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Thread: Bandsaw Tensioning Help

  1. #1
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    Bandsaw Tensioning Help

    I recently bought my first resaw bandsaw blade for my new Grizzly G0555X bandsaw. I installed a brand new TimberWolf (TW) 1/2" 3 tpi resaw blade and that sucker just marched right threw a 50" piece of South American walnut with a perfect resaw. A week later I cut another piece of this same wood and it was all over the place. I always detension the bandsaw after I finish using it. I called TimberWolf and they asked me to ship the blade back to them to see if the blade had scratches that would indicate the saw was causing the problem. TimberWolf shipped a brand new replacement blade to me and I met the TimberWolf owner at the DC woodworker's show. She was a very nice and professional lady and gave me lots of advice about tensioning this blade. So I checked up everything on my saw and installed the replacement blade. I used the TW blade and reduced the tension using the TW instructions. I can not get this blade to resaw using the TW instructions. So today I will try to resaw by adding tension pressure. Does anybody out there have any real world advice about how to correctly adjust for this blade so it will resaw? Thanks for any suggestons you may offer.

  2. #2
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    On MY G0555X, a number of upgrades gave me a WHOLE NEW saw:
    • Carter King Coil
    • Carter Ratchet Rod (may not remember the names right, but ... something like this)
    • replacement bearing guide blocks, FROM Grizzly, that allowed use of Olson Cool Blocks above and below the table
    • The Cool Blocks, themselves


    I use the 1/2" 3TPI Wood Slicer ... and ... smile EVERY time I do

    It REPLACED my TW. I HAD a lot of respect for the TW blades, until I tried the Wood Slicer.

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    Unfortunately, I use the flutter method as Suffolk describes and have good results. I do this with 3/8" through 3/4" blades on my 17" saw and with smaller blades on my smaller saw. Just to recap how I am doing it, in case I have forgotten the exact steps and have developed my own procedure:

    Back your guides off all the way.
    Raise your guide post all the way.
    Tighten the blade to some reasonable tension for safety.
    Start the saw and adjust the tension slowly up or down until you find the flutter point.
    Tighten the blade till the flutter smooths out (about 1/4 - 1/2 turn for me).
    Set your guides, replace the throat plate and rock-on.

    I am able to de-tension and re-tension the blades on both saws without issue. Based on the many threads I see here on the subject, I am very grateful that this is one area (and there are so few) where I appear to be lucky.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  4. #4
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    A new blade is a marvelous thing as it almost always cuts perfectly. Its the succeeding cuts that are the problem. A dull blade won't cut right at all. Seems nearly everyone uses a different method but I use the scale on the machine simply as a guide based on experience. Different woods need different tensions in my book. I saw 3/32" veneers every day but I finally gave up on Woodslicer, a great blade but they go dull WAAAAY to fast, and when they do, no amount of fiddling with the saw will make it cut straight. I found that Timberrwolf goes dull even faster. I have a tension gauge but find I can do just as well by guesswork, and far faster. When the blade starts going off, its most always because its getting dull or its not riding on dead center of the wheels.

    NOTE: if the blade is not centered on the wheels, the blade is either toe-in or toe-out because the tires are crowned.
    Last edited by Harvey Pascoe; 03-26-2011 at 12:28 PM.

  5. #5
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    Glen, I will try your method tomorrow after church.

    Quote Originally Posted by glenn bradley View Post
    Unfortunately, I use the flutter method as Suffolk describes and have good results. I do this with 3/8" through 3/4" blades on my 17" saw and with smaller blades on my smaller saw. Just to recap how I am doing it, in case I have forgotten the exact steps and have developed my own procedure:

    Back your guides off all the way.
    Raise your guide post all the way.
    Tighten the blade to some reasonable tension for safety.
    Start the saw and adjust the tension slowly up or down until you find the flutter point.
    Tighten the blade till the flutter smooths out (about 1/4 - 1/2 turn for me).
    Set your guides, replace the throat plate and rock-on.

    I am able to de-tension and re-tension the blades on both saws without issue. Based on the many threads I see here on the subject, I am very grateful that this is one area (and there are so few) where I appear to be lucky.

