Bandsaw set up

[Zack Butler]

I saw a YouTube from a guy that made a ressw fence for his bandsaw by adding a top with a runner in the existing slot then cut a slot perpendicular on the top side then attach a fence to a miter guage so it can be adjusted by simply sliding in the groove and clamping.

This was easy enough until I put my new top on by putting the runner in the groove and cut into the top. The blade is binding. It binds so bad that it almost stopped the motor cutting through 3 quarter ply. The blade is sharpe enough as it cut through the first 6 inches just fine.

I've tried adjusting all if the guides and lowered the top guide to within a half inch and it's still binding. Thoughts?

I hope this makes sense. I would post a link to the video but I'm posting from my phone.

[greenacres2]

What is your runner made from, and how did you attach it? With both wood and man-made material, i have found that if i go just a tick too tight on either flat-head or counter sunk washer head screws--the runner deflects just enough bind, which feels (to my limited experience) like the blade binding. Hitting that harsh spot in the runner does, indeed cause weird blade issues. Backing out the mounting screws by a 1/4 turn or so has solved that for me each time.
earl

[Derek Cohen]

Re-sawing is not just about choosing the ideal fence. It is also involves using the most appropriate blade (sharp, fewer teeth, wider blade, and more tension), as well as the speed the wood is pushed against the blade (too fast and the gullets fill with sawdust, and then the excess here forces the board away from the fence). A dull blade will encourage the board to be pushed harder to compensate, and this leads to the blade being moved, and the kerf with it.

We will just look at the fence in this post.

Generally, for re-sawing, one chooses a full, high fence, such as ...






It is possible to get a good result using this set up. Indeed, very good results .... however they will likely be with well-behaved grain, that is straight-grained boards. 

With harder woods and interlocked grains, there are often internal tensions released as the wood is sawn. The downside to the high fence is that these tensions cause the wood to move, and some boards are quite extreme in this regard. You can see the kerf opening up in these cases. The problem here is that, as the board opens up, it pushes one side away from the fence and into the blade. This causes the kerf to wander and the cut to skew.

The second alternative is to use a single point fence, which holds the board away from a fence. Essentially, this requires that you track along the line free hand. The downside here is that the line/saw cut generally ends up being wavy ....







I have used both of these and come up with a third alternative, which is now my go-to for re-sawing.


One of the videos that influenced my thinking was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY7xKKUGBgE

After watching this video, I really wanted that jig, the Little Ripper. The essence of the Little Ripper is to permit movement and work with it, rather than against it. High fences ignore movement, and fail as a result. Single-point fences factor in movement, but cannot control the quality of the cut. The Little Ripper seems the answer. However is is very expensive, and I even considered building my own version.

It is possible to create a very simple re-saw fence which combines the best factors here - factoring in movement and controlling cut quality. 

The first version was this short, high fence ...



The idea here is to guide the board to the blade, and then give the kerf freedom to open up, but away from a fence.

This worked very well, but the absence of registration at the blade made it more difficult to control the last inch or two. Consequently, version II was to add extra registration by extending the fence past the blade ...



This is the reverse side of the fence (while re-sawing) ...



The bandsaw here is a Hammer N4400, which is essentially an 18" bandsaw (actually, 17 1/2"). The blade is a 1" Carbide Lenox Woodmaster CT. Here is the kerf coming off the blade. It is not the worst example, but there is reaction in the wood, which is Jarrah (note than one side is rough sawn) ....

   

The finish is, nevertheless, excellent ...



I hope this is helpful.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Admiral]

Great post Derek. Lots of good information here.

[kurt18947]

Excellent post by Derek. One addition I've found helpful is to use a feather board to hold the bottom of the board tight against the resaw fence. Without a feather board I've found bottom of the board can drift away from the fence. A sharp blade not used for curve cutting is useful as well. Curve cutting can cause uneven wear on the sides of the teeth so they want to drift as they cut. I wonder if the 'set the fence for blade drift' is in part to compensate for this uneven wear.

[Zack Butler]

Thanks for the replies.  I don't think I was clear where the problem is.  The binding is not in the runner, it's the blade binding while trying to cut through the auxillary top.  Here is the video I was referring to.  The cut I'm talking about is what he refers to at the 0:50 mark.  My blade is binding on the left side of the kerf.

[Zack Butler]

My bandsaw is a grizzly 14" with a 6" riser. I'm using a 3/4" resaw blade. I have recently sharpened it, so that could be the problem. On a couple of test cuts, it is clearly sharper than it was, but I guess I could have not sharpened it evenly.