Bandsaw blades - lesson learned
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This wasn’t on a felder bandsaw but the lesson is applicable.
I’ve had a Jet 5HP 20” bandsaw for 7 years and purchased a 1 1/4” Laguna Resaw King blade for it about 6 years ago. I’ve done a lot of rough wood ripping with it and only a little resawing but it has worked great. I’ve started a project to build fourty spiral stair treads for a building on my property. These will be about 45” long and tapering from 14” to 11”. Every one has been templated as they vary slightly in size. They need to be 2 1/4 to 2 1/2” thick. I decided to laminate 2 pieces of composite floor underlayment (AdvanTech) and then wrap it in resawn bookmatched white oak on top/bottom with solid leading and trailing edgees. (The ends are hidden by the steel.) So I have to do a lot of resawing. I bought a new blade, same size and model, and sent off the old one for resharpening. I spent about 8 hours in total working to get the new blade to cut straight. What a frustrating experience! It would veer to the outside immediately and even make a bowed cut. Feels like I have watched now every video on youtube about bandsaws and tried every variation of tracking, tension, fences, etc. with no improvements. On the positive side, I learned how to tune up the saw very well. Finally I reached out to Laguna and after a few weeks they agreed to replace the blade. I just put the new one on, set up the bearings and the cut is so flat it’s like I ran it through the jointer. So - it may not be your saw… it could be your blade! Regards, Michael |
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I wouldn't expect any blade to perform well on most any modern bandsaw design,
and it will never cease to amaze me how most folks expect any different. That's my opinion, from someone who's worked on an old and abused machine. I could mention alignment of the motor is not something which can be ignored, that is... if accurately aligning the lower wheel to the upper wheel. So you can understand my cynical thoughts on the matter, not to say your new blade wasn't a lemon, just anything to do with setup, that being down to the particular saw IMO, and should the Italian's have kept up making fully adjustable bandsaws, then everyone would be in agreement on most things by now. i.e there would be nothing really to speculate on (bar perhaps tire condition) in this case, and you might not have bothered fighting with the saw in order to get it to cut. Just saying, as it seems everyone who mentions a troublesome modern saw, ultimately ends up either going with carbide blades, or indeed upgrading to ol'irn. Just my thoughts All the best Tom |
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开云体育Is?Laguna LT16SEC 2.5HP 12” Resaw (made by Meber) from 2001 a modern saw? This was the first cut after installing resaw king. It is a 2x8 SPF scrap but I was so impressed (probable easy to be impressed as I had never resaw before) that I kept it in my office. Raking light to show the blade marks Imran Malik On Jun 29, 2024, at 8:24?PM, Tom Trees via groups.io <tomgwoodworks@...> wrote:
?I wouldn't expect any blade to perform well on most any modern bandsaw design, and it will never cease to amaze me how most folks expect any different. That's my opinion, from someone who's worked on an old and abused machine. <SAM_7609.JPG> <SAM_6861.JPG> <SAM_6860.JPG> <The right shim.jpg> I could mention alignment of the motor is not something which can be ignored, that is... if accurately aligning the lower wheel to the upper wheel. <SAM_4548.JPG> So you can understand my cynical thoughts on the matter, not to say your new blade wasn't a lemon, just anything to do with setup, that being down to the particular saw IMO, and should the Italian's have kept up making fully adjustable bandsaws, then everyone would be in agreement on most things by now. i.e there would be nothing really to speculate on (bar perhaps tire condition) in this case, and you might not have bothered fighting with the saw in order to get it to cut. Just saying, as it seems everyone who mentions a troublesome modern saw, ultimately ends up either going with carbide blades, or indeed upgrading to ol'irn. Just my thoughts All the best Tom |
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On Sat, Jun 29, 2024 at 05:53 PM, imranindiana wrote:
Only you can answer that, and whether it would be taken up as philosophical question about longevity, and the unknown... or indeed a concerned one, is up to you. If the latter, then the only way to say that a non adjustable wheel could be, would mean demonstrating everything lines up. well...at least on your saw anyway. That particular Meber p400... From what it looks to me, I'd consider it an outdated design like what was on the old Centauro NL, what became the CO... Or the old ACM BS 540, (this one being from 1983!) Both updated with a hub for the lower wheel shaft after those models. Perhaps "modern" might be the wrong word here... Should someone point out a more suitable word, then that should be used, as in my mind I'm finding that a tad difficult, to call it premium or similar, when Centauro, Meber and Sagittario were making some fully adjustable models in the past. I could post a more modern version of the likes, but seems they've switched over to making non fully adjustable machines aswell! Go figure?.. as they say. All the best Tom
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I wonder how many dud blades got sent out, or if that was a one off kinda thing, as seemingly there wasn't a
strikingly evident issue there, so perhaps this might be mentioned in the coming weeks or months if the former. I suppose there would be way too many other variables at play to come to such a conclusion really... and we won't hear of any issues with things like that. I'd certainly hope not, and doubt it, not at the cost of those evidently excellent blades, such instances would be mentioned before, especially since most often the only ones who post resawing results, are those using carbide, so this surely would have cropped up on a few bandsaw threads before. Not that I have searched, as I'm too skint for such toolery. All the best Tom |
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Tom Trees
imran
Imran Malik
On Jun 29, 2024, at 10:31?PM, Tom Trees via groups.io <tomgwoodworks@...> wrote:
?I wonder how many dud blades got sent out, or if that was a one off kinda thing, as seemingly there wasn't a
strikingly evident issue there,
so perhaps this might be mentioned in the coming weeks or months if the former.
I suppose there would be way too many other variables at play to come to such a conclusion really...
and we won't hear of any issues with things like that.
I'd certainly hope not, and doubt it, not at the cost of those evidently excellent blades,
such instances would be mentioned before,
especially since most often the only ones who post resawing results, are those using carbide,
so this surely would have cropped up on a few bandsaw threads before.
Not that I have searched, as I'm too skint for such toolery.
All the best
Tom
strikingly evident issue there,
so perhaps this might be mentioned in the coming weeks or months if the former.
I suppose there would be way too many other variables at play to come to such a conclusion really...
and we won't hear of any issues with things like that.
I'd certainly hope not, and doubt it, not at the cost of those evidently excellent blades,
such instances would be mentioned before,
especially since most often the only ones who post resawing results, are those using carbide,
so this surely would have cropped up on a few bandsaw threads before.
Not that I have searched, as I'm too skint for such toolery.
All the best
Tom
rodsheridan
Bill Belanger
Jason Holtz