    Glen, I will try again tomorrow right after church. That way I may not cuss at the new blade too much, but you never know, do you?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by ken gibbs View Post
    Glen, I will try again tomorrow right after church. That way I may not cuss at the new blade too much, but you never know, do you?
    Sounds like a good plan ;-)

    Harvey is right on it though. I cut through a small strip of metal that was hiding inside a piece of wood and the blade was history. Most of my material costs enough to make replacing the blade the correct (if frustrating) economical choice. I always have at least one (and usually two) blades of each type waiting in the wings. That way if I biff a blade, I am not at full stop (or worse, tempted to try to proceed anyway).
    Sounds like a good plan to me ;-
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil Brooks View Post
    I use the 1/2" 3TPI Wood Slicer ... and ... smile EVERY time I do

    It REPLACED my TW. I HAD a lot of respect for the TW blades, until I tried the Wood Slicer.
    I also have a G0555X and tried the TW blades. Had lots of trouble. Went to the Woodslicer from Highland and love it.

  8. #8
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    I have been toying with responding to this thread all day not because I don't think tension is the issue, I think it is but because I have found explaining proper tensioning of a bandsaw blade over the internet as being akin to diagnosing a golf swing in the same manner. The problem is lack of objective benchmarks. ONE of my biggest beefs with bandsaw manufacturers is the lack of a scale set around absolute pressure. If they set the scale up to reflect the absolute pressure placed on the band by the spring at a given point one could simply determine the cross section of a given band and calculate the tension in PSI and quickly get the blade very close to optimum tension for a new blade. As it stands they either give a numbered scale (I think the Grizzly has this) or one delineated by supposed blade width. The former does nothing but give a reference for retensioning once proper tension is determined for a given blade, the second is misleading in that different blades of the same width require different amounts of pressure to get to the same tension, one with a thicker backer needs more pressure than a blade with a thin back because the cross sections are different. Also bi-metal and carbide tipped blades need more tension than carbon blades. To further complicate things the band tension gauges that are sold are designed for the higher tensions of metal cutting bandsaws and if you believe Duginski (I do) they are not accurate or precise enough for wood cutting bands. So one is reduced to feel and trail and error to get a tension that works well with a given type of band. The key then is to RECORD this tension so it can be recreated without much drama. I tension my blades by pressing against the side of the blade to determine the pressure it takes to deflect the band, often people who espouse this method give a figure of so much of an inch deflection with something like "moderate" force. Unfortunately that means little or anything in an empirical sense. Even if you used repeatable force and measured it it would vary based on how much of the blades beam was exposed and would be far different on a 14" cast clone saw without a riser block which would only expose roughly 6 inches versus a MM24 which could expose near 24". So my explanation comes down to getting up enough tension to be SAFE and trial and error small increases until you get an excellent cut then record that tension and start there for THAT exact make/size/TPI blade in the future. Each time you find a new blades sweet spot move the guides to the top and press on the side, over time you will get a feel for correct tension.

    There have been two brands of blades mentioned here TW and Highland WS. The Timber Wolf is a high silicon steel blade (sometimes called Swedish steel) they are initially sharper than carbon blades but dull much more quickly. I have never seen and credible information as to why they can/should operate at lower tension but also can not discount it other than it has not worked for me in the past. My biggest beef with the TW blades I have used is I have found over 25% of them had unacceptable welds, but in the end it is a non-issue because I find quality carbon blades to be a much better value, bi-metal being an even better value.

    The Woodslicer is a hardened spring steel blade which originated in the meat cutting industry and does and excellent job of resawing. The Woodslicer is the most expensive version of this blade and blades made from the same or essentially identical band stock can be had for about 1/2 the price. These blades are extremely sharp initially but dull even faster than silicon steel and in my mind have two specific uses. Due to their very thin cross section wider blades can be tensioned on 14" cast saws which otherwise could not tension wider blades correctly even though they are marketed as being able to. The second is because of their very thin kerf they are perfect for resawing precious woods where even the quick dulling of the blade still proves a better value because of the ability to eek out as many slices of veneer as possible from rare and/or expensive boards.

    The one other thing to note as a blade dulls increasing the tension can be helpful in keeping it from going wonky.

    Approach determining a given blades tension like a science experiment reduce the variables as much as possible and record all your results. When you realize there is no simple "set the machine to setting X) answer it becomes far less frustrating since you know it is not just you. Second, consider your long term choices of blades. There are many high quality manufacturers of band stock, my personal favorite is Lenox.


    Bottom line I think you either don't have enough tension on the blade or there is something wrong with the blade.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

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