Truing a bandsaw blade

[fizzy]

Well I now have my Startrite vertical bandsaw back up and running. It is an 18" with a 10 speed gearbox. I bought it about 10 years ago just for sawing wood. I soon discovered a chop saw was a lot faster for cutting up pallet wood.

It was pure luck I ended up with a brilliant bandsaw for cutting steel. Just need to order some suitable blades now.

Truing blades is always a fiddly task but I usually get it right after a lot of faffing around.

Then I found this video.

Look at about 4.40. Looks totally wrong to me - he is grinding the back edge of the blade to get it to run correctly. is that the right way to do it?

 

[Turbo]

This is probably the best & simplest method of setting up a bandsaw.

It's the method recommended on most of the woodwork forums.

I wouldn't fully agree with what he said about not making the wheels co-planar. I used his method to set up our new SIP bandsaw at the mens shed & whilst it initially worked it would sometimes throw the blade & if you fitted a new blade you had to do the whole set-up process again.
Another member, a German engineer took into the machine & 2 days later he had it running like a dream. The main problem was the 2 wheels were a mile out of alignment!

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

If you follow the Startrite guide on setting the blade up it is simple. But a bit long winded.

Get the guides right. eg in the correct set, and you are away.

The guides are still avaialable, if they did not come with the saw.

 

[fizzy]

If you follow the Startrite guide on setting the blade up it is simple. But a bit long winded.

Get the guides right. eg in the correct set, and you are away.

The guides are still avaialable, if they did not come with the saw.

I did get quite good at truing the blade when I was using it on pallet wood. Mates kept "helping" me saw up pallet wood - and ripper blades soon blunt if you hit a nail.
I will now use the saw for it's original purpose. Metal.
I found Lee from alt saws to be very helpful. I will use him again for some proper blades.

http://sharkbandsawblades.co.uk/contact_us.html

He knows Stratrites inside out.

 

[earthman]

Same principles apply to an horizontal band saw I'm wondering??

 

[Turbo]

I did get quite good at truing the blade when I was using it on pallet wood. Mates kept "helping" me saw up pallet wood - and ripper blades soon blunt if you hit a nail.
I will now use the saw for it's original purpose. Metal.
I found Lee from alt saws to be very helpful. I will use him again for some proper blades.

http://sharkbandsawblades.co.uk/contact_us.html

He knows Stratrites inside out.

If you use the M42 bimetal blades from Tuff Saws they will handle the odd nail.

 

[fizzy]

If you use the M42 bimetal blades from Tuff Saws they will handle the odd nail.

I hope so as I intend to use it for only cutting metal now!
I use my Rage chopsaw for pallet wood now - I try to avoid nails but not end of the world if I hit one.

 

[Turbo]

I hope so as I intend to use it for only cutting metal now!
I use my Rage chopsaw for pallet wood now - I try to avoid nails but not end of the world if I hit one.

We have a rage table saw at the mens shed & it has a blade that can cut metal, you can cut ally sheet on it as well as wood. It will also cut through nails which is just as well as we use a lot of recycled pallet timber & sometimes we miss pulling the odd nail. Gives you a fright if you are ripping some wood & you get a shower of sparks!

It's a pity the saw is pretty rubbish otherwise. Just cannot get it to rip timber square, the cut always wanders off. I think the blade is too thin & is flexing. The whole frame is also too flimsy and flexes in use. We have now bought a proper table saw, a Wadkin & the rage will be sold on.