Thread: Bandsawn blade sideways wobble

Have you inspected where the blades joined at all?

Sometimes any slight misalignment as they are joined...creates a slight bump and wobble for a foot or so as it bumps thru the rollers...

It is disconcerting if your not used to hearing it... and it also creates a slight "woof" in your sawn surface...

For straight cuts it's a bit of an issue as the cut widens where the blade moves - but really if you wanted a dead straight cut you'd run it thru a tungsten circular saw not a bandsaw.

Once you get used to allowing for it - it actually helps a little for tight curved cuts by creating a little space to get the blade to turn a fraction without twisting...

It lessens the number of times you have to cut past at a tangent to your arc and then back up and creep round a bit more - then cut past as a tangent then back up and creep around a bit more.... it actually makes the blade a little more "user friendly" in some respects IMHO.

You just learn to allow that amount of extra clearance to your cut line... well that's what I would do.

Mind you my old band saw had Noahs initials still engraved on it from where he had it set up in the ark - so it wasn't the most accurate band saw ever invented.

I always considered band sawing - a little like sailing a yacht... pick your course - allow correction for wind, waves, current, and wind - and give it your best shot and adjust course as necessary to maintain the heading your after.

Its just something you develop a feel for.

Occasionally a band saw blade will get a slight "kink" in it - when "rolled up" by twisting it in on itself.... which is a bit of an acquired art to perfect...anyone gets it wrong and twists the wrong way can tend to impart a bit of a kink in it at the point where it won't go..... into a circle on itself into a coil for storage and transport.

Others might have a better solution?.

Mine was just grin and bare it.

Cheers

The joint is fine. First thing I checked in fact because I did once have a blade with a bump on the back, which you could hear quite well. This blade makes no excessive noise at all.

I've heard that the kink in a blade sometimes lessens as it runs so on Friday I'll see if the cut changes. Lots of timber to slice up... Probably at least 4 hours of cutting.

As what experts say, if the blade wobbles back and forth, the problem is with the weld of blade.
How much tension did you put on the blade?

The tension is fine. The blade deflects about 3mm sideways with moderate pressure. That's as exacting as I can be with no tension meter.

From what I can see, it's not the machine or the setup that's causing this. It's happens along a particular section of the blade, and doesn't correspond to a particular wheel position. It has to be the blade. Later today I'm sawing up lots of stuff so I'll see how it performs.

Maybe the blade was twisted during the welding process or through rough handling while folding the blade. You could try by twisting it back by putting the blade under tension and raising the the height adjustment all the way up and then twisting the blade back where it should be.
BF

Originally Posted by Blackforester

Maybe the blade was twisted during the welding process or through rough handling while folding the blade. You could try by twisting it back by putting the blade under tension and raising the the height adjustment all the way up and then twisting the blade back where it should be.
BF

I've tried that but it seems very persistent. It cuts ok though. The blade wants to wander unless the feed rate is very slow but it's not slowing me down a great deal.

It's definitely a kink in the blade. What I've read online seems to indicate it's not exactly common, but it does happen.

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

If you think there's a kink on the blade, fix it now. But if you think it's not worth it, get a new good blade this time.

There doesn't seem to be anything I can do to unkink it so I'll just use it for now.

This blade is a "good" one but I guess these things happen. It will be fine for now until I get my bigger blade back on.