Band Saw Blade Position

[Dave Fritz]

Rikon video says to center the blade on the tire. Carter says to center the gullet of the blade on the tire. Which do you use? I'm only cutting wood on a Rikon 14 inch band saw with replacement Carter guides. Blades is a 1/2 inch 3 tpi flex tooth from Ellis in Verona, Wisconsin.

[Edward Weber]

Personally, I don't get too caught up in all that.
"roughly" centered is fine, then adjust tracking for cut alignment.
The band portion is what is responsible for driving the blade and controlling it's direction , so If it were me, I would say put the band in the middle.
The teeth and gullet are just along for the ride.

[Lee Schierer]

I also center the band on the upper wheel as best I can and they always track well.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I also center the band on the upper wheel as best I can and they always track well.
Me too. It seems more logical that way, to me.

[Michael Burnside]

Wide blades, teeth just off the tire. This will save the tire from being damaged or worn over time by aggressive teeth. Smaller/medium blades or fine tooth, centered on the tire. If properly tensioned with this strategy your tires will last, likely, for the life of your saw and won't crown or wear out. My 2 cents.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with you on a flat wheel saw, Michael, but with crowned tires? I would think it to be harder to run it stable with the teeth off the edge. But it's been about 17 years since I had a machine with crowned tires.

[Mel Fulks]

Yep , crowned tires are best . As a beginner I thought ,that can’t be right….it’s gonna run off the edge ! But it doesn’t.

Nothing wrong with teeth a little over the wheel edge. That’s the way (some of them) roll.

[John TenEyck]

Assuming you are talking about crowned tires, I center the blade on the upper wheel. The "center the gullet" idea might be OK for narrow blades, but clearly is unworkable with wider blades. Just draw it and you'll see what I mean. After the blade is centered and tensioned I adjust the tracking, if necessary, so the blade saws straight and parallel with the miter slot/fence. Never adjust the fence for drift with a new blade, adjust the tracking so it cuts straight. If the blade won't cut straight not matter how you adjust it, then it's time to check the wheels to see if they are coplaner, but that's the subject of another discussion.

John

[Melvin Feng]

I am in the camp of centering the gullet when possible. I have a Laguna 18BX, so I often will use it with a resaw king blade that is 1.25" wide, so when it comes to the wider blades, I just center them as best I can, as it is impossible to get the gullet centered on the wheel. For narrower blades though where it is possible to center the gullet, I do it every time.

[Mel Fulks]

We ran bands usually around 1/2 or 5/8 and I think 3/4. Whenever there was a problem it turned out to be a crooked weld. I think
bad ,crooked welds are dismissed by some . “ That’s a brand new blade from my brother in law, you must be doin’ something wrong”.

[Dave Fritz]

Thank you, as expected there are many ways of sawing a board on a band saw. Another point was raised: coplanar. Some say it matters, come say it doesn't.

[Lee Schierer]

Thank you, as expected there are many ways of sawing a board on a band saw. Another point was raised: coplanar. Some say it matters, come say it doesn't.

I've never checked my bandsaw for "coplanar" it may be that way from the factory or maybe not. I did align the table to the way the blade cuts following the process in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNdrkmx6ehI). Now, when I change blades I center the blade on the upper wheel and make my cuts. If the cut tends to wander at all, a very slight adjustment of the wheel tracking fixes it.

[John TenEyck]

Thank you, as expected there are many ways of sawing a board on a band saw. Another point was raised: coplanar. Some say it matters, come say it doesn't.

The first time you install a new blade so that it runs in the center of the top wheel with whatever tension you want, you adjust the table so that it's parallel with the blade. That's a one time task, you don't ever need to adjust the table again. You adjust the fence parallel with the miter slot. You never need to adjust it again when using a sharp blade, only as a way to compensate for drift when a blade is worn or damaged on one side until you install a new blade, and then the fence gets reset parallel to the miter slot. Driftmaster type fences are of no true benefit except as a great marketing strategy to separate people from their money.

If the new blade installed above doesn't cut straight and parallel with the miter slot and fence, then you adjust the tracking, forward or aft, until it does. If no amount of adjustment gets it to cut straight, then it's time to check to see if the wheels are coplaner. If they aren't then you adjust them, per the manual, until they are.

All of the above is covered in most modern BS manuals. Take a look at nearly any Grizzly BS manual. There is a well-worn video saying you don't need to worry about the wheels being coplaner, the factory set them to whatever they thought best. If that were true, blades would cut straight and we wouldn't have this discussion time and time again. The author also has forgotten that machines get moved, even new ones, which can move things out of alignment, and that parts wear.

John

[Anthony Whitesell]

Wide blades, teeth just off the tire. This will save the tire from being damaged or worn over time by aggressive teeth. Smaller/medium blades or fine tooth, centered on the tire. If properly tensioned with this strategy your tires will last, likely, for the life of your saw and won't crown or wear out. My 2 cents.
I target to have the center of the blade back (ie., the portion of the blade from the bottom of the gullet to the rear edge of the blade) centered on the wheel. The wheels on my G0513X2 have a slight crown and this keeps the wheel from trying to use the teeth that have set toward the wheel for traction and keeps the teeth from chewing up the wheel. Not much you can do with 1/4" blades but then again they have fine teeth and I don't expect they would chew the wheel up much at all.

[Richard Coers]

I let it ride wherever it likes to run. That's worked for me for almost 50 years.