Thread: Broken blade

Hi Labr@,
I to have only just begun the bandsaw box journey the set up of the blade for any project is very important one possibility is you said this was the blade that came with the saw maybe this was not a great quality blade? You could have also stressed the blade not having seen what you have cut but if you were cutting tight curves that are to tight for the blade could be over heating the blade by rubbing on the back edge as well as the teeth for a tight curve may have weakened the blade. the Alex Snodgrass method of bandsaw set up is very useful as the heat caused by guide blocks and bearings can damaging as well. I have been using a 3mm 14tpi blade current box is 95mm thick Delinia and it cut extremely well with some very tight curves.
Band Saw Clinic with Alex Snodgrass - YouTube

Regards Rod.

Thanks for the reply Rod. I'm already aware of Alex S - he makes a lot of sense. The use of a 3mm 14tpi blade is interesting - I thought the 6mm was small but mabe that is because I've been using a larger blade for general purpose work for a while. Does the 14tpi give a smoother finish to the cut surfaces? If so then it could be a big saver on sanding time.

did it break on the join weld? ive had numerous 1/4" blades break on me at the weld. sometimes when they grind the weld flat, they get a little over zealous and grind too much leaving an incredibly weak join.

Probably just the cheap blade supplied with the machine. They are known for breaking easily. I second what the others have said about using a 3mm blade and it should be set up so that it runs freely through the guides and tensioned not too tight. When you are cutting don't put too much presssure on the work piece, just let it feed through at its own pace. As well you need to know that these very fine bandsaws don't last very long at the best of times. I used to buy them in lots of 10 when I was working with a bandsaw every day and on average would only get about two hours work out of a blade. Often they would only last a couple of minutes if the weld failed. These you can take back to the bandsaw maker and get a free reweld. Another good tip is to run your fingers over the weld when the bandsaw is first put onto the machine and have a look for any lumps or thickness. You can then clean up the weld with a saw file and make it flat. You can even relieve a few teeth adjacent to the weld to ease the stress on that point.

Hi,
One thing, I think the right sequence of events is to cut the outside shape after the back is glued back on, this gives a better and steadier for both cuts.
Regards

Thanks for all those replies. Yes, it broke at the weld, but I gather that's where they break almost all the time. As it turned out we have a metalwork bandsaw at work with blade welding and grinding attachments so I took it in and had it repaired. Unfortunately it came out too short - even at the lowest wheel setting it won't go on.

Went to Qsaw for some new ones but couldn't get 3mm blades so ended up with 2 at 6mm. The new 6mm did the job OK so there are some bits glued up now.