Classic bandsaw doesn't rip well

[Bubinga]

Anybody know what might cause this bandsaw to wander when ripping. I've tried every adjustment I could find during tuning it up. Everything seems true.

Photo of the classic old 1954 King Seeley Band Saw that I boought from an old guy LOL.
http://home.comcast.net/~rlandres/African_mahog_dec03-.jpg

[jow104]

You most probably cant stop the wander. So rip a piece of scrap halfway, down a line without the fence (freehand) .
Draw a pencel line along the table using your half cut lenght as a template. Then set your fence to the angle of this line .
Before you cut a decent piece of timber try the cut with the fence now, shoud be ok without the wander.

[derekcohen]

Bubinga

Woody is correct in saying that bandsaws are not great at ripping. Still, there are two areas that you might explore (assuming that your bandsaw has shown a recent deterioration of function).

Firstly, if you do not have sifficient blade tension, the blade is likely to twist and be more susceptible to following the grain of the timber. So crank up the tension.

Secondly, you may need to replace the blade. It may be old, or it may be cheap, either way the set may be uneven and be pulling the blade off line. It is possible to fix a poor set with a CAREFUL use of a file as the blade is running. Having said that, I came very close to sorting one out of my own, got to 99%, then screwed it up by going for 100%. It probably wasn't on, and you will need to do as I did, that is, get a new blade.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[jow104]

Cranking up the tension will change the wander , but I found that it just changed the angle of attack!!
If the tension or thrust is changed I found I had to again reset the fence angle for the new set up.

[jow104]

To back up my suggestion please see attached photogragh of a piece of 3x2 which I have resawn and the off cut is around 1/16th inch thick. The piece was cut after having set up the fence to counteract the drift.

[derekcohen]

Woody (or is it jow104?)

Your suggestions to are correct for setting up the fence to begin with. My understanding is that this was aleady done and the bandsaw has recently begun to wander in spite of iit all.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[jow104]

My experience the other week was that even after I fitted a new blade, there was a drift, but after setting the fence to go with the drift I finished with a straight cut as per sample picture.

[derekcohen]

Yes, but we're not talking about your bandsaw. We're talking about Bubinga's. We don't really know what he's tried, even if he has a new or old blade.

Bubinga, I think you had better supply more detail otherwise we are just going to be guessing in the dark.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bubinga]

Well, I supposr that much of my drift problems are due to the odd types of hardwoods that I cut. Walnut Burl and Jatoba just play havoc(and those are just a couple of examples). I usually just draw a line and freehand rip now.