24-10-2013, 07:37 PM
Col, I've never owned a small band saw but I have used them often enough in the past, last time was using my mates Scheppac when we were doing oak framing in the Channel Isles. Can't say we had any problem cutting short straight cuts with decent bands.
I am not doubting your results Col, but I can't see why else a band would wander when it's lateral movement is restricted by the top and bottom guides apart from the reasons previously stated in my other post eg: bad band, tension, timber tension/compression etc.
I don't think that the small band saws were designed for long straight line ripping in deep timber because of the low tension and the narrowness of the blade, even on shallower timber it can be difficult if the timber is longish and there's no power feed or pressure roller or extra pair of hands to keep it against the fence.
Years ago when I was sawmilling we had a saw blade rep turn up at the yard, we were running 4" and 5" bands on a resaw and a primary breakdown saw, he told us that the bands we were running were old hat and that we should be running some new fangled narrow band disposable blades, these turned out to be approx 1.5" wide, we said he was having a laugh he said no and would leave a couple for us FOC to try out, I told him that they wouldn't run properly on 4" and 5" band wheels, he said there would be no problem then left.
We left them hung up for weeks sort of dismissing them, anyways one day we were short of a sharp band so decided to pop one on the resaw, on the large saws the bottom of the gullet has to overhang the band wheels by about 3mm, we set the tracking to do that, we were amazed when we buzzed the saw up that the band stayed on the wheels, we fed a three faced log in and it cut ok for about three logs, after that the blade was useless and had to be thrown away.
Narrow band logging saws are available of recent years (Woodmizer etc) the band width is around 32mm and runs on narrow band wheels, they don't run with the gullet centered on the band wheels as per the Alex video but run as normal setup and cut very accurate, I had ago on an old friends Woodmizer many years ago when they first became available in the UK, it would cut a 1/16th veneer 18" wide at over 12 ft long, not bad for accuracy.
Mr Alex in his video said that with the band running at center meant that the teeth were unsupported as they were off the apex of the crown however if the gullet is on center then by the same reason the back of the blade would be off the apex of the crown so by that reasoning more of the blade width would be unsupported as the gullet is well below 50% of the width of the band...
Each to their own I guess.
Lawrence.
I am not doubting your results Col, but I can't see why else a band would wander when it's lateral movement is restricted by the top and bottom guides apart from the reasons previously stated in my other post eg: bad band, tension, timber tension/compression etc.
I don't think that the small band saws were designed for long straight line ripping in deep timber because of the low tension and the narrowness of the blade, even on shallower timber it can be difficult if the timber is longish and there's no power feed or pressure roller or extra pair of hands to keep it against the fence.
Years ago when I was sawmilling we had a saw blade rep turn up at the yard, we were running 4" and 5" bands on a resaw and a primary breakdown saw, he told us that the bands we were running were old hat and that we should be running some new fangled narrow band disposable blades, these turned out to be approx 1.5" wide, we said he was having a laugh he said no and would leave a couple for us FOC to try out, I told him that they wouldn't run properly on 4" and 5" band wheels, he said there would be no problem then left.
We left them hung up for weeks sort of dismissing them, anyways one day we were short of a sharp band so decided to pop one on the resaw, on the large saws the bottom of the gullet has to overhang the band wheels by about 3mm, we set the tracking to do that, we were amazed when we buzzed the saw up that the band stayed on the wheels, we fed a three faced log in and it cut ok for about three logs, after that the blade was useless and had to be thrown away.
Narrow band logging saws are available of recent years (Woodmizer etc) the band width is around 32mm and runs on narrow band wheels, they don't run with the gullet centered on the band wheels as per the Alex video but run as normal setup and cut very accurate, I had ago on an old friends Woodmizer many years ago when they first became available in the UK, it would cut a 1/16th veneer 18" wide at over 12 ft long, not bad for accuracy.
Mr Alex in his video said that with the band running at center meant that the teeth were unsupported as they were off the apex of the crown however if the gullet is on center then by the same reason the back of the blade would be off the apex of the crown so by that reasoning more of the blade width would be unsupported as the gullet is well below 50% of the width of the band...
Each to their own I guess.
Lawrence.
