20
To prevent small pieces from falling into the gap.
To serve as a backing to minimize chipout on the back side of the cut.
I can't think of a time when you wouldn't be better off using one. However, sometimes it's sort of a pain to make one for every blade, or in the case of a Dado set every blade combination... So it tends to not be used for non critical ...
19
The best thing that I've found is to have a sharp blade with 3 teeth per inch. This is Michael Fortune's recommendation (a Fine Woodworking Contributor). I used to crank up the tension in my bandsaw blade to the point of it almost snapping. I finally listened to shoptalk live (FWW's podcast) and they said a 3 TPI blade will solve 90% of drift problems. It ...
16
You can "collapse" them into much smaller hoops (see http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-tips/techniques/skills/folding-bandsaw-blades-simple-as-one-two-three/). It brings it down to about a third of the size and can be stored in a drawer.
From the page:
Hold the blade in front of you with one hand, keeping the teeth pointing away from you. Wear a ...
16
A sharp 3 or 4 TPI blade is the best first thing to try. A slower feed rate can also help, but if your blade rubs against the wood fast enough and long enough to produce significant friction, too slow a feed rate can cause burning.
If you've bought a bunch of high TPI blades after discovering that a higher tooth count often produces a cleaner cut, you may ...
15
Your saw may be poorly adjusted.
A properly tuned band-saw has the wheel axles exactly parallel and the wheels in the same plane. The axles can be adjusted using the tilt screw on the upper wheel.
If that doesn't help than it may be the crown of the wheels is too flat. Put a ruler on the wheel and see if there is enough of a crown left. If not then you ...
15
A zero clearance insert is an insert which exactly matches the width of the blade. You can make one by slowly raising the blade through an un-cut insert.
The advantage is as aaron says, they prevent things from falling through the hole, and more importantly, they reduce chip-out by ensuring that the piece has support and thus chips won't tend to get pulled ...
13
The operation you want to do is called resawing, and is best done on a bandsaw.
Ideally, your bandsaw should be equipped with a 1/2" or wider, 2-4 TPI blade and a resaw guide or high fence that can be easily adjusted for blade drift (just in case you haven't yet mastered Alex Snodgrass' drift-free bandsaw setup technique).
(Source)
The bandsaw will leave ...
11
The primary reason for speed adjustment on bandsaws is to accommodate different materials (mainly metal). That said, dropping the speed down for some operations can stretch the capabilities of an underpowered machine further. For example, if you're resawing particularly thick or dense wood with a 1.5 hp machine (or high-TPI blade), reducing the blade speed ...
10
Blades fatigue over time because of the bending around the tires. They will eventually break due to this. Always inspect blades for stress cracks which usually appear in the gullets, before welding. If a blade is found to have stress cracks, then its time for a new one.
I sold saw blades for a living to manufacturers, so I know a little.
If used absolutely ...
10
Does breaking a bandsaw blade indicate something such as too much/too little tension?
It can but it could simply be from material fatigue or a poor weld.
So anyway, blades break or go dull, what then?
This is the interesting question for me since in the past worn bandsaw blades were routinely re-sharpened but like a lot of similar changes over time this ...
10
Tuning up a bandsaw is definitely equal parts art and science. There are a variety of bandsaws out there and before doing any demanding bandsaw work (i.e. re-sawing) I usually go over the whole saw to make sure that the blade, guides and wheels are properly set up.
However when I am trying to keep a dead straight line, the correct fence is indispensable. ...
10
Let me add a couple things:
Here's two references for making one: Mattias Wandel's method, and Woodmagazine's method. And here's what it looks like:
They're typically made out of plywood or MDF to prevent wood movement.
Others have mentioned that they're used for two reasons (1) to reduce chipout and (2) to prevent pieces from falling through the hold. ...
10
I am hesitant about the best way of cutting the blocks in half as cleanly as possible and without removing too much material.
Let me present a slightly different tack here.
Looking at the first link you posted, it looks very much like the blocks are an exact fit on the tubes:
This is actually pretty simple to achieve. First, cut two blocks that are each ...
8
A Bandsaw will certainly cut the wood, but the edges will require additional work since the cut will have more surface striations and the overall surface would be less flat where the table saw cut will be much smoother and flatter. I recommend using a hand plane or planner to prepare the surfaces for gluing.
7
It's called resawing, and generally it is done with a bandsaw. There are blades that can make this process easier. Getting the largest (wide) blade you saw can handle is the best way, at least for wide boards.
