I have a Laguna 14/12 with a 1/2″ wood slicer blade. I read somewhere that drift can be related to the position of the blade on the wheel tire. I adjusted the blade so that the teeth were centered on the crown of the tire. Almost all the drift disappeared. I then fine tuned that by adjusting the fence in the usual fashion.
Wondering if anyone has had experience reducing drift by adjusting the blade position on the tire crown. It doesn’t seem to be mentioned much, but makes sense when one thinks about how the tire crown could effect blade angle.
Thoughts??
Replies
That's the way I do it. Never had a drift problem.
thank you! Always good to hear from you, John
John Vogt
I use the same blade and center the gullets on the crown. I have never had to adjust my fences from square. (Laguna SUV)
Good!
The fence is a fixed component and is meant to be aligned with the miter slot.
The blade position is adjustable with the tracking adjustment, that's what it’s there for.
The blade DOES NOT have to be perfectly in the center, this is how a crowned wheel works. Not every blade is perfect and may require adjustment one way or the other. Those who adjust their fence to compensate are missing the point of the blade tracking adjustment and what it’s for.
This also makes it harder or impossible to use a sled if the blade is not aligned properly
I have never adjusted my fence on either of my saws
I center the blade on the tire and have no drift and no fence adjustment.
Nice!
There’s a relationship between blade position on the wheel and the drift angle of the cut. I think someone posted this a while back and I saved it ..
I don't know if it was me, but I have posted that image many, many times.
EVERYONE operating a crowned wheel bandsaw should understand what's going on in those diagrams.
It prolly was .. thanks!
I followed his instructions and have never looked back.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/project-guides/shop-machines/two-fixes-for-bandsaw-drift
Same here, takes a while to get the table true to the blade on a Laguna, probably since they want to sell a drift master fence , but once aligned exactly like shown in the video, the saw tracks straight whatever good blade I put on.
well, here's what's always caused me confusion regarding all the guidance: center the blade, center the teeth, center the gullets. There's more than a bit of difference in those those descriptions. Which is more correct or does it matter by width of the blade?
So what causes the blade to drift off of center, which is what happens to me. Its not lack of tension.
What causes a good blade do drift is the the trailing edge of the blade rubbing one side of the kerf. Once the fence is aligned with the miter slots, and should stay there, run a few inches into the wood with the jointed piece guided along the fence and stop the motor leaving the blade in the wood then with a feeler gauge measure the gap between the trailing edge of the blade and the kerf, if there is room on both side you’re good.
I center the deepest part of the gullet. Works for me.
Here is a good take on setting up the saw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU
I watched that Snodgrass video years ago and found his approach to setting up a bandsaw to be fantastic. I'm a believer in centering the bottom of the gullet on the wheel.
The ONE thing MF does that I strongly disagree with is using the blade to align the table.
IMNSHO, NEVER us an adjustable part to align a fixed part, PERIOD.
I will assume that the upper and lower wheels are properly aligned.
1. Align the table (miter slot) square to the lower wheel, which is fixed, it does not move it has no adjustment. Secure the table in place, it should never need to be moved again.
2. Align fence to miter slot and secure, it's not meant to be constantly adjusted to the blade, it is aligned to the saw. (parallel to the miter slot)
3. The blade has three basic parts, teeth, gullet, band. The teeth cut, the gullet removes the swarf and the band drives the blade and controls direction.
Roughly center the band of the blade (it controls direction as seen in the diagrams) on the upper wheel at 12 o'clock, and add some tension.
(sight glass windows at 3 o'clock do absolutely no good, this is where the blade is leaving the upper wheel)
4. Make a test cut and determine which way to adjust (if necessary). Repeat the process, making small adjustments to the tracking until the cut is straight and true. Lock down the tracking mechanism and tension blade. Make another test cut to insure everything is running properly. If not, repeat step 4.
When complete the blade may not be perfectly centered, this is not a problem. A crowned wheel is designed to track the blade in this way. This is why it tilts, to "track" the blade properly.
Adjust your guides and the process is complete.
wonderful....thank you!!
Just Saying....
In my experience drift is often caused by 2 things - the first is the blade not set properly on the crown of the tires. The second is the table not being properly set square to the blade. Every single band saw I have had, be it new or used, I have had to square up the table (Using Micheal Fortune's great video on this) in order to eliminate what appears to be drift.
Always lots of good (and seemingly endless) discussion about drift. I do as john_c2 and elmaduro describe. Align your saw to cut straight and change blades with impunity ;-) This goes for my flat tire saws as well. The blade position for crown tires diagram is great for helping people understand what is happening there. Plenty of folks have figured out workarounds for poor setup and if that works for them, great.