade for a distance of perhaps 8 inches.

I've had SS blades eventually fail at original weld location. I can't remember one coming apart at the SS repair joint. It is surprisingly strong and not too hard to do with minimal tools.

[david privett]

there is quite a few silver soldering band saw blades u tube videos some are junk some are good and there is some about making a jig to align blades to solder there again some are junk some are quite good , just find the one that makes sense to you