I just purchased my first band saw: Grizzly extreme 17 inch with the 2 hp motor. Tuned the blade tension and guide bearing etc, to the best of my limited ability. I’m working on a large trestle table and have laminated 3-8/4 by 4 by 24 walnut planks for the base of the legs. I thought I would zip right through 6 inches of walnut, especially with a new 1/2 blade. Not so….. I’m burning the walnut regardless of how slow the feed rate is. Is this too much to ask of the machine ? Something is amiss. Does anyone have any ideas. Thanks, Rich
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Replies
What brand blade are you using? I'm not familiar with the blades that Grizzly sends with the saw, but the blades that came with my bandsaw were absolute junk. I use the woodslicer from Highland Hardware, but there are many, many good brands, like Lennox, and several others. Plenty of opinions will arise here, but you can bet that your blade is nothing more than a very large hood ornament, and the most likely cause of your problem.
Jeff
Jeff:The blade is a good starting point......I thought brand new that I'd get at least 30 minutes of use.
I though the Highland blade was an extra wide blade for re-sawing. I was just trying to cut a gentle curve....I'll call Highland Monday and check their catalog. If you ever get the chance, visit their place in Atlanta...talk about a kid in a candy store and Christmas morn all in one. Thanks for your response..hope it's that easy as changing the blade
The widest blade I ever use for resawing is 1/2". You do not need a wider blade to resaw. And, the 1/2" blade will cut gentle curves. For tighter curves, get a smaller blade.
Jeff
Aaaaaahhhhh guys . . . he isn't resawing . . . . . he is cutting curves in thick stuff. What I got out of the description is he is shape cutting the feet for his trestle table. He just glued up three 8/4 layers that were resawn at the lumber supplier.Can use the same blade if it is ~ 1/2 " or so but my resawking blade might be too wide; it is over an inch wide.Just a thought. My wide blade might just do it but keep'in the main thing the main thing.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/27/2009 9:55 pm by roc
Use a blade with 3 or less teeth per inch and at least 1/2" wide. I use a 1 -1/2 tooth blade x 3x4" or 1". There is nothing wrong with the Grizzly stock blades except like most new blades they are not sharp. The blades are stamped out but rarely sharpened.I sharpen resaw blades with a dremel tool.One blade generally lasts me for years.I have resawed cherry, red and white oak, lots of cedar. Probably resawed at least 1800 bf with one blade sharpened every four hours. My one inch blade is about 3/4" wide now. Hard to fathom how metal fatigue hasn't broke this stock blade yet.Sharpening resaw blades is easy, if a blade has more than tpi than I toss it when dull. Too difficult and timeconsuming to sharpen blades with lots of teeth.
mike
Your response certainly confirms what I am beginning to understand about the bandsaw. l'd like to learn to resharpen a re-saw blade. What is the shape of the stone used in the Dremel? Sharpening every 4 hours must result in some great resaw results, along with mucho satisfaction.
I ordered some 3 TPI blades that were endorsed by fellow "Knots folks"
Thanks for your kind assistance
Rich
Sharpening a bandsaw blade with three or less teeth is easier than you might think. First you have to understand that all bandsaw blades are filed or ground in the rip configuration. Straight across the teeth, NOT angled like a crosscut handsaw .
You need a dremel tool with chainsaw cylindrical stones.These stones are pink in color,about 1/8 to 3/16" in diameter and about 1-1/4" long.I generally use 1 stone per sharpening because I am using 113" blades ( 16" saw ).
First vacuum any sawdust and raise the blade guard to the highest position.Practice pushing then pulling the dremel, level with a tooth,do this with the dremel off. You will see that the stone will not only sharpen the tip of the tooth but also the gullet at the same time.I use the table to steady my hand.I usually can sharpen 2" or so of blade before turning the wheel.Now after practiceing you can give it a try.
I move the tool in then out,repeat in then out.This gives you four strokes,that's enough. You will see that after a few teeth are sharpened that the points are very sharp.Probably sharper than new.The stone will wear more in the middle, no problem,use the stone until there is very little left .