I've used fairly small boards and cut them in half, 3/4" in half with thinner blades. but you get a lot of wobble, especially if you don't have a ...
7
The limit in size you can resaw width and height-wise is established by what size wood can fit through the exposed blade area of the bandsaw, so measure the distance between the blade and the support column that holds the upper blade wheel and the length of the exposed blade and you have your maximums. Length-wise, of course you can go on forever, provided ...
7
There are a couple main (safety) concerns with this: the pieces moving while cutting and the offcuts getting caught in the blade.
Pieces moving while cutting
This is not so much an issue with safety as it is with accuracy. If one (or all) of the pieces move, you'll need to redo the cut on at least one of the boards, potentially negating any time savings you ...
7
That table looks like stamped sheetmetal with very little supporting structure underneath.
Take a look underneath the table, see if it's possible to fill the empty space with wood to reinforce the entire thing.
Make sure there is enough clearance for normal operation.
If that doesn't work for you, you can just scrap that table and replace it with a piece ...
7
A couple of thoughts:
bandsaws do not cut clean like table saws. If you google for images of band sawed wood there is a texture from the cut.
Assuming correct tension (which also helps clean cuts), ensure the guide blocks' setups, top and bottom, match and are correct. If they are wayout you will hear a pulsing sound to the cut.
Shorten the opening of the ...
6
Lighten the feed pressure aka don't push so hard on the wood.
Drift is cause because the blade buckles under the load. You can see that by stretching a ribbon between 2 points and applying a pressure to one of the edges, it will turn sideway easily.
A sharp blade and high blade speed will help a lot with that.
6
A band saw is fine. I would recommend that you avoid low tooth counts such as 3 tpi (teeth per inch) and opt for a smaller/denser tooth blade. Don't get to aggressive, instead feed it through slowly to get a cleaner cut line.
In gluing up veneer always keep things symmetrical front to back (including thicknesses of the layers), alternating directions ...
6
Watching the carter band saw tips and tricks video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU) Alex Snodgrass states co-planer is not what you want.
Instead the top wheel and bottom wheel should be canted slightly to the middle and blade tooth side (Top wheel / bottom wheel \ ) and you should be aiming to have the gullet of the blade tracking in the center....
6
Factory bearings in any but high end band saws are generally not the best. Guide blocks made from plastic are not very good either. Good, aftermarket bearings, such as the ones from Carter are very nice, as are a good brand of guide blocks, such as Cool Blocks or ceramic blocks.
Either one needs to be maintained. The blocks more so than bearings, but the ...
5
That process would certainly work, although if you want better results, you might consider a slightly different method that requires no bandsaw work at all:
Face-joint one face. Edge-joint one edge. Now glue some tiny wooden shims (no more than three, with none on the thickest corner) onto the remaining rough face to bring it to the desired thickness. Plane ...
5
Here is what I made for re-sawing. It begins with a piece of plywood that I attached to my stock table. This is a miter gauge that I repurposed from another old bandsaw. Every time I change the blade, I resaw a scrap piece by hand (for a few inches - not all the way) to determine what the "drift angle" is. I then bring up this miter gauge and match it to ...
5
I would resaw first. An 8" resaw is going to take lots of skill and luck to achieve. If the 8" board is only slightly out of plumb (an issue of skill) at any point during the cut, you will very likely end up with a place where the thickness goes below 1/4", necessitating a do-over. If you make a resaw on a 4" board, the effect of a bit of jiggle out of ...
5
This is not a type of T-track, but a solution I have found is to file off the top and square the edges of the top of a M8 carriage bolt. It fits well enough for clamping operations. It has more slop than you may need for proper sliding work. I may not have needed to file the edges down at all.
Filed M8:
Bolt fit into T Track:
Shown used as a clamp in an ...
4
Good question. Every bandsaw blade I've gotten rid of has also been because it broke.
While this can be an indication that there is incorrect tension on the blade, it also just happens from use. If it snaps pretty early, likely the tension was wrong or you did something dumb. (I broke one because I turned a piece to sharply). Wider blades are more likely ...
4
They can be hung in an out of the way corner.
Ideally on a piece of wood with a curved channel the blade rests in so the it doesn't kink.
4
If you have access to a table saw an easy way to get clean cuts and perfect cubes might be:
Cut precise half cubes on table saw.
Clamp half cubes together then bore your holes.
Same goes for other types of saws. Although a table saw will give you a nice quick, clean cut, a properly tuned band saw with a fence (even just clamp some scrap to your band saw ...
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