Band Saw Question

[oops99]

I just bought a Craftsman 10" band saw, I am having problems with the cuts being very crude, I know the blade is centered on the wheels, and I am pretty sure the tension is right, but I still get very sloppy cuts, I changed the blade, and replaced the upper wheel which was out of round ( tech from sears came to my house under warranty), I have until the 20th to return the saw, which right now looks like what I am going to do.
I have been a woodworker for a long time, and I am at the point where I expect things to look right as soon as I cut them, not after sanding the hell out of them. Is anyone familiar with this saw, or know what could be causing this type of problem?
Thanks in advance,

oops99 (Tom)

[Greenfield_Bob]

That sure needs to be downsized.

Bob

[GrayBeard Phil]

That is not bad for a bandsaw. You can improve on it some, but not much. Just guessing here, but are you positive that both the upper and lower thrust bearings are set exactly the same distance behind the blade and set at about 0.015 inches?

Nature of bandsaw that you have to clean up the kerf edges after cutting on a bandsaw. Some of that could be caused by the blade's weld point not being very good welding alignment. I presume you know not to buy bandsaw blades from Sears?

Photo showed about a 6 tpi blade? maybe even a 4 tpi blade? try a blade with many more teeth. Maybe a 10 or 14 tpi blade.

Phil

[Dragon]

Why would you not buy blades from Sears. Someone told me to buy them from Canadian Tire because they are guaranteed for life.
My size is odd nd not available anywhere anyway.
Just curious about the comment.
Diane

[gmackay]

A couple of more suggestions to try. Make sure that the blade is at 90 degrees to the table. If OK.... place a piece of wood behind the blade and have an assistant rotate the bandsaw wheel by hand while you observe if the blade doesn't constantly touch the blade to the wood. That will tell you if the blade is moving (front to back) during rotation.

That cut appears to be to rough even for a 4 TPI blade.

Hope this helps..... let us know!!!

[workin for wood]

judging by the look of the cuts, the table isn't square to the front of the blade, although it may be square to the side of the blade. Or, you may be pushing to hard feeding the wood...do you have your bearing set a papers thickness behind the blade? Otherwise, the roughness of the cut is normal...more teeth makes less roughness, but roughness none the less because the blade teeth offset to the side. Only way to totally eliminate that is to buy blades with carbide teeth, which aren't very cheap, and I don't think you can get carbide teeth on a smaller blade, I think, but don't quote me, that the blade has to be 1" or larger for carbide teeth.

I want to say your feeding your wood to fast, because I see roughness straight up and down on an outside curve, and on an angle through the inside curve. I also see some bowing in your cuts, which is not enough tension and pushing sideways on the wood as you turn...that's a technique issue.

[earlinjax]

I would sure try a quality blade and sloww down your feed rate.

EarlinJax

[SharonW0111]

Tom -- I have the same saw as you and I don't have cuts that look anything like yours.. I would say you have a bad saw itself - I would carry it back for a replacement.
When I bought my saw I had to adjust it but nothing ever looked like your cuts. I would take it back if it were me.
Sharon

[JWH]

Hi Dragon
I have tried Canadian Tire bladesand was not impressed. There was a blade sharpening guy around here and he would make blades to length for whatever I wanted to cut for half the price.down side of this is he sold his buisness so now I am looking for a new supplier.
JWH

[Dragon]

Hubby's cousin buys them and she says they have a lifetime warranty. So she goes back with the package and they give her a new one. She has been doing this for a few years all on the first blade that she bought.
I don't use mine much right now anyway. I am going for a seminar on bandsaw tension in February so until then I will stick to the scroll.
Thanks for the information. I will be looking around and try to find someone to make them for me.
Diane

[utbva]

The blades that come with bandsaws generally are not very good blades. I have purchased some better quality blades from www.highlandwoodworking.com or from http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5407. They still don't give a smooth cut like the scroll saw, but they are better than the OEM blades the come with the saw.

[Dragon]

They don't have my size but they make them. I have to check on this.
Thank you.
Diane

[Minnesota scroller]

What good is a lifetime warranty if every time you get a replacement, it's just the same junk? If the quality isn't there to begin with, they're not going to improve. I assume that's how they can afford to put a lifetime warranty on something like this. They make them as cheap as they can so even if they have to replace it numerous times, they're still making money.

[Dragon]

One place has none and the other one will make but the smallest is 1/4".
Diane

[Dragon]

Canadian Tire does not have my size either. We found it once two years ago and there was only one in stock and it was there by fluke.
I don't use the bandsaw much for now so I will keep looking around.
Diane