Some people use the cutoff wheels to sharpen the blades.They do not get into the gullet so after a few sharpenings the blade will not cut.
When a blade gets dull or you break a blade,try it.A ten minute practice run with a broken blade in a vice will give you all the confidence you need.
The whole idea is similar to chainsaw sharpening, just takes longer.Takes me about twenty minutes to sharpen 113 inches of blade.Expect to take a lot longer the first time.When I first started this I removed the blade and put in a homemade saw vice.One day I decided to try it on the saw. Been doing it this way ever since.
mike
Mike:
Man did you do a superb job of using words to create vivid pictures that teach. Great job. I think I have a very good understanding of the process you use. I'll even do the assigned homework (practice on a broken blade)
Where are you located? I'm in Southeastern PA
Again, many thanks
Rich
Rich,
If you go to the Video heading right up top, there is a how to section and one of the topics is bandsaws. They cover a whole bunch of valuable information on topics like set up, resawing, blade selection for the type of use. Even for those who have been around for awhile it's a good refresher.
Taigert
Thanks Rich, I'm in Mays Landing NJ. I am familiar with southeast Pennsylvania as I worked in and around there for close to 40 years. Before I retired I worked in the Philadelphia area and suburbs.
Glad I could help,mike
>metal fatigueFor steel this will only be a problem if the steel is flexed to the point it stays kinked
( plastic limit ) and is then un kinked. Just bending the steel around the radius of the wheel is within its elastic limits and does not enter into its plastic limits.Un like aluminum steel has an infinite fatigue life within the elastic limit.If the joint is silver brazed rather than welded and annealed then we are into the limitations of silver alloys but rare or never is the silver used these days.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/28/2009 10:09 pm by roc
Un like aluminum steel has an infinite fatigue life within the elastic limit.
That's not quite true. The fatigue limit of steel is usually significantly less than the elastic limit (generally around 75% or thereabouts for high-carbon and alloy steels). Even very mild stresses cause dislocations to propagate, which eventually leads to a reduction in tensile strength.
-Steve
>Even very mild stresses cause dislocations to propagate, which eventually leads to a reduction in tensile strength.My back ground is not engineering. Don't want to mislead anyone. This however was explained to me by my old boss who was an engineer but not a metallurgist.The example we were around was steel bicycle frames going through millions of cycles, cobble stone roads, and never ever failing in the middle of a tube. Even frames that were thirty years old. Failures were ALWAY the result of stress risers, abrupt transition from a thin tube to a thick termination at a joint, or the tube pulling completely out of a cold brazed joint or a joint that was starved of brazing filler etc.These were extremely thin tubes, 0.9mm on the ends 0.6mm in the middle sections with two hundred pound plus riders in real race conditions ( not group rides ) or with cross the USA tours with same rider weight and 50 to 80 pound unsprung loads of camping gear.The frames failed all the time but not in the middle of a twisting and flexing tube. Often the failure was in a cast or forged fitting that the tube connected to.Not disputing your facts but that was just where I was coming up with my comments and how it was explained to me. I also have bicycle metallurgy books here written by Douglas Hayduk who obtained his degrees ( B.S. and M.S.) in Metallurgical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.Sorry if this does not apply to steel saw blades.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/29/2009 12:45 am by roc
Roc,
Your mention of steel bicycle frames made me think of an incident that happened last summer on a ride I lead for our bike club.
A bunch of us were going down a big hill at about 40 mph and, three riders in front of me, I saw a guy's front wheel start whipping back and forth rapidly. There was a lot of shouting, a bit of crazy veering and several riders purposefully headed for the ditch. The guy with the whipping wheel managed to steer his bike off the road and onto the grass before he fell over onto his shoulder and back.
It turns out that his carbon fiber fork had become unglued from the aluminum plugs at the end of his steerer tube. The entire thing had simply, catastrophically failed. It was pretty sobering looking at that mess of flimsy carbon fiber cloth, glue and aluminum. That's all that is holding a lot of us from disaster on the road these days. And it's not much...
