I can't cut consistant thin strips on my band saw.

[Pete Lamberty]

HI! I am having trouble cutting 1/8 inch thick by 1 and 1/4 wide strips that are thirty inches long on my band saw. What I want to do is to glue up four of these strips in a form to create a curved back slat for the back of a chair that I am making. I will need a total of five back slats. I started out by squaring up a thirty inch long hard maple board. It is 1 and 1/4 inches thick. I then went to set up my bandsaw. I drew a line on a piece of scrap maple and cut down the line on the band saw to see at what angle the blade tilted toward as it cut. I positioned the fence to that angle and 1/8 of an inch from the blade. Now I started to cut my strips of maple. The first ten or so were just fine. It was after those that at the begining of the cut the strip would be 1/8 inch thick but by the time I got to the end of the cut the strip would be 1/4 inch thick. Also I was getting reacuring perpendicular ridges (perpendicular to the length of the strip) every quarter of an inch. Some of the tops of these ridges were also shiny. So I am thinking some kind of blade drift. I am using a brand new 1/2 inch wood slicer blade in a 14 inch Jet bandsaw. I am wondering if I should increase the tension on the blade. Also I should mention that when I am ready to start cutting I make some test cuts with a scrap piece of 2 by 6 pine. The strips from the pine come out just fine. So soft wood seems to do okay. I also have Lonnie Birds Bandsaw book but I can't find anything except maybe the tension part. Any thoughts on this are appreciated.

[glenn bradley]

Are you using a long flat fence? I compensate for drift 'on the fly' by using a re-saw fence. Doesn't have to be fancy. The 'pointed' edge allows tracking adjustment as you go.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=42854&highlight=bandsaw+fence

[Mac Cambra]

You should also check the adjustment of the guide rollers or bushings.

Tension would be my second guess.

[Pete Bradley]

Hard to diagnose based on the information available, but here are a few ideas: It's interesting that you got some good ones followed by bad ones. Even very small variation will add up to a lot over several cuts. You might get around it by re-squaring the stock every few cuts.

It couldn't hurt to put on some more tension, but you may also have a setup problem of some kind that is gradually compounding. Is the band square to the table? Did you adjust for drift with wood of the same thickness? It could be your top and bottom guides are out of alignment. You could also get weird behavior if you overcorrected for drift. The angle you got shouldn't be more than a few degrees off the miter slot.
Are you getting a screeching noise during the cut? The band may be fluttering inside the cut.

Please post what the solution turns out to be.

Pete

[Alfred Clem]

Apply a constant and gentle pressure on your material, that's one point where you must be careful. Second, is your saw blade heating? Heat will cause blades to expand, resulting in maple or cherry wood discoloration and irregular cuts. Take it easy. Feel the blade's temperature (when it's at rest, of course). You might put a little cooking spray on a piece of paper toweling and wipe your blade. Run the blade backward by hand and apply the paper toweling. Have you tried using a piece of fine sandpaper on the back of the blade, the surface away from the teeth? Are both sets of blocks and your thrust bearings properly positioned? Has sawdust gathered on your lower set of blocks? The list goes on and on...

Al Clem
Sedona, AZ

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

You might want to try the Wood magazine archives. Ten? or so years ago they had a re-saw jig plan for cutting laminations on the band saw that I made. It worked like a champ. I can't find the pictures I had of it right now. If I can find them I will post them. Perhaps someone else can point you to the article.

[Jim Thiel]

I just watched Norm do this very thing - except the slats were for an outdoor plant stand, but the same idea.
He used the BS fence w/ a little rod attached right next to the blade, "sometimes when re-sawing the work will want to drift, so with this gizmo you can adjust the cut as needed" (very loose translation, but you get the idea).

He over cut by 1/16th, then pushed them through the planer before plyup.

good luck with your project.

Jim

[Bob Reeve]

Just this weekend I cut a bunch of thin strips that we 1/2 x 9/16. I have done this for very thin strips also. The ridges you are getting is more than likely because of too fast a feed speed. I also take the board I am cutting the strips from and run both edges through the jointer then rip off both fresh edges, rejoint both edges and rip again. This will give you a finished strip that has 3 good sides with one side with band saw marks. You can then gang them and run them through a drum sander if you want. If you are gluing up a lamination, the band sawn edges are good enough if you go slow and get a good result. I hope this helps

Bob

[Pete Lamberty]

Well I came up with a solution to my problem. I went back to square one and loosened up all the set screws and then started to adjust everything all over again. I still didn't get a great consistant cut. But I noticed that there was a little movement/vibration in the upper guide assembly. I have a Jet and Jet puts these set screws on the saw that have a flat paddle sort of end that makes one think that one could finger tighten it. Well I found out that doesn't work. So I got a plier and tightened all the set screws. This seemed to help immensely. I still made the strips more than an 1/8 inch thick, jointed the board after each strip and ended up by running them all through the planer. A lot of work but I have nice consistant strips. Thanks for all of your help. Pete