Thread: I need high accuracy on my bandsaw

Greetings...

I often fall into the trap of wanting a new micro-positioner or digital
read-out for the most basic of tasks, so I appreciate your question.

May I suggest though, that you simply keep a few small pieces of the desired thicknesses tied together and placed on a hook on your saw's frame?

You can then quickly place the gauge piece between fence and blade, tighten and get right to work. This is the system that I use on my 24" saw.

Greg

Thanks alot greg....no new toys for me.

Actually, I tried this once, and it wasn't working for me. That was quite a while ago. Not sure why it didn't work, as it sure seems simple enuf.

I'll revisit that simple solution.....thanks.

If accuracy is critical why aren't you running it through a thicknesser. :confused:

I'm resawing, Termite.
I'm starting with stock on the order of 2" thick. I'm not about to run that thru a thickness planer, all the way down to 1/8".

So, I resaw it, just barely over 1/8", and then get it "dead on" via planer, or drum sander.

My next board, may need to be 3/16, and the next 1/4".

Make sense?

Originally Posted by ThinBoards

I'm resawing, Termite.
I'm starting with stock on the order of 2" thick. I'm not about to run that thru a thickness planer, all the way down to 1/8".

So, I resaw it, just barely over 1/8", and then get it "dead on" via planer, or drum sander.

My next board, may need to be 3/16, and the next 1/4".

Make sense?

I'm not a complete idiot, I know you are resawing, and up till now you haven't stated anything about a planer. :mad:

He just got sent a PM too.

I haven't mentioned a lot of other tools, termite.
What's your point?

Termite's point is that if you are after accuracy and you are running it through your thicknesser anyway, why does the resawing have to be spot on?

Thinboards,

If you try to resaw 10 “identical” boards from the same fence setting, you will get 10 very “similar” boards. The point is bandsaw will never give you 100% accuracy. You will always have to finish off the surface anyway (a thicknesser or plane). So why so picky about it?

Originally Posted by Wongo

Thinboards,

If you try to resaw 10 “identical” boards from the same fence setting, you will get 10 very “similar” boards. The point is bandsaw will never give you 100% accuracy. You will always have to finish off the surface anyway (a thicknesser or plane). So why so picky about it?

Agree wholeheartedly with Wongo on this.

I do a fair bit of resawing, and no matter how careful one is with fence size and setup, bandsaw blade wander, even with the most splendid gadgets, will always occur because wood is not absolutely uniform in grain pattern, density, etc, etc. This means that one can get close to an intended thickness, but not absolutely so.

For these reasons, I always slice a few mm extra thickness, and finish off either with the jointer and then hand-plane, or just using a hand-plane, depending on what the purpose for the stock is, and the amount of it.

For cutting veneers, I tend to slice off sheets about 3 ~ 4mm thick, temporarily glue them to some flat MDF or such, and run them through the thicknesser to achieve uniform thickness, then out with some hand-planes again.

Cheers!

Ok, I see what you all are saying.
Right now, each board I run thru my BS is within 1/64 of the previous board.

It's just that if I've need some 1/8" boards today, and some 7/16" boards tonight, and some 3/16" boards tomorrow morning, it would be nice to simply move my fence 'til my Incra jig hairline points to the proper number, and I'm all set....rather than doing the caliper measuring like I do now.

I realize I don't need to be "spot on" with the BS, but I'd like to return to any setting, for any thickness, easily.

Greg's suggestion may be the way to go. Incra just eMail'd me today, and said they have nothing to do this.

The bandsaw's not the tool for that job mate. You need to be looking at a thicknesser. Most bench-tops these days have the capacity to return to exactly the same thickness everytime.
The bandsaw is usually used at the first stages of preparing stock, then moving on to something with more accuracy like a thicknesser. You probably already know this by now.

[quote=Termite]I'm not a complete idiot, I know you are resawing, and up till now you haven't stated anything about a planer. :mad:
quote]

now that thats cleared up trouble with something like incra fence if they had one and accurate resawing is drift. keep it simple adjust for drift just prior to re sawing and use a steel rule to mark a mill over. if your bs is tuned with a good blade it should be a peice of cake, then just thickness to final dimention

A modified version of Greg's suggestion is what I would go for. Use a few sleds of different widths as spacers. That way you have constants to go by and the fence doesn't move. Parallax error will ensure some variation if the fence keeps moving whereas the sled/spacer option doesn't involve moving the fence at all.

Originally Posted by ThinBoards

Incra just eMail'd me today, and said they have nothing to do this.

Exactly, they have fence for tablesaw, router table but nothing for the bandsaw. Do you know why?

Keep a sample or use a rule. It is that simple.

Anyway I hope it works out for you.