Thread: Resawing Problems

Hi Jim,
Could be simply that the motor is not big enough, 1hp is not very powerful inthe case of any type of saw to give you an idea indutrail bandsaws used for ripping 150mm are 3-4hp, you could try reducing friction by waxing the table and the blade (only a short term fix though)

Does your bandsaw have a low speed setting? If so, try that: it will increase the available torque from the motor. On mine, this is accomplished by changing the drive belt positions on the lower pulleys.

Might be worth checking the tension of the V-belt also.

Originally Posted by Jim Grant

Help!
I have a Carba-tec WBS-14L with a 1 hp motor that I just cannot good results when trying to resaw stock up to 125 mm thick.
After the first failures where the stock standard carba-tec 3 tpi blade simply stopped I ordered new balades from Henry Bros. and set up the saw once again. This time I was trying to rip 100 mm thick, kiln dried, Blackood
I first tried the new 1.5 tpi blade and whilst that ripped through the timber without jamming it did it in a very uneven and rough manner. The blade was changed for a new 3 tpi and this did rip although jammed whenever any mild pressure was put on it.
Since then I have set the saw up very carefully following the advice from the guru's of bandsawing but it has not helped. I've tried diferent tensions, reset the fence to the angle dictated by the cutting action of the blade and balanced the wheels.
Any ideas?

Jim,
At the Sturt School in January, Roger Gifkins did a bit of resawing without the fence ... I am sorry that I don't have any pictures as I have not made the jig for myself yet ... what he did was give the fence a miss altogether ... he set up a vertical piece of MDF with a rounded end on it (guide jig!) and held very securely to a batten at the bottom which he used to clamp it to the bandsaw table. After making sure that the jig was parrallel to the blade, he positioned the rounded vertical the required distance from the blade and just lined up with the front of the teeth ... using a scribed line on the jointed timber, he then guided the timber so that it was against the guide jig and also following his scribed line ... it worked a treat!

Zed did a lot of resawing using the guide jig and he may have some photos as well.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Zoot Esq.

I've ripped 150mm thick logs on my 14" saw (which is about max cutting thickness on this model) with 3/4HP motor with no trouble at all and got exceptionally good results, so I don't think its necessarily all to do with motor power. I used a 3/4" 3 TPI blade for ripping and ceramic bandsaw guides (properly adjusted of course) with a rip fence.

Thanks for the advice guys.
To answer the points you made:
I've tried sawing freestyle without using the fence and that doesn't seem to make a difference.
When the blade jams it stops the motor as well so the "V" belt isn't slipping. It's not possible to adjust the tension of the "V"belt as the motor is mounted on top of a stand with no provision for adjustment.
Perhaps it does need a larger motor (hit it with a bigger hammer?)
Back to the drawing board.

Gidday Jim

When re-sawing probably the most important setup variable is the tension of the blade. Based on the symptoms of your present setup I reckon this would be a good odds on bet.

Try to tension the blade to around 15 000 pounds even try as tight as it can go initially then dial it back so that your not overtensioning the blade but its still up there.

Heres also some tips from David MArks (Host of Woodworks)

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/wk_too...278285,00.html

He recommends using a high-quality, sharp bimetal blade with 6 teeth per inch and a hook configuration. A bimetal blade will cut through metal as well as wood.

If the frustration continues see if you can get your supplier in to help or source some videos on Bandsawing...................theres some great information out there!!!

Regards Lou

Lou,
Thanks mate, I'll give the tension another go and see if I can get better results. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi,
I don't know if you have these in Aussie but try a 3/4 inch wide fish-slicing blade with 3 TPI. These have only 60% of the normal blade thickness so you can tension them up real well on a 14" bandsaw and the extra width keeps the cut nice and straight.
Paul

Originally Posted by NewLou

Heres also some tips from David MArks (Host of Woodworks)

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/wk_too...278285,00.html

He recommends using a high-quality, sharp bimetal blade with 6 teeth per inch and a hook configuration. A bimetal blade will cut through metal as well as wood.

Regards Lou

That's interesting as the Saw Doctor from Henry Brothers gave me some rather different advice, namely to use a 1 1/2 tpi blade (1/2 wide") for resawing hard woods like redgum. Works too, much better than the 3tpi I had been using previously - the extra spacing allows space & time for the dust to be moved out of the way, and although the finish is slightly rougher, it still gets jointed anyway, so no issue.

BTW my saw is an EB 14" with a 3/4hp motor, and I resaw up to 150mm fairly often.

Cheers!

I've just discovered a similar problem on my 14" Taiwan generic using a new, 1.5 TPI 20MM blade, resawing 100mm Jarrah.

I suspect I'm running the saw too slow.

Being a man of compromise, I have it on the middle pully. What does everyone else run at?

I've run my saw on the two speeds possible with no real difference in the performance. The 1.5 tpi cuts well but really roughly. To come back to a smooth surface wastes too much of the thickness of the piece.
I'm going to order a bi-metal blade at 3 tpi to see if it makes a difference. I would eventually like to be able to cut veneers about 4mm thick but at the moment there is no chance of that.
I'll post another thread once I've solved the problem.
Thank you all for your input. All advice gratefully received

Hello all, I have zero experience using a BAND saw, the one thing that springs to mind from using circular & chain saws for timber is this.FEEDSPEED. Either the blade is binding which is not going to occur in a new or properly sharpened blade.or it is being demanded to proceed faster than it can remove the wood in its cutting path.With the alaskan mill for slabbing one can cut with a huge long bar and a very over taxed power unit by taking your time.In this situation it seems ridiculous progress, the point becomes :I still managed to rip a 20" wide slab from Totara with a 54c.c. motor.When the saw was forced the chain would STALL .So I wonder whether going slower may solve the issue? Another possibility being the timber is not FLAT & PLUMB giving a twist to the kerf which will GRAB the blade? The faster the blade speed is,the quicker it can cut and forward progress should be relative to the sharpness ,Density of timber, perhaps the tooth profile,set, & so on.If you are careful you may cut a 6x2 with a hacksaw ?

You must be eager to help. The last post to this thread is almost 5 years old.