Official Luthiers Forum!

A drill I can understand....

The manual that came with my hand saw was easy to comprehend ("move back and forth on wood")

My random orbital sander has an easy on/off switch...

But I know NOTHING about how a bandsaw works.... and I just purchased a slightly used 12" Craftsman to do the small items I need for building a guitar (no plans for resawing with this)

Where do I begin? Where can I get the info I need on how all this works?

The saw didn't come with a manual - so I'm going to order one - but other than that, I'm sure there must be something I need to read.

HELP!

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P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

If you Google "Band Saw Tune Up" and the like you are going to get some good places that will walk you through the set up pretty well.

In a nutshell, the band saw is mostly about two things: a good blade and correctly adjusted guides. If you get it set up correctly, it is a real pleasure to use and quite safe compared to a table saw, for example.

The manual might be available on the Sears web site, but it probably won't tell you much about how to use it.

I found this book very helpful, long after I started using mine.

http://www.amazon.com/Bandsaw-Book-Lonnie-Bird/dp/1561582891/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221575779&sr=1-1

Also, look on Frets.com. Frank Ford has some great tips on bandsaw use, especially this one.

http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/ShopTips/114.html

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Lonnie Bird's book is great, and there is an article in the archive at finewoodworking.com that is short but excellent. Like a lot of thing in woodworking, if you are unfamiliar with bandsaw work, techniques and cause and affects can be quite counter intuitive at first.

Duginski's bandsaw book will help you.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I've got those horrible plastic guides in my 3 wheel jobbie, they always wear at the front so I invariably end up cutting freehand cause if I want a straight live I have to feed the work at a slight angle to contensate. What do you guys do?

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

1) Except for carbide tipped blades, every bandsaw blade "leads" in a direction; often they change direction. We all cut freehand if we want to stay on the line. If you want a machine that will cut a straight line just by feeding against a fence, use a tablesaw.

2) The only decent three-wheeler is Inca, which aren't made any more. Put a new bandsaw high on your list.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Learning to setup a bandsaw and also learning how to use a point fence are very useful skills. Here's a link that may help also:

http://www.woodworkinghistory.com/bandsaw_syllabus.htm

and also check out the sawmill creek forum. One other safety item is to paint a 3" or so diameter yellow or red or orange circle around the blade opening. Its a great reminder where not to have your fingers!

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Howard beggars can't be choosers I was given it damaged the ally guide support was bent so I remade it in steel nice little milling job, and this is really the first time it's had an outing its an 80s black and decker with 59 1/2" blade and cuts stuff ok softwoods upto 2" no probs and 1-1 1/2" hardwoods depending the fence is ok for stuff up to 1/2" thick after that it starts to wander and as to a new one well only if I make it a profession would I expand as currently I work in my loft and carrying machinery up ladders is fun!

Should I replace the plastic with tufnol or wood as I've seen in some photos was what i was really asking?

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... caid=17902

this is the book I have and it was indespensible when I got my first bandsaw...

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JJH,
That is called drift. What you do is take a board with a straight edge and draw a line down the board parralle to that straight edge. Run that through your saw. As you are cutting you will be adjusting until you are cutting right on your line. The board may be angled as you have noted and this angle is your drift. You stop feeding the board and hold on to it and stop the saw. You can then with a bevel gauge copy the angle of the dangle of the boards edge with the front of the bandsaw table. Set your fence what ever distance you want from the front of the blade. Feed your wood nice and slow and you will have a perfect straight cut. This assumes your saw is cutting reasonably well.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I to use to set my fence to match drift till I read the article about two years ago in Fine wood working on bandsaw set up. If the saw is setup well it is more than possible to set up the saw to cut inline with the t-slots on the table. In other words square to the table. but a few things have to be just right to do so . One of the things that is most often to fault for drift in the blade out side of wheel tension and guide set up is the pitch tooth and gullet of the blade being used for a given task and gullet is often a culprit. If the gullet can’t clear the kerf fast enough to keep the blade form heating then the blade heats, flexes and you get drift. Blade tension, guide set up and other factors play into drift as well. I really do suggest you go to Fine Woodworking and read the article. It really changed the way I use my band saw and opened up my use of my band saw.

I agree with what Michael said. I just see blade drift as a mistake, now. It also has a lot to do with where you set the blade to ride on the wheel tires, too.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Here is an article on how to adjust for drift "the old way"
http://www.newwoodworker.com/bsblddrft.html

Often, the way I deal with drift is simply to use a 1/4" blade. I can keep my fence parallel to the slots and cut away without worrying about drift, because there's enough room in the kerf for such a narrow blade to be slightly out of line with the cut, i.e. the kerf allows the blade to be off-angle slightly and still cut straight as I guide the piece along the fence. From the blade's point of view, I may be cutting a continuous slight curve, but, in reality, I'm cutting a straight line. I'm not sure if I'm making sense, because it's hard to explain. Or maybe my tired brain just isn't working right now. Anyway, try it. (It won't work on thick stock, and certainly not for resawing.)

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/