We called the injured guy's wife and she came to pick him up. His shoulder was pretty badly damaged and he eventually had to have surgery on it. A torn something inside; don't remember exactly what it was.
As unfortunate as this was, I don't recall any other frame failures in all the riding I've done over the past 14 years. But it points out that there is a very fine line these days between everything being just great and total catastrophe. When carbon fiber goes, it fails completely. It depends on everything being exactly right all the time. Once there is a breech in its design integrity, it's ripe for failure. I check my own carbon bike frequently for small cracks in the frame. Haven't found any yet and hope never to.
It seems as though steel frames had a little more leeway in this department. They weren't so highly engineered that a crack or break in one piece of the frame would cause everything to fail. What's your experience with this? I know a steel frame can be welded if a crack does appear; with carbon, that's the end of the road for that frame (though some frames, some Cannondales in particular, can sometimes be repaired, if I'm not mistaken).
Zolton
If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
That's a phenomenon that was discussed at length when they first started building aircraft from carbon composites: When an F-15 crashes, you get pieces of twisted metal that bear at least some resemblance to an airplane. When an F-22 crashes, you get dust.
-Steve
>Wobling front wheel before the axe falls blessing or bane ? What's your experience with this?Tour Captain,Nice to hear there is still some gentlemen proceeding in the old ways.Wobling front wheel before the axe falls blessing or bane ? Nearly every time that sort of thing has happened to me I wake up later trying to piece together why I am no longer upright and smiling.I had a bit of warning when the big black lab decided to rub his shoulder , ( because he had and itch ? ) on the funny bicycle riders. The funny bicycle riders were pace lining on a slight decline at like thirty plus.I collapsed a frame and wound-up on my head and back. No cracks in the bike tubes though. Kept riding the bike , sort of, until the call arrived from the insurance company of doggie owner that "Yes Mr. roc you have a legitimate claim . . . the check is in the mail . . . sorry for any delay . . . thank you for not suing our client's a$$ off . . . have a VERY nice day ".It did take a long time for my neck to recover from that one. I did find out that the funny little leather "hair net" bike helmets WILL actually provide some degree of protection in a crash contrary to what the naysayers will tell you. I ordered a new race frame right away and continued to ride the mangled one untill it arrived. During one canyon ride I rode off the road three times it handled so strange. Luckily I went toward the mountain rather than over the cliff. I didn't want a pickle . . .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g266Uwp6ZnIoohh where was I . . . my experience with this? Well that's one of um. Hit a police car head on once but best not to get into that right now. . . no cracks though . . . lets see . . . oh ya it was like this:I bought this old French bike from an estate sale. I had just moved to "The Big City " and I needed to get around and I wasn't about to use one of my purebreds back home so I bought this old entry level, all steel, guy for about fifteen bucks. Got me around and no body stole it. As time went by we started to bond in a strange way. I started to put on aluminum parts and better stuff. Then I brazed on cantilever brake mounts right onto the steel of the frame. I put on some killer brake pads. I can't even get that compound any more. God I miss them pads. The world has just gone to $hit ya know ? Can't even get killer brake pads and silk race tires. : )This set up was SOOO KILLER that I could CONTROLLABLY lift the back tire off the ground with my commuter panniers on the back if I slid back on the seat and grabbed a little too much, or just enough, front brake lever. It was fun and impressed the onlookers.I had a way I rode home every day and it involved a foot/bicycle bridge with two inch drop off and a ninety degree turn at the bottom of a short down hill. So every day down the ramp, wait to the last second after dropping off the drop off , nail the brakes and turn right. It got to be child,s play with those brakes. A split second and dangerous thing now that I look back on it. But I was young and lived on my bike from the time I could talk my parents into letting me ride out side the yard.Then some pals got up a tour. We were to spend several days touring dirt roads and smooth cow paths in the Cinnamon Pass region of Southern Colorado. JUUUUSSSST my cup o' tea. This was all before mountain bikes. I just put on some wider tires ( still only 1-1/4" or 1-3/8 " ) and off we went.We had a great time. I make a habit of getting "air" off little bumps in the road on down hills and this trip was no exception expedition loads of camping gear and all !See a bump coming up, line up, hunker down, wait for it and . . . jump and land just like a down hill skier. Well sort of; guess you would have had to have been there.Any way had a great time, got back, put on the skinny tires and went back to my old commute with the
