to John,
I own a portable saw mill that is basically a 12″ band saw powered by a chain saw motor turning a 3/4″ blade. I am having trouble with the blade tracking properly when it begins to dull even slightly. Could this be due to the wheels not having rubber tires, or is a 12″ diameter wheel too tight for a 3/4″ blade? Or could there be something I am overlooking?
Thanks for taking the time to help us, it means alot for those of us who don’t have time for alot of “trial and error”.
Regards,
Sean
Replies
Sean,
Usually 12 inch diameter wheels are only used on very light weight bench top band saws. Band saw log mills are typically larger, more robust, machines. Is your saw a homemade?
Without seeing the saw and knowing more about its mechanical details I can't give you useful advice. If your saw is a commercially made machine, send me its name and model number so I can track it down on the web and get some idea of what you have.
John W.
John,
It is a RipSaw, http://WWW.Ripsaw.com.
I found this on the Ripsaw web site:
"As the blade gets dull, the saw needs to work harder and the cutting speed drops off quickly. That's my cue to change blades. If I keep going with a dull blade, not only is it much harder on my powerhead, but also the blade starts to wander and my cuts are not true."
The writer also mentions that the blades dull after cutting two hundred board feet of wood and that he removes the bark from the log with a chain saw mill because the bark will dull the band saw blade very quickly.
The site does give instructions for adjusting the guides on the saw, but if you've tried that and the blade still wanders apparently the only solution is to install a new blade.
I don't think that the fault is with the small wheel diameter or the lack of tires. The small wheel diameter does mean that the blades will probably crack from fatigue rather quickly. The saw's blade is also quite short so it has relatively few teeth, which means that the teeth will dull fairly quickly.
You could try talking to the band saw blade technicians at Suffolk Machinery. They are a major supplier of blades for band saw mills and are very knowledgeable about band mill blade problems.
John White
THANKS JOHN,
I DID TRY TO CONTACT TECHNICAL SERVICES, AND THE ONLY RESPONSE WAS THAT THEY WOULD 'GET BACK' WITH ME. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
SINCERELY,
SEAN GLASER
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