Dennis McDonaugh
03-03-2004, 9:25 AM
I've always been kind fuzzy about how to tension bandsaw blades. Suffolk claims their Timberwolf blades are low tension and have their own method of tensioning, some blades come with instructions to tension to a certain number of pounds and some don't come with any instructions at all. It was all very confusing and contradictory. I finally ordered the Iturra tension meter and can correctly tension blades that come with a recommenation. What do you do about those that don't come with tensioning instructions?
Here's somethings I learned playing with the meter.
My MM16 can put a lot of tension on a 1" blade. I quit at 20,000 lbs
The built-in meter is way off.
When I adjust a timberwolfe blade as per their instructions, the tension is right around 8000 lbs. The meter on the saw is quite a bit above the 1" blade mark.
This makes me think the meter is off more than it appears since a Timberwolfe blade is low tension, a regular tension blade (15000 lbs) would be even higher above the 1" mark.
Has anyone used the Lennox bimetal blade? It claims a blade life up to 10X a regular blade.
Here's somethings I learned playing with the meter.
My MM16 can put a lot of tension on a 1" blade. I quit at 20,000 lbs
The built-in meter is way off.
When I adjust a timberwolfe blade as per their instructions, the tension is right around 8000 lbs. The meter on the saw is quite a bit above the 1" blade mark.
This makes me think the meter is off more than it appears since a Timberwolfe blade is low tension, a regular tension blade (15000 lbs) would be even higher above the 1" mark.
Has anyone used the Lennox bimetal blade? It claims a blade life up to 10X a regular blade.