Laguna BX1412 and Resaw King blade do not want to play with me

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

Hi all. Newbie here. I have learned a lot in the forum.

I have decided to post this because I have failed miserable in my attempt to install the 3/4 inch resaw king blade on my bandsaw. I have spent 3 hours popping the blade out of the bandsaw. I have many questions so a little background. I am a 5 foot tall woman. So, not particularly strong. The saw is relatively new (1 year) and it had a 1/2 inch blade installed which was working fine but I remember having a hard time installing it (took me about 45 minutes).

I watched the very good series of video son Youtube of the Laguna man assembling and installing a 3/4 inch blade on my same saw. He puts the tensioning lever in the up position with a lot of ease. I have to get on a chair, literally lift the lever from a squat position and put all my weight into lifting the lever in place. I managed to get the tension step correct with difficulty. The next step is the tracking part. Once again, I cannot move the tracking knob without loosening the tension level. The Laguna man uses his hands to turn the tracking knob. I cannot move the tracking knob even with a wrench (and, yes, the lock has been released). So I have to release then tension lever, turn the tracking knob, then reengage the tension lever (squats, body weight and all). The problem is that once the blade is centered with the tension lever down and I lift the tension lever back in place, the blade explodes out of the saw. Most of the time off the front of the top wheel. But sometimes the front of the lower wheel.

When I turn the wheel by hand really slowly, the blade groans (in the last few seconds of the video his blade groans like mine) but on my saw, the wheel starts turning on its own. And when that happens..POP! Three hours I have spent on this and no cigar for me. I got so frustrated, I installed a 3/8 inch blade to see if the bandsaw is terribly out of alignment. One minute, the thing was tensioned and tracked!

Am I doing something wrong or am I just too weak to install this blade? Or is it the blade?

I am quite frustrated. If any one of you Gods of sawdust could help me, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Stay safe and healthy.
Marta

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

Quick followup. I changed the 1/4 inch for a 3/8 inch blade. It also went quick. The 1/4 inch was kind of flimsy for what I want to do. Did not have issues with tensioning and tracking this blade either. I cut a 4 inch coaster with it no problem. The 1/4 inch choked. (I know it had too many teeth per inch but I wanted to find out what would happen). The wood burned aftter cutting 1/2 an inch. The 4 inch coaster cut well with the 3/8 inch blade. That being said. I would like to install the resaw king because I want to cut some thick (8 to 10 inch) wood. If not, I guess I will try the 1/2 inch blade for those cuts. I am going to bed. Good night.

[Joe Hendershott]

I have the same saw with the 3/4 inch Resaw King blade and do not have any issues. If it takes that much effort you are using too much tension. I am not really strong but can do it with one hand. I too watched the Laguna videos to set mine up. When you do put the tension on the blade where is the pointer on the tension gauge there on the bottom left corner? Is it pointing to the correct line for 3/4 inch blades?

[Rod Sheridan]

Reduce tension to minimum, put the lever in the tension position.

Install the blade, then tension it by hand................Regards, Rod.

[Paul F Franklin]

Make sure the resaw king blade is the same length as the other blades you have that work well. It could have been manufactured too short. A little short usually isn't a problem, but if too far off it will cause problems.

[Charlie Jones]

I agree with Paul. I have the same saw and run the 3/4 Resaw King all the time. It tracks fine with no drift. I tension it with the indicator in the top 1/4 of the yellow field.

[Paul Saffold]

I had a lot of problems with the tension on my 14/12 Laguna. I was going by the marks on the gauge. Be aware the gauge, at least on my saw, is nothing more than a magnet. Just like a refrigerator magnet. It must have moved during shipping. It other words it is mostly useless. I made a tension gauge as described on another post, not mine, here on sawmill creek. Good luck.

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

I reduced the tension to the lowest level and it still is very hard. Thanks for the tip.

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

Thanks for the tip. I agree it feels there is too much tension. I never thought I would have to put all my weight into tensioning a bandsaw blade. I saw that magnet too. When i put the blade in, the pointer is way beneath the marks because I have to lower it all the way down. I saw the magnet too and realized the decorative quality of it. Its location seems to be working fine with the other blades. So...

[MARTA TORRES-QUINONES]

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Make sure the resaw king blade is the same length as the other blades you have that work well. It could have been manufactured too short. A little short usually isn't a problem, but if too far off it will cause problems.

Bingo! I went and measured the blade and it is 114 inches long as compared to my other blades which measure 115 or very close to it. I contacted Laguna to see if they replace it or I have to eat it. Thank you. I do not feel so crazy inadquate now. :)