Bandsaw squaring.- fence and blade or miter slot? Big Laguna lt24

[Patrick Irish]

I picked up a Laguna lt24 the March Covid started and then had a baby and decided to move. I just now with help from a friend started to process in dialing it in.

Many questions:

Does the fence or blade need to be square to miter slot?

When adjusting, the blade and fence are what dictates consistent cuts especially resaws?

I had to take the table off to move and put it back on. Its 4 simple posts and not much play. I don;t think there's any fine tuning with the table.

Buddy and I finally got some decent resaws done. The wood was being pulled away from the fence and also burning only one side of the maple we were cutting.

I think the 1-1/8" resaw king blade is dull. It was used and I think they hogged a lot of wood with it.

Any tips to fine tune a laguna or bandsaw in general would be helpful.

From my reading, every time the blade is changed, I'll have to re-align the fence to the blade?

[John K Jordan]

...From my reading, every time the blade is changed, I'll have to re-align the fence to the blade?

I don't have that saw but I've not had the need to realign the fence when I change a blade on my 18" Rikon.

I aligned the wheels to be coplanar when the blade is under tension. I back off the guides and adjust the tracking until the blade is in the center of the crowned tires. Then adjust the guides so they don't touch. With the blade in the center of the tires there is no drift in the blade as tested by the usual method. The miter slot was parallel to the cut and fence needed only a tiny adjustment for the drift - arguably more important than the miter slot. Note that the blade HAS to be sharp, and on both sides. It can be a problem if the teeth are less sharp on one side than the other. I test the sharpness with the flat of a fingernail.

JKJ

[Mark Rainey]

Blade square to table, even though not much play in table, should be able to adjust. ( if blade square to table, miter slot usually also square to blade). A new blade usually has no drift so fence should be square to miter slot/table. If blade is changed and a new blade installed no need to realign fence to blade in most cases. In resawing, practice helps.

[John TenEyck]

Exactly what the gentlemen above said. I have a Grizzly G0636X and that's how the manual describes alignment. You can download that manual from Grizzly's website and follow how the table is aligned to the blade, and then the fence to the miter slot. Once set up you should never have to adjust either again as long as a new blade is in the center of the upper wheel (assuming they are crowned wheels) and a freehand test cut proves it cuts parallel with the miter slot. Drift is the result of dull or otherwise poor blade and your signal to change it.

While much debated, Grizzly points out why the wheels should be coplaner, just as John pointed out. That is the first thing I would verify on your saw before anything else.

Good luck. That should be a really good saw once you get it dialed in.

John

[Mike King]

Your questions, and more, are answered here: https://www.finewoodworking.com/2011...t-up-a-bandsaw