BS detensioner

[Danny Batchelor]

Great design. What metal did you use on the handle?

 

[pop-pop]

Great design. What metal did you use on the handle?

1/4” thick 6061-T6 Aluminum. My first choice would have been brass but I didn’t have any. Also, brass has gotten really pricey recently.

Here is the "cartoon" that I used to make it. The delta between the red dimensions is the lift.

 

[Rwe2156]

Why are you all doing this?

Blade stretching or tires getting flat?

I’ve seen neither in 40 years and maybe 5 machines.

 

[pop-pop]

Why are you all doing this?

Blade stretching or tires getting flat?

I’ve seen neither in 40 years and maybe 5 machines.

Didn't know any better. Plus, detensioning can’t hurt and it makes me feel better.

 

[bob vaughan]

I think the detensioning idea came about to address crappy poly and rubber tires that kept stretching and coming off. Tires that were not glued on may also benefit from detensioning.

I know of many glued-on rubber tired band saws in schools that will sit in a hot room all summer, decade after decade, under tension, and have no ill effect. The so-called band saw experts have a hard time explaining this.

This detensioning idea has come about in the last 20 years along with the proliferation of imported 14" band saws intended for the recreational woodworking market.

There are more working band saws out there without detensioning devices than with.

 

[mpeele]

I bet more blades have broke because they were de-tensioned after use and not re-tensioned before the next use. I'll admit to doing it.

I've always wondered how a blade wrapped around a 1/2 of a wheel could cause a flat spot. Grove yes, flat, not possible.

Is it possible for a tensioned blade to damage a band saw? Not a properly designed one.

I'm not a member of the de-tensioning after use club but I have a de-tensioning device. I use it only when changing blades.

 

[bob vaughan]

I'm not a member of the de-tensioning after use club but I have a de-tensioning device. I use it only when changing blades.

Quick and easy blade changing is a feature that would justify such a gadget for me if I were changing blades often.