Thread: Tension measurement?

Fencepost2

I've no doubt I am about to incur the wrath of the ????'s with my response, but what the heck!

Your question reminds me of an image I have of all the workshops in the world that have and must use a precise system in which the occupant's tools and machines are kept and must be in place when ever ! Whenever they present an image of their workshops where are the signs of accumulated dust or wood shavings, everything is in it's place! I can assure you this is the very reason why I've never posted any images of my most favourite place in the world - my workshop!

My advice is to stick to the tried and proven system ~ get to know your equipment ~ use it, know how it works, know how to get the best from it. Be prepared to take the time to learn. Don't rely upon anyone else, by trusting your accumulated knowledge I guarantee you'll get more value and satisfaction than any off the shelf devices

ping!
I rest my case.

Tony and PTC, thank you for your pings. A lot of wisdom there Tony. I suppose a lot of my enjoyment of woodworking is exactly what you say, getting to know how things work and what makes things happen. I do most of my woodworking in bed between the hours of about 5am when I wake up, and about 7am which is a decent time for me to get up. I like to figure things out in my head and then maybe test them in the workshop later on. My proportion of shavings, dust, and firewood against finished product is about 10:1. But it is fun and there is so much to learn and enjoy. My next batch of puzzling will be about why I can only bandsaw circles about twice the radius the charts say I should be able to do

On that one, don't forget to round the back of the blade - gives you a much better radius capability and is not detrimental to the blade. Of course, Tony is the resident expert on bandsawing radiuses, so I'm sure he will have a much more considered answer!

Thanks Stuart, how obvious and yet I had not thought of it. Makes good sense, round it with a stone I imagine?

Originally Posted by Fencepost2

...Makes good sense, round it with a stone I imagine?

Yes, use a stone (the second reason to round the back is it is not as hard on the thrust bearing).

Probably a good idea to clean out any accumulated wood dust from the bandsaw before rounding the blade - there was a fair bit of sparking when I did mine, and no sense risking fire.

Hope I'm not patronizing if I clarify how I rounded the back of my blade:

1) work out some way of getting the stone to touch the blade, whilst keeping fingers well away! A common suggestion is to glue the stone to a longer piece of wood.

2) rest the stone on the bandsaw table, and just *lightly* touch it to the back of the blade with the saw running. Swing it round the back of the blade to smooth off the 90 degree edges.

Cheers,
Andrew

I just tension them, it doesn't seem such a big deal to me. But I can understand wanting to know more so read this thread...
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...=Mark+Duginske

Mark is the guru in bandsaw or at least one of them with several well read books to his credit. Read the whole thread and most if not all tension devices are tested and generally written off as not worth having.

Originally Posted by Fencepost2

Tony and PTC, thank you for your pings. A lot of wisdom there Tony. I suppose a lot of my enjoyment of woodworking is exactly what you say, getting to know how things work and what makes things happen. I do most of my woodworking in bed between the hours of about 5am when I wake up, and about 7am which is a decent time for me to get up. I like to figure things out in my head and then maybe test them in the workshop later on. My proportion of shavings, dust, and firewood against finished product is about 10:1. But it is fun and there is so much to learn and enjoy. My next batch of puzzling will be about why I can only bandsaw circles about twice the radius the charts say I should be able to do

my tension is undoubtedly set higher(tighter) than manufacturer's recommendation, which is probably why some of my creative work is done some time before 5am!

Thanks again everyone, and to Mini for referring me to a long thread which debunked various kinds of tensioning devices.
What I have learned is that I should be more "empirical" that is, use the scale on the machine, try something out to see if it works, if it does, stick to it, if it does'nt make and adjustment.