nail the brakes and turn.By the way by this time the old beater had become a beloved part of my stable. I even gave it a name THE BLACK PIG because it got used so much that it was covered with road gick and black bike greasy stuff. I call it theft proofing.Well there we were the THE BLACK PIG and I on the foot/bicycle bridge with two inch drop off and a ninety degree turn at the bottom of a short down hill. Same as any other work day. I bet when I "applied" that front brake lever like that the front fork bent back a good bit. I never thought to look down and watch it. It was such a habit by now. I was probably thinking about some thing unrelated to bicycles.Then I was having a dream. In the dream I was talking to these two nice people I couldn't quite make out all they said but they were very friendly and concerned with my every need and the state of my health and all. That was sooo nice! You don't meet people like that every day. Unless you are paying them and they come under the title of health professionals or house staff etc. So that was sooo nice to have all that attention.Then I woke up. I was standing up ! Oh it was a dream. I see. Where am I . Last I remember I was riding home. This isn't home. It is the foot/bicycle bridge. Hummm maybe I am still dreaming and I just dreamed I woke up. Yes that must be it. Feels like the case. Also feels like if I fall asleep again I will fall down. Oh look there are two people walking away from me on the other end of the foot bridge. Was that who I was talking to earlier? Looks like 'em. Hey there's the BLACK PIG. Uh Oh. This isn't starting to look good and what is all this wet warm stuff running down my face and who the hell broke my helmet? I liked that helmet !Well you can guess the rest.It turned out that the inexpensive and imprecisely made "lug" that the front fork tubes were brazed into at the bike factory had done a exemplary and heroic job of holding this cheep bicycle together while I did all manner of things with it that the manufacture had never intended and on top of that I had added to the mix a brake that put way, way, way, more stress on the structure than it could be expected to resist even for the first year of normal riding. Lets not even think of mountain tours in the middle of no where. Yes lets think about that later shall we.I had not taken into account that when upgrading the brakes the quality of the fork crown needs to be considered.Any body who says French bikes are junk is wrong. I would not recommend you buy an old French bike however. Would I buy and use another French bike. In a heart beat. It is complicated. Like a woman . . .I still ride that same bike to work every day rain or snow by the way. He has a new fork. Can't get the brake pads of old but WE remember. How it was. In the old days !We have this understanding. I let him go to preserve the "theft proofing". He needs something and I don't listen he throws me on my face. Simple, direct, no beating around the bush.See also the cat in the front wheel story here on Knots some where. Same bike. Same rider. I hate cats !Still no cracks. If ye ever had a crack the way I would repair them ( mostly badly dented tubes ) is replace the whole tube. Unbraze it. Do you know some frames are put up in the jig, drilled and a NAIL is driven in then the frame is removed from the jig to make it easier to braze it up. Nails ain't just for wood.>What's your experience with this?WHAT ! Ummm what ? I must have dropped off. . .Oh you meen with carbon fiber. Oh sorry I was "dreaming". Lets see . . . carbon fiber . . . what's that ? ? ? . . . that's epoxy an pencil shavings or some such. Nasty stuff. Them things can be DANGEROUS. Never touch 'em. No sir. Not me. I don't like to take chances.: )rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 4/29/2009 3:20 pm by roc
Edited 4/29/2009 9:25 pm by roc
Message continued:on Knots some where. Same bike. Same rider. I hate cats !Still no cracks. If ye ever had a crack the way I would repair them ( mostly badly dented tubes ) is replