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Thread: Bandsaw won't cut a straight piece when I RESAW. Rikon 14" Deluxe

  1. Question Bandsaw won't cut a straight piece when I RESAW. Rikon 14" Deluxe

    Newbie to the site, not a newbie to woodworking. Any help appreciated. I cannot get A straight cut when I resaw. I'm a luthier, so I need to be able to cut very straight resaw from stock, like .120" pieces. It has worked before, but not now. I'm pulling my hair and breaking everything in my shop. I have done these things:

    1. Almost brand new blade, 1/2" 3-4 tpi combo.
    2. Table is square to side of blade.
    3. Table is square to the back of the blade.
    4. Rip fence is square to the table.
    5. The piece I'm feeding into the blade is trued.
    6. Tension is set pretty strongly.
    7. As Alex Snodgrass would be proud, the deepest part of the gullet is in the center (on the crown) of the wheel.
    8. I have adjusted the fence for blade drift, checked it twice.
    9. The Rikon 14" Deluxe owners manual gives no instruction on how to set bottom wheel coplanar with top. In fact, it sets a good 3/8" back in relation to the top. After research, I ruled that out as the cause because when I see that the blade tracks the same on both wheels.
    10. The blade rips a piece straight as an arrow, but trying to resaw ANY sort of wood (hard or soft) the blade starts to drift immediately upon contacting the wood.

  2. #2
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    Dull blade. If it’s a Timberwolf or a woodslicer almost brand new = almost worn out.

  3. #3
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    I know that it is a almost new blade but that is the first thing I would check. Put a new blade that is appropriate for resawing on your machine and do a few test cuts. This will either solve your problem or take the blade out of the equation.

  4. #4
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    Agree with the above. The only time ive had a tracking issue on my saw has always come down to #1 blade is dull #2 blade has too many teeth for the cut im making.

    Sharp trumps everything. That goes for handplane setup as it does for bandsaw setup.

  5. #5
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    Ditto on the above. I have the Rikon bandsaw and the wheels do not need to be co-planer. To me, and I'm sure to get some feedback from this, I have never had an issue with the wheels not being co-planer with each other. I think that is a huge misconception to begin with. My saw will start to go off course with a dull blade period. Also feed rate could play into the saw not performing as it should. BTW, I use the Woodslicer blade and have had issues with it breaking under too much tension. It's a great blade but does dull quickly with some hardwoods.
    My Dad always told me "Can't Never Could".

    SWE

  6. Damnit. So .......I get to resaw about three planks for every blade, I guess. Gotta check the brand name I've been getting (the house brand at Highland hardware). If I need to resaw some musical instrument pieces (guitar tops and backs) from 1x8" stock at about .120", which blade do you recommend? Again, I've been told at the store to use the combo 3-4tpi blade. And....I've been feeding it slowly, painfully slow. I guess it's dull.

  7. #7
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    If you are doing this a lot, Johnny, i cant recommend a carbide blade enough. I dont know your particularly saw at all, but im guessing its on the lighter end of tensioning and and motor power. For that you will want to look at a resaw king. They are thinner and might come in 1/2". Ive run a resaw king for a year inbetween sharpenings.

  8. #8
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    I use an 18" Jet for my resawing, often for making guitars. Something may have happened to your blade, it is definitely wise to swap on a new one and see what happens. You could have hit a staple or a dirt pocket, or if you took it off the saw it could have gotten rubbed against something where it was stored that dulled some of the teeth, or anything. I use 3 TPI 1/2" blades and a factory rip fence for my resawing work, it's not ideal but it gets the job done. The other thing is to feed the wood into the blade extremely slowly, if you're resawing something that's 4 times as thick as what you are ripping you probably need to go to 1/6 of the feed speed. Get some scrap wood and mess around till you figure out if it's the blade, the feed speed or something else, and you'll be fine.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Kane View Post
    If you are doing this a lot, Johnny, i cant recommend a carbide blade enough. I dont know your particularly saw at all, but im guessing its on the lighter end of tensioning and and motor power. For that you will want to look at a resaw king. They are thinner and might come in 1/2". Ive run a resaw king for a year inbetween sharpenings.
    I am not sure if a resaw king comes in 1/2 inch. I see a 3/4 inch on the website. There has been some talk about carbide blades on 14 inch bandsaws. Is anybody running a resaw king on the Rikon 10-326 with successful thin veneers of 1/8 inch?

  10. #10
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    A 1/2" x 3 tpi bi-metal blade will cut well for a long time. It won't cut as smoothly as a Woodslicer or a carbide blade will, but it will cut consistently straight for a long time.

    John

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Hart View Post
    Damnit. So .......I get to resaw about three planks for every blade, I guess. Gotta check the brand name I've been getting (the house brand at Highland hardware). If I need to resaw some musical instrument pieces (guitar tops and backs) from 1x8" stock at about .120", which blade do you recommend? Again, I've been told at the store to use the combo 3-4tpi blade. And....I've been feeding it slowly, painfully slow. I guess it's dull.
    I have the Rikon 10-326 14 inch deluxe also. I have had it for 2 years and even though I have resawed on it, only recently have I tried to tune it up to get thin veneers. It sounds like you have most things dialed in. Blade guides should be a paper thickness distance from blade. Nice to have miter slot parallel to side of blade. I don't care much for this fence. Is yours as tall as the veneer you are cutting? I'm thinking of making my own fence for this bandsaw. I think it takes a lot of practice to get really thin veneers reliably. Who is out there doing 1/8 or 1/16 inch near perfect veneers on this Rikon and what is your set up?
    Last edited by Mark Rainey; 09-24-2019 at 7:31 PM.

  12. #12
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    You might want to experiment with blade tension.

  13. #13
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    In addition to a dull blade and low tension, the other factor one must consider is internal stress in the wood. The issue here is that the board will want to push itself away from the fence, which will cause the cut to wander.

    In anticipation of this, my bandsaw sub-fence extends about 2” past the blade only. This allows the kerf to open without any contact with the fence. Note that the fence is cut away around the blade guard ...



    For a 14” machine, rather than a carbide blade - which have a reputation of breaking on small wheels - try a bimetal blade.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Last edited by Derek Cohen; 09-24-2019 at 7:58 PM.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Johnny Hart View Post
    ... I cannot get A straight cut when I resaw.
    You say you can't get a straight cut. Does that mean the blade is bowing in the wood, giving you a curve from top to bottom? Or something else?

    Besides a dull blade, if the wood is good in my experience bowing is almost always due to not enough tension. "Tension is set pretty strongly" doesn't tell much. I use a tension gauge to set and check tension since some of the other methods rely on guess and experience. I use the gauge every tine I put on a different size or type of blade. I might not use it for years since I mostly use the same Lennox 3 tpi flexback blades, but I used it a couple of days when mounting a new carbide blade.

    You can make your own tension gauge for nothing:
    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....04#post2640804
    https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....33#post2640833

    If it's wandering back and forth instead of cutting a straight line double check the guides (and be sure the blade is sharp). Sloppy guides or guides set too far back on the blade can be a problem. Don't forget about the lower guides too. Make sure there is clearance between the back of the blade and the guide when freewheeling so the blade is not causing the guide to spin except when cutting.

    If the blade is trying to cut to the right or left it can be that the teeth on one side are not as sharp as the other side.

    If "cannot get a straight cut" means something else, what?

    JKJ

  15. #15
    Assuming your tires and blade are clean and the blade is sharp...

    I suggest you try another brand of half inch blade.
    I was having lots of trouble until I changed supplier.
    My new preferred blades have a wider set, and possibly a wee bit thicker of a band.
    Yes it will leave a rougher finish, there might be a tooth here and there that is a bit overset.
    Yes the kerf seems wasteful, and some of you might say it takes more power to run a saw with the blade.

    My answer is it aint wasteful if you can manage straight cuts
    I find these blades cut easier as it will cut straight now.

    Your pushing a 14" saw to the limit here, I suggest you try and find a supplier that has a guaranteed weld, as this would suggest a heavily invested blade manufacturing system.
    If that doesn't work out try another brand of the same size blade.
    as I think the best fix in this case, is to get a brand that can weld up blades with better tolerance.
    I couldn't see anything wrong with the last companies blades, they looked good but the saw didn't like em.

    That's about the best chance you've got on a saw of that size IMO
    Best of luck Johnny

    Tom
    Last edited by Tom Trees; 09-25-2019 at 7:14 AM.

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