Band Saw Tune-Up

[Byron Trantham]

I have a 14" Jet with the riser block. My re-saw blade has been hopping and not cutting very cleanly. I finally got around to seriously looking into making this tool better. The first thing I did was examine the 1/2 Timber Wolf blade and determined that one time or another, probably during installation, I caused a couple of small bends. The blade moves from left to right almost a 1/32" at two points in its travel. I just ordered a new one. I checked the wheels for balance by making a mark on the wheel and manually spinning it to see where it stopped. The stopping point is random, relative to the mark, so I guess the wheel is fine. I want to install a small brass bristle brush in the path of the upper tire to keep it clean. Should this be done for the bottom tire? Are there other things that I should consider? I know I would like to install the new blade and align the fence relative to the blade tracking but I am using a Fast Track system and there are no adjustments to fine tune the fence relative to blade tracking or at least its not not obvious. I watched David Marks go through this ritual and his BS had adjustments for blade tracking. He used a jointed piece of 2x4 about 24" long. He cut for about 6" and then measured the left to right travel and adjusted the fence accordingly. After a couple tries he had it dead on. Anyone know of a way to adjust a Fast Track fence? anyone know of fence will allow this and work with a Jet? One last question. Has one used the carter bearing guides or any other after market bearing guide set?

Thanks in advance for your help and input.

[David Hayes]

Do you still have the instructions that came with the fence? If so, there is a blurb in there about using - IIRC - brass washers to shim the fence. May want to go to their website if you don't still have the instructions.

From what I have gathered over the past 2 years, there is a lot of debate about the effectiveness of the roller guides on 14" bandsaws. I put cool blocks on my 14" Jet w/ riser and couldn't be happier.

I would recommend putting the wheel brush at the 10 to 11 o'clock position on your lower wheel. This should take care of build-up.

Have fun playing with your saw!

Dave

[Lee Schierer]

I'm not sure what your fast track fence is like, but mine can adjust for tracking on my BS. The two wing nuts that hold the fence to the cross slide are where you make the adjustmens. You can change the fence angle by placing one or more thin brass washers that came with the saw between the fence and the extrusion that makes up the cross slide.n Depending upon which way you want to tip the fence you place a washer on the front or rear screw between the fence extrusion and the supporting piece. http://tufftooth.com/images/opening.jpg


You should also be able to tip your fence support piece a little by loosening the wingnuts under the angle that attaches to the side of you BS table. These are the wing nuts that allow you to remove the fence support rail so you can use the cross cut slot.

Fast track also makes a really nice curved extrusion piece that mounts to your fence that makes resawing a snap. It came as part of hte package when I bought my fence but you can buy it separately. Here is one place it is available: Tufftooth (http://tufftooth.com/)

[Jim Becker]

A brush on the bottom tire is a good idea as it probably gets more "stuff" on it than the upper just due to the way the dust is traveling with the blade.

Charles hit on the right way to adjust the Fastrak fence for blade lead using shim washers. But I actually remembered to use the FastTrack resaw guide the other day when I split a birdseye panel for my clock project on my current Jet saw. I was very pleased with the result and the cut was very even along the entire length of the board. I just followed the guide line I scribed down the top of the board and since there was a single point of contact with the "fence", friction was also reduced.

[Byron Trantham]

I just followed the guide line I scribed down the top of the board and since there was a single point of contact with the "fence", friction was also reduced.

Jim, this is exactly the technique I use. Maybe once I get a blade that true to start with, my cuts will be better. I just bugs me to watch Norm and David cut what appear to be 1/8" or even thiner pieces of "veneer" with little or no trouble. They don't use the convex type of guide, just the fence - adjusted for the blade lead angle. Anyway, as usual, the guys have given me enough info to further tune up the saw and improve my re-sawing. Thanks!

[David Rose]

Byron, I have the older Fastrack fence. With it, you lengthen a round screw hole in the mounting bracket to gain adjustment. With a large auxilliary table and a longer fence, I had too much flex in the fence. I wrote the Fastrack people asking for some type of lock on the far end. When I told them what I wanted, they suggested the cam lock for the end of the router table fence. It works great and is fast to lock! As a side benefit if it is pressed down when locking the main front fence lock, it will correct the fence to table angle.

As Jim said, the lower wheel is really the best place for the brush. You want to remove the chips before they get to the top wheel. The Delta 14" that I have with original tires will not handle a brass brush well. I used a very fine bristled brass brush first, and ended up with nylon. The brass immediately stripped off small strips of tire. The nylon did too until I could not detect any contact. The tires may not be the best, I have no idea. But the saw was new when I added the brush(es). At any rate, with minimal contact, most residue is removed.

I like the Cool Blocks too. I have a set of ceramics if the Cool blocks ever wear out. At this point, I think they will outlive me.

David

[Jim Becker]

The Delta 14" that I have with original tires will not handle a brass brush well. I used a very fine bristled brass brush first, and ended up with nylon. The brass immediately stripped off small strips of tire. The nylon did too until I could not detect any contact. The tires may not be the best, I have no idea. But the saw was new when I added the brush(es). At any rate, with minimal contact, most residue is removed.

I've seen folks use old toothbrushes for this purpose as the plastic handles are easy to bend and modify for fastening to the saw with a couple of screws. The damage to a tire you mention would be disturbing to me, however...

[Byron Trantham]

Byron, I have the older Fastrack fence. With it, you lengthen a round screw hole in the mounting bracket to gain adjustment. With a large auxiliary table and a longer fence, I had too much flex in the fence. I wrote the Fastrack people asking for some type of lock on the far end. When I told them what I wanted, they suggested the cam lock for the end of the router table fence. It works great and is fast to lock! As a side benefit if it is pressed down when locking the main front fence lock, it will correct the fence to table angle.

As Jim said, the lower wheel is really the best place for the brush. You want to remove the chips before they get to the top wheel. The Delta 14" that I have with original tires will not handle a brass brush well. I used a very fine bristled brass brush first, and ended up with nylon. The brass immediately stripped off small strips of tire. The nylon did too until I could not detect any contact. The tires may not be the best, I have no idea. But the saw was new when I added the brush(es). At any rate, with minimal contact, most residue is removed.

I like the Cool Blocks too. I have a set of ceramics if the Cool blocks ever wear out. At this point, I think they will outlive me.

David

Dave, thanks for your input. I was going out today and buy two brass brushes. I'm re-thinking that; I'm going to use toothbrushes like Jim mentioned. In fact, I think it was toothbrushes I had heard about. As far as tire wear goes, I'll keep an eye on that. I can't image a nylon toothbrush damaging the tire but I guess you never know until you try it. My tires are the originals.

As far as the fence is concerned, I'm still mulling over that. I think I know what I am going to do and I think it will be easy and effective. As far as fence deflection is concerned, I just clamp a piece of wood behind the end of the fence and problem solved..