Hi folks ….
Today I put a 3/8 carbide tipped (Lennox) blade on my 14″ Delta bandsaw to rough out some bowl blanks. I had previously cut quite a bit of very, very green yellowwood and the blade had considerable gunk buildup on it. I did my best to clean it off then began my work.
I noticed the blade seemed to have a totally different idea of where to cut than I did, so I did the drift test thing by marking a straight line on a piece of 3/4″ scrap fir I had lying around and cut down the line freehand to see what was happening.
Now I’m aware that most if not all bandsaw blades have a tendency to drift to one side or the other but this one must have been close to 10 degrees!! Don’t recall ever having hit anything like a nail or other non-wood material that would have dinged it up. What I did to clean the blade at first was take a small piece of sand paper against the sides of the blade, well back from the teeth and turn the wheel by hand. I thought I was being careful *NOT* to let the sandpaper touch the teeth.
Does an un-clean blade drift more than a clean one? Is this possiby one of those instances were blade tensioning could be way off?
Tomorrow I’ll but another blade on the saw and see if perhaps there isn’t something else going on. I sure hate the though of having such an expensive blade go up in smoke.
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Replies
Dennis,
Ten degrees? A little much. You probably changed the band's behavior by sanding it. Use a gum remover instead. Are you lubricating the blade? Even carbide tipped blades benefit (cooking Pam).
Rich
> You probably changed the band's behavior by sanding it.
What I expected but not what I wanted to hear. Bummer .... (expensive) lesson learned.
The Pam's on the gorcery list.
Thanks, Rich.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
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Dennis
If it's really hard wood, might try a 1/2" blade. A little stiffer. I'm sure you had proper tension and checked your blade guides, etc. Rich hit the gunked blade. If you've been using it awhile, the teeth may be dull also.
What kind of wood are you cutting and what TPI is your blade? Curious to see if the new blade has a positive effect. Please post the results as I would sure like to know.
Thanks, sarge..jt
Hi Sarge -
I was cutting out some large-ish bowl blanks from that green walnut log I posted about a few weeks ago. Finally got 'round to preping some material to make round. That's why the 3/8" blade. My 3/4" blades just don't corner as well as the thinner ones.
The blade is relatively new, actually. Carbide tipped and all that stuff. I put a 3/4" regular steel (Lennox) blade on this morning and both it and the saw are cutting practically without drift. I re-sawed some short lengths of that log just to have some little stuff to 'play' with and even the regular non-carbide blade seemed to cut better than the carbide, although with lots more saw marks. I've run dried stock through that little Delta bandsaw with a new Lennox carbide blade and achieved really fine, smooth cuts. I think I hosed the blade trying to clean it with sandpaper. Dumb idea.
Amazing how smat we get the older we get. I'm a whole lot smarter today than I was yesterday with respect to cleaning bandsaw blades, anyway.
The next question, is it the price of sharpening it vs a new on. Will let you know after my next visit to Eastside Saw.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
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Dennis
Thanks for info. I got a feelin' purchasing the new blade will be cheaper. That's a lot of teeth to sharpen. Let me know if I guessed wrong. I and others will probaly be faced with that scenario someday. How much for the Lennox? Never used one. Do the re-saw thing with a Highland Hardware Slicer in 1/2" and use the Timberwolves as the general blade in 1/4" 6 tpi for most everything else. Willing to try one, though..
sarge..jt
Dennis
I have the Hitachi resaw and have not had any luck having the blades sharpened. I tried it on the $110.00 stellite blade. The company was throughly interviewed about this blade, yah we do them all the time. NOT.
The idiots only under stand 1/8" grinds. The stellite is perhaps 3/16" on the tip. You know how much was left. Then they proceed to re gullet the blade, re set them.
Totally runned the blade. Bent 3 teeth on the first board. I have it hanging in my shop to remind me no to try it again.
Local shop said it was best to buy a 2" from them for about the same, but it has a lot of set and really makes an aggressive curf. The Hitachi is about 3/32 wide and smooth.
I take a diamond hone to it, set it up in a vise that I made and proceed to give each tooth the same number of strokes. This is a 3" wide blade with about 10-12 teeth per foot. It has no set, and as far as I can see the teeth are flat. It seems to work.
BTW I paid for that saw by resawing local pine into 1/8" 1/4" 1/2" and sold it for craft wood. Local mill work shop and custom resawing, in about 1 year. Sold it out of the back of my office. My supply dried up, or I would have continued (blank blank enviormental folks) I also have a shed full of timbers of all kinds of wood, some day.
I do not know how you would go about your blade.
One thought, if your blade got "gunked" up, perhaps a bit hot as well, it may have a bit of streach. Have you tried cranking up the tension ? Do the "twang" test so see how it sounds.
Curt
Dennis,
"Does an un-clean blade drift more than a clean one"
Yes. But an "un-dead" blade is REALLY scary!
Rich
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