Thread: Bandsaw blade tuning

A. But I'm a tone deaf mute. Dunno how I passed music in high school

My blade when tensioned sounds like A, but has a bit of twangy vibrato in it, so it could be anything.

(should be a secondary poll. How many tried to play, "Marry had a little lamb"? )

A sounds right.

BUT....

This has given me an idea

This evening I will take No. 1 son's guitar tuner down to the shed and try "tuning my bandsaw"

I'll let you know the result in the morning.

Who knows, he might never get it back

regards

It would depend upon the thickness of the blade.

Originally Posted by Wongdai

It would depend upon the thickness of the blade.

Yes I wondered about that?

I think there is little if any difference between the reverbration sound of a 1/4" and a 3/16" blade.

By analogy from guitar, by definition, a heavier (ie g/cm of blade) would require a higher tension to achieve the same musical pitch.

In other words, the 3/16 blade should "sing" higher than the 1/4 given the same tension.

As I understand it, you require more tension for a thicker blade, so a constant tone might be self adjusting?

Any thoughts?

That does not work every blade and every bandsaw is different

And wouldn't the distance between the guides factor in there somewhere and if your guides arent touching the blade the distance the wheels r apart? cos the vibration (note)of a plucked object changes with length

Originally Posted by pjt

And wouldn't the distance between the guides factor in there somewhere and if your guides arent touching the blade the distance the wheels r apart? cos the vibration (note)of a plucked object changes with length

Always do the pluck/tension test on the longest unsupported side of the bs, in the centre - equal distance between the wheels, never on the guides side.

Originally Posted by China

That does not work every blade and every bandsaw is different

You may be correct, it may be this thread will adduce some evidence to support your statement?

As far as musical notes are concerned I would not know A from Z but I do set my tention by the sound of the blade when plucked. I established this sound by listening to blades that others have set and also experimented with sound and performance.
Don Mc.

Belated and part update.

Tried with the guitar tuner. Compromised as it was low on battery, and only gave an intermittent reading.

I used the bass guitar setting, and plucked the long left hand span of the blade, and when I got a reading, this seemed consistent, and varied with tension.

B/s is chinglish 14" with cast iron frame, blade is 1/2" x 3 skip tpi

Conclusion: shows promise, TBC.

Obviously specific to blade and b/s, but I will try my old 3/8 and 3/16 blades to the same note, (if possible) and see how this compares.

regards