Band saw setup

[J Phillips]

I am having a hard time with my resaw technique and i think some of the problem is the bandsaw set-up. The rest of it is me, LOL. I have a rikon 10-345 and a laguna resaw king 3/4 in blade. Blade guides and blade tension are correct. The table is square to the blade. The fence is square to the table but I have not built a taller fence and am still useing the stock fence so this is adding to the problem no matter how tightly I hold it to the fence. When i cut pieces smaller than 2 inches I can cut it papaer thin. Seriously you can hold it up to the light and see shadows through it. # to 4 inches and 1/16 isn't too hard to do but the blade will start to wander. Anything above that and 1/8 is almost impossible to do and I have to shoot for 3/16 to 1/4 and hope I can plane it down. The blade is running straight in the verticle. As in when the blade wanders the wave it cuts is the same all across the board. i have seen two ways of setting up the ripfence on all the youtube videos on saw setup and I don't know which one is better. One you adjust for blade tracking and the other you set the fence parallel to the miter slot. right now mine is set up to adjust for blade tracking/drift. Any help on this would be appreciated.

[ken cierp]

Hate to say, but the saw is simply not set-up properly try this:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=693

[J Phillips]

Yep thats a good video. And its the one that I used to set mine up initially. I also watched a video he has out on resawing. Ive gone over my saw 3 times with his instructions and everything is spot on and still get the same results. I know i need to add a taller fence but the problem is with it drifting through the wood and as i try to correct for it it just gets worse and my larger pieces are coming out looking like sand on a creekbed. I'll go back and push the guides way out of spec and bring them back in to his recomended measurements. maybe one of the guides is off and knocking everything out and when i get to that guide it just looks right because I ahve adjusted to it. Thanks Ken

[ken cierp]

1/8" (thin) slices come off the outside of the blade not between the fence and blade. Even then the board side that rubs the fence has to be perfectly trued up or the results will not be a uniform slice. I have never tried to work re-saw, for guitar making -- thinner then 3/16" -1/4" and plan my billets accordingly.

That saw you have is a good one, I'd get the taller fence made, adjust for drift (using the miter slot is not very good) and feed slower then you think is needed. Do not hesitate to contact the manufacturer for suggestions. You could also have a defective blade.

[J Phillips]

I've taken the blade off and laid it on the floor and it touches all the way around except in the imperfections on the floor. I even rotated the blade just in case and the spot that didn't touch stayed with the floor not the blade. But for the cost of this blade i would hope it had some real QA before it left the factory. I'll get the taller fence bult and give Rikon a call too. I din't think of calling them. thanks Ken

[Robert Hosmer]

I am having a hard time with my resaw technique and i think some of the problem is the bandsaw set-up. The rest of it is me, LOL. I have a rikon 10-345 and a laguna resaw king 3/4 in blade. Blade guides and blade tension are correct. Tension requirements will vary depending upon thickness of stock, hardness of wood, blade specifics, and feed rates. The table is square to the blade. The fence is square to the table but I have not built a taller fence and am still useing the stock fence so this is adding to the problem no matter how tightly I hold it to the fence. A taller fence will certainly help, but the purpose of the tall fence is to ensure proper registration, meaning a parallel cut to the side of the stock that is registered against the fence. When i cut pieces smaller than 2 inches I can cut it papaer thin. Seriously you can hold it up to the light and see shadows through it. # to 4 inches and 1/16 isn't too hard to do but the blade will start to wander. Anything above that and 1/8 is almost impossible to do and I have to shoot for 3/16 to 1/4 and hope I can plane it down. The blade is running straight in the verticle. As in when the blade wanders the wave it cuts is the same all across the board. i have seen two ways of setting up the ripfence on all the youtube videos on saw setup and I don't know which one is better. One you adjust for blade tracking and the other you set the fence parallel to the miter slot. right now mine is set up to adjust for blade tracking/drift. Any help on this would be appreciated.

With wandering cuts, the very first thing to check is blade tension.
The mechanical principles of resawing are that the area of greatest tension on the blade is between the bottom of the piece being cut and the bottom wheel. Any area of the blade above the bottom of the cut will have less tension. This is why the taller/thicker your piece, the more aggravated the wandering effect.
Ideally, tension would be equal both above and below the cut. As this is not measurable, the main point is that taller/thicker work requires more initial tension (initial tension is the amount of tension you put on it when tightening).
I like to tighten a notch further than the scale recommends, providing it doesn't bottom out the spring.

Try increasing tension and see if that helps. If it doesn't provide better results, there are only three areas that can contribute to wandering- machine adjustment, blade specifics, and operator technique.

Machine adjustment
1. Improperly set guides/thrust bearings.
2. Poor wheel wheel alignment leading to poor blade tracking.
3. Blade speed. Resawing requires high blade speeds, but most of us are stuck with high/low. Put it on high and adjust feed rate.

Blade specifics
1. Dull blade.
2. Improper blade selection.
3. Defective blade. More common than most would believe, but please allow me to further clarify. The primary culprits here are usually uneven sharpening or uneven set. Either will cause blade lead during the cut. You've got the type of blade lead you correct with fence adjustment; this is a "consistent lead". Then you've got the "inconsistent lead" caused by uneven blade sections, which causes wandering.

Operator technique
As mentioned above, you want a high blade speed, but what if your saw is already on high and you still don't think it's fast enough? (Your saw is "fast enough".)
Or what if the blade is already pretensioned to an astronomical level, and you dare not tighten further?
The answer is slower feed rate. Slower feeds require less tension, and also help compensate for (relatively speaking) slow blade speeds.

Conclusion: Sounds like your saw is set up properly. Also appears that the blade you have selected is proper for your application. Try increasing blade tension and slowing feed rate. If neither helps, have a talk with blade distributor.

[ken cierp]

This this method I have been using to adjust blade tension
http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking ... er-method/
really cannot complain about the results -- I would mention that our saw is equipped with the "Carter" guide system which I highly recommend if resaw is a consideration. The main difference in the Carter system is that it has an actual blade thrust bearings instead of the usual "skid" wheels running perpendicular to the blade (bad design). I assume the Rikon have this more modern guide system, which made a quantum improvement on our Grizzy.