Bandsaw advice

[Tom7227]

I have a Grizzly 550 and I am having two different problems. I hope someone can help. I am trying to cut out decoy blanks to carve.

The first problem is that as I cut the bottom of the blade doesn't follow the top. In a 5 inch cut When I was taking the top off there was supposed to be a straight line at one point but the bottom lagged behind the top by about a quarter inch and so what should have been a straight cut ended up at an angle. Not sure that I am explaining it correctly. As I cut the top off the body one side ended up being higher than the other by an eighth of an inch.

The when I tried to make a straight cut using a fence the blank curved to the right so the cut wasn't straight. The cut was only about 3 inches deep and the piece moved about an eight of an inch away from the fence as I made the cut.

I was using a blade that is 3/8 of an inch thick and the tension was set a little light. The bottom guide/roller may is set a bit back from the blade and that could be a cause.

Again I may not be explaining things properly. Or maybe what I am experiencing is common.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Tom

[Scupper]

Try YouTube Tom.

[hydro]

Sounds like blade drift. Usually caused by the teeth on one side of the blade not being quite as sharp as the teeth on the other side. Pretty common problem.

Try a new blade and see if the problem follows the blade. If the same exact issue repeats with the new blade, back off all of the guides and reset them per the owner's manual and give that a try.

Post what you find out.

[PurpleFloyd]

Pretty much what Hydro stated. It comes down to a few things. If the saw id perfectly set up then the variables are going to be blade sharpness, teeth per inch, feed rate and the hardness of the wood. Taking proper setup out of the equation you need to tweak the things I mentioned above until it does what you want it to.

[Tom7227]

I have watched the YouTube videos and they helped a lot.

I was cutting cedar that was about 5 inches thick. The blade was new and good quality so I don't think that was the cause.

Mostly it was OE. The blade tension wasn't high enough and the bottom guide roller was too far back. The blade has 10 tpi and I think that is too many for the thickness of the material. But probably the biggest factor was that I was pushing too hard and cutting too fast. Now that I think about it the blade was severely twisted during some of the cuts when I was trying to do curves and so that is why things went kaflooey.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to try again and see what I can learn.

Tom

[hydro]

Tom,

For cutting decoys as you described, try a 3/16" blade with 6 TPI and a "hook" or "skip" profile. That will allow the turns and the space between the teeth will give the sawdust someplace to go as you cut. A 1/8" blade would make the turns easier but it may be hard to get situated in the guide system on your saw.

Happy cutting!

[Scupper]

I don't have the Grizzly. I have a Ridgid. Price was right .

Seeings it was second hand with very little use I gave her a run. Not good! I eked and tweaked and tightened and adjusted and walked away with what I have since termed "blade travel frustration". Had a skilled friend work his magic and was still without success.

Then one time while reviewing yet another YouTube video for advise I had a somewhat eureka moment, I hoped. The bottom drive blade wheel may need to be shimmed. Sure enough, after inspecting and measuring as prescribed in the video I found the bottom wheel to need shimming out so it would aline with the top wheel. I did so and felt very handy for a time. It preforms much better then it did. Although not perfect, but I believe this has to do with the operator...

Good luck

Scott