Hello all,
I’ve recently been introduced to the wonderful world of the bandsaw. It’s an incredible tool. However, I work quite a bit with pine and pitch builds up in the gullet. The blade has 3 TPI. I don’t think my feed rate is the problem because I go quite slowly (1-1.5 feet/min.). It only happens when I cut through 4″ and more but it’s annoying to always stop and clean out the blade then restart. Is there a way to limit this?
I started using a rotary tool with a tiny buffing wheel to clean it out since it’s a little easier on the fingers. Do you believe this is bad for the blade? I rotate the blade backwards and rub off the “pine pitch” (not blade pitch) with the part of the wheel than spins downward.
While I’m on the subject, does anyone know of an after market blade guide assembly that uses “cool blocks” for a 17″ King bandsaw? The standard one works well (I believe since it’s the only one I’ve used), but seems noisy. That’s a sign of friction, no?
Thanks for any help on this,
Dano
Replies
If anything, you should be pushing your blade as fast as you can without the blade wandering or the motor bogging down. The slower you go the more friction the blade is creating and teeth are doing more rubbing than cutting, dulling them for no good reason. The pitch of the blade is fine, but the other thing to look at is the set. A blade with more set will have reduced cutting friction. The other thing that helps is to lubricate your blade. I use a 50/50 mix of kerosene and chain saw bar oil. Just brush it onto the running blade and it almost eliminates pitch build up and keeps the saw running quieter too. Some people also use Pam for smaller blades, although I haven't tried this yet.
The buffing wheel isn't bad unless you round off the teeth, but seems like unnecessary work. Put a grinding stone in their and you can sharpen your blades this way though.
I leave a few thou clearance (thickness of a sheet of paper) between the blade and guide bearings and my saw runs very quite. However, a 1" resaw blade does make a little more noise, but it's not bad. I haven't seen a cool block guide system for your saw, but I'd call king and ask them if you want it. Laguna makes cool block guides for my saw, but they're expensive. If I find a need for some I'll just make them myself.
In addition to increasing your speed rate a bit as mentioned above, be sure your blade tension is high enough. What type (brand) of blades are you using?
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Dano, if your guides are actually rubbing the blade, it will heat up and collect more pitch from the wood. I would back them off the paper thickness clearance as mentioned by another poster.
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon
Gateway to the Oregon Caves
dano
"It only happens when I cut 4" stock (pine).
Pine is full of pitch. The thicker it is, the more likely it is to have an im-proper moisture content in the center especially. If you have already checked tention, feed rate and blade sharpness, most likely the culprit.
Pam it or use a lubricant as metioned on the blade. I work with a lot of pine also. I've just learned to deal with the fact that it's pine and blades require more cleaning. ha..ha..
Good Luck...
sarge..jt
Thanks everyone.
I tried "jigaloo" sylicone and it worked OK but rubbed off quickly. I'll try the Pam next. The blade is a "Timberwolf". I wasn't aware the "slowness" of my feed rate could be a problem, thanks for that also.
I'm always happy to post something here because the answers are quick and useful.
Have a good day.
Dano
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