Band Saw Tracking Solved

[Grgramps]

At least for me, thanks to Michael Fortune's article in Fine Woodworkings publication, "Power Tool Basics." Whenever I resawed a board I found it necessary to feed at an angle from right to left. It always frustrated me because I believed that you should be able to feed straight through in alignment with the blade. But I had no idea how to make that work.

Much has been written on the subject of the need to have the upper and lower wheels coplanar, so to move the upper wheel was out of the question. Furthermore, the Delta manual specifically states that the blade should be centered on the tire and that's where I had mine. Who am I to question the people who made the saw and wrote the manual? Nevertheless, after reading Fortune's article, which seemed to make sense, I was ready to start breaking the rules.

His article explains that the blade is riding too far to the rear when having to feed from right to left and my I/2 inch blade was as near center as I could get it. So I moved the tracking adjuster a quarter of a turn which shifted the blade noticeably toward the front of center. It's not coming off the wheel, so what the heck. And just to add more to the question of what works best, I took Fortune's advice and reduced tension to that for a 3/8" blade. (I've played with tension previously and found that it had little affect on where the blade tracked, so I don't attribute my results to the change in tension.)

Eureka, it works. This is not to recommend that anyone try this procedure if you are not familiar with band saw adjustments, but if you do, MAKE SURE THE POWER CORD IS UNPLUGGED WHEN MAKING ADJUSTMENTS. Obviously, the guides need to be adjusted too.

Has anyone else had success with this procedure?

BTW, the magazine mentioned above was a freebee at the recent Hickory wood show.

Roy

 

[zimman20]

I just started reading his article and I'm intrigued by his maverick attitude and suggestions. That mag was a great freebie at the Hickory show...has TS, BS, router stuff, etc. in it....

I was also surprised that he didn't think the the higher HP's on today's BS's are really necessary. Surprised me, that's the first time I'd ever read such heresy. :icon_thum

 

[Travis Porter]

I am like you and have not liked to adjust for drift on the bandsaw. On my Minimax, I have not made any adjustments for drift and it cuts straight and true. I suspect it may be because the tires are not crowned and are flat. I do have the teeth just over the edge of the wheels.

On my Delta, I did get the wheels coplanar which in turn made the table out of square so I had to shim the table. Still, I have to adjust for drift. I don't use the Delta for resawing much if at all, but still, I would prefer it to be cutting straight. Although I had read this in the past, I haven't tried it, and it does make sense. Thanks for posting, and good to know it works for you.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

If you want the definitive book on Bandsaws get the one by Mark Duginske available at Amazon and most big retailers. Also, get Louis Iturra's catalog. In addition to lots of after-market items for your bandsaw (and that's all), the Iturra catalog has a lot of great info on tuning, adjusting, and using your bandsaw. A lot of folks keep the catalog by the saw as a handy reference guide. You need to call for a catalog, I don't think he has a web site yet (if he ever will).

contact info:

Iturra Design
4636 Fulton RD
Jacksonville, FL 32225-1332
1.888.722.7078 voice
1.904.642.2802 fax
email - KALLL@aol.com

 

[bluewing92]

So Roy, I take it you set your fence then you kept adjusting your blade back and forth until you no longer had any drift? Do I understand this correctly?
Sometimes I get drifts and others I don’t, so I guess I must be getting lucky sometimes and didn’t know the reason.

 

[Grgramps]

Norm, actually, I made the one adjustment (quarter turn) and found that was it. I aligned the fence parallel to the slot in the table and found that it tracked straight. The next test will be to draw a line down the edge of a board and see how that works without the use of the fence.

Travis, your mention of flat (not crowned) tires is interesting. I'm doubtful the shifting of the blade on the wheel would be critical. With the crowned tire you can picture the angle the blade is fed from the tire changes as it is moved to the front or rear. With a flat tire, it seems to me that the angle would remain constant and perhaps that's one of the advantages of flat tires.

So that leaves the question, "What's the advantage of the crowned tire?"

I have Duginske's book and Iturra's catalogue, although I don't recall reading of this procedure before.

I think the amount written on the band saw is evidence that it is one of the more difficult machines to adjust to one's satisfaction. So many different blades, tension, guide systems, feed rate, and the list goes on. No wonder the novice is sometimes ready to chuck it.

Roy

 

[skysharks]

I use this technigue allot on my grizzly.
First is to get the tension correct, then I insure that the table is square to the blade and the fence is square to the table and the blade.
Then I mark a straight line down a piece of scrap about 20+ inches.
I freehand cut the line and stop when I am about half way thru the cut.
I then look at the angle that the wood is in relationship to the table.
as in how was I having to feed the wood in order for me to follow the line.
Once I see that, then I adjust the blade either forward or back of off center to correct the drift of the blade. It usually isn't much, and you aren't at risk of the blade coming off of the wheel.
I then go back and cut again and to see if it is now cutting straight.
After a couple of trail runs, the blade is set and then the fun begins.

I just now cut a 9 1/4 wide board of oak that was 5' long and resawed a piece off of it that was 1/8".
My buddy was standing there when I did it and told me that he couldn't believe that I just did that. Kind of surprised myself that I was able to do that tall of a board.
Heck I can go allot thinner, but not at that height. Maybe with more practice.

 

[bluewing92]

Thank you Roy for your explanation. It is as I thought.

John, I see your are also doing about the same thing.

I’ll give it a go, hopefully I have the same success as you two.:eusa_pray

This is why this is such a great site.

Thanks again

 

[Travis Porter]

I can't say that there is an advantage to a crowned tire, but I know my Delta 14" has them and the replacement tires I installed on it are crowned whereas the tires on my Minimax are flat. The only other difference I can speak to is the tires on the Delta ride in a groove where the Minimax tires are cemented to the wheel surface. I dread the day I replace the tires on the Minimax.

 

[DavidF]

An interesting point. I have always adjusted for drift in the time honoured way by adjusting the angle of the fence in relation to the blade, but I'll give this a go. I just ordered some new bimetal blades from WoodWorkers supply so I have to do a setup anyway.