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09-09-2017, 11:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2017, 11:37 AM by Strokes77.)
14" grizzly bandsaw. Been using 1/2" and 3/8" blades for a few years. Setup with the snodgrass method as best I can. Haven't had a problem. Keep the gullet in the center of the top wheel...
Well I needed to switch to a smaller blade, installed a 3/16".
Can't get it to ride in the center of the top wheel. It will runout to the very front of the top wheel... if I adjust the tilt of the wheel with even a tiny turn, it will track to the center, and then keep going off the back of the top wheel... Make sense? Even with very tiny turns of the tracking adjustment knob, it won't stay anywhere near the center of the wheel.
What is the problem? What am I doing wrong? Is it a tension problem?
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09-09-2017, 11:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2017, 11:46 AM by JGrout.)
(09-09-2017, 11:31 AM)Strokes77 Wrote: 14" grizzly bandsaw. Been using 1/2" and 3/8" blades for a few years. Setup with the snodgrass method as best I can. Haven't had a problem. Keep the gullet in the center of the top wheel...
Well I needed to switch to a smaller blade, installed a 3/16".
Can't get it to ride in the center of the top wheel. It will runout to the very front of the top wheel... if I adjust the tilt of the wheel with even a tiny turn, it will track to the center, and then keep going off the back of the top wheel... Make sense? Even with very tiny turns of the tracking adjustment knob, it won't stay anywhere near the center of the wheel.
What is the problem? What am I doing wrong? Is it a tension problem?
probably a bad ( misaligned) weld
Let us not seek the Republican Answer , or the Democratic answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future John F. Kennedy
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(09-09-2017, 11:46 AM)JGrout Wrote: probably a bad ( misaligned) weld
is there a way to say for sure if that is the case?
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(09-09-2017, 12:21 PM)Strokes77 Wrote: is there a way to say for sure if that is the case?
mark it and watch what it does when you turn it by hand with tension on it. go around several times
Let us not seek the Republican Answer , or the Democratic answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future John F. Kennedy
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(09-09-2017, 12:53 PM)JGrout Wrote: mark it and watch what it does when you turn it by hand with tension on it. go around several times
Pay very close attention to where it goes through the top guides. Easily visualized, and if it is a bad weld it will do a shimmy shimmy coco puff move going through the guides, sometimes if it is quiet enough you will hear it go snick, snick as it goes through. If you can localize when it looks, and sounds goofy you may be able to use a stone to flatten the weld. Try to just work the back of the blade, and leave the teeth alone, see if that fixes the feel, and look. Usually it isn't a huge amount or you would look at it and say
But if it were mine I would look at it under magnification and using my fingers as a feeler device before I even mount them on the saw, especially with blades off a blister card. Those are the cheapest of the cheap blades. Usually poor material of the band, and shoddy welds aren't uncommon. A good blade will be boxed, or the best blades are the ones made for you, and usually they are shipped in a strong box, but the blades themselves are loose in the box, with ties around the blade at a few spots to keep them together. Yes they cost more, but are easily worth the cost.
I have been using these guys for my blades and get perfect blades on very good material, awesome welds
After having talked about those guys on several threads Dave Diaman PM'd me to try These guys, he said he loves the blades, and price is beating my guys, win win
I came up with $49.68 for a description exactly like I get from my old place which would be $65.09. So price is a no brainer, I will try a couple and see if welds are as good, if so, Thanks again Dave
Where I am going with all of this is go to a custom blade place. The blister card blades really are just junk where some guy figures anyone cutting anything needs this blade, A custom blade place will want a lot more info about what you are cutting, thickness, is it resaw, rip, curve cuts. They want you to have a blade that does what you want it to do, not what some dood decides you need, and everyone needs the same blade. Cost more? Maybe, but usually not if you buy more than one blade. If it's one you use a lot, and mix a dozen of a few different blades it will almost always be less, unless you are now getting carbide, and you never did before. My experience with these custom shops is they almost NEVER suggest carbide, and I haven't had as good a resaw cut until I swapped to the Woodmaster B blade material, awesome stuff. Woodmaster B 142" 1.00 (1 in.) 0.035 1.3 tpi is what I ask Santa for on my Christmas wish list
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya 
GW
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09-09-2017, 04:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2017, 04:36 PM by Steve N.)
Or that...........
Looked again at OP's responses, and did not notice that was missing before, would also be a great reason the blade, any blade would roll off the tire. I find change between similar sized blades doesn't matter much, but if OP had a resaw on, and went down to a smallish blade like a 3/16 that would likely require an adjustment to make it track ok. Plus I suspect band length if accurately measured could be longer, if nothing else but stretch of the smaller blade versus the heavier 3/8, and 1/2 he used before. Not even sure if coplaner is the right word, but adjusted for tilt, which of course you do.........
Good catch Joseph
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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(09-09-2017, 04:28 PM)Steve N Wrote: Or that...........
Looked again at OP's responses, and did not notice that was missing before, would also be a great reason the blade, any blade would roll off the tire. I find change between similar sized blades doesn't matter much, but if OP had a resaw on, and went down to a smallish blade like a 3/16 that would likely require an adjustment to make it track ok. Plus I suspect band length if accurately measured could be longer, if nothing else but stretch of the smaller blade versus the heavier 3/8, and 1/2 he used before. Not even sure if coplaner is the right word, but adjusted for tilt, which of course you do.........
Good catch Joseph
So, here is the fix. I reduced the tension as low as it would go, then slowly increased it.. ended with much less tension than it was before. now, the blade will track and stay in the center of the top wheel. The tracking knob works as it should...
I assume this new blade is maybe a tad shorter? or the tension was just far too high to begin with.
All is well now. Thanks for help.
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(09-09-2017, 05:23 PM)Strokes77 Wrote: So, here is the fix. I reduced the tension as low as it would go, then slowly increased it.. ended with much less tension than it was before. now, the blade will track and stay in the center of the top wheel. The tracking knob works as it should...
I assume this new blade is maybe a tad shorter? or the tension was just far too high to begin with.
All is well now. Thanks for help.
For a narrower blade, the wheel should not go as high to get the same tension... So probably too much tension.
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Glad it worked out.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya
GW
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