On my fairly new Laguna 14/12 the blade has started rapidly hunting back and forth on the top wheel — just barely 1/8″ of movement. I’m using a 3/4″ newly installed blade (Highland Woodworking) and it did the same thing on older 3/4″ one from a different brand. Blade tension is where it should be.
The top wheel is ‘tight’ with no play and wondering if others have had this issue?
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When I got my Laguna 14SUV I thought "Buy the 3/4" resaw blade, bigger is better and it can handle it." That blade did what yours is doing and shortly thereafter left the top wheel, doing some internal paint damage, destroying the blade, and making me wish I'd worn my brown pants. I now use the 1/2" resaw blade (HWW Woodslicer) to the saw's maximum capacity with no issues.
I feel like the wheels are just not wide enough or are crowned a little bit to much for a 3/4" blade.
I run almost exclusively one inch resaw blades on my 14 SUV and had that problem once with 3 blades from the same batch. It did not keep me from resawing a load of ebony logs but I had to move back the rear guides . The weld was not in line and the blade oscillated back and forward 1/8 of an inch or more. I found out by turning the wheels manually with the rear guides out of the way and marking the high and low points.
Nice Deadpool reference ..
Interesting... which blades are you using? Perhaps I was just unlucky on my first date with the machine.
I get them from R & D bandsaw welded to length but these could have been from another source , the R & D I am using right now run straight.
Please post a photo of where the 1" blade sits on the upper tire? Also, are you needing to make drift adjustments or are you cutting true to the miter slots?
It’s been a busy day, resawing on the Unisaw 10 X 4 plywood 3/4 sheets in 9 inch wide strips at 45 degrees, 9 of them for 45 strips, took me 6 hours.
What we have here is a one inch, 35 mil thick blade on the Laguna 14 SUV the guides are not touching the blade and the rear guide a bit over 1/16 behind the blade, tension is maxed out.
I center all blades on the tire, a one inch will have the gullet in the tire and the tooth’s sticking out. Drift exists if the blade is not lined up with the guide/slots in the table so the rear of the blade rubs the wood and pulls the blade , same with the guides, they are safeguards but for the blade to run true, they should only touch when the blade is pushed too hard or sideways and you need to back off, otherwise it twists the blade and causes drift.
Say the guide is set 1 degree off the blade, and the one inch blade has a 35 mil body and a 55 mil kerf. So 10 thousands of an inch extends either side of the blade into the wood. One degree will equate to 17 mil and the kerf allows for 10 mil. However if a 1/2 blade with the same thickness and kerf is used, the skew between the guide and blade causes half the deflection and the rear of the blade clears the kerf and there is no drift even if the guide and blade are one degree off making the narrow blade more forgiving.
Thanks Gulfstar, I may order fat blade & try it again.
I would not have thought you could run a 1” blade on a 14” bandsaw. I suppose it tensions up or you wouldn’t be using it. Is this an ultra thin blade?
Even on my 18” saw I run a 3/4” carbide or 1/2” Infinity rip blade.
The Laguna 14 SUV was specified to handle up to 1 inch and does, that is a thick and stiff blade, I wear gloves and a face mask when it’s time to unfold it , the one inch carbide tipped Resaw King is much thinner, I save it for precision work.
Are y’all running 3hp 14SUV’s wired at 220v? Also thinking about trying that 1” blade, but not sure how well a 110v 14/12 would handle it ..
The 1,75 hp would probably be ok as long as you control the feed rate but will the frame withstand the tension and will the guides move back enough so the blade can center of the tire ? The SUV weighs in at 375 #, the 14/12 is 258 #, some of the weight is in the frame for stiffness.
If one blade wobbles and another does not then the problem lies with the blade.
I too have had this issue and it was a slightly off-line weld.
I also have a laguna 14/12. Works great. I bought a Timber Wolf 3/4" low tension blade for it and it seemed to work ok...then I replaced it with the wood slicer 1/2" blade, and it works really great!! Some recent articles suggest that one really doesn't to go to 3/4" as the 1/2" wood slicer works just as well on resawing if not better.
If your problem persists, be sure that the tires are clean and free of defects --replace them if any defect or damage is identified.
Amazon has several choices for Laguna 14/12 tires.
could not agree more - I have the knock-off Chinese version and after much experimentation leave a 1/2" 3TPI blade in it for all but the finest curves.
I read your question and then thought of reading a few answers before putting them in mine. Seems like _mj_ and gulfstar made a valid discussion here and have provided useful insight into what you should do. So, get the right blades, set them up, and you are good to go with your woodworking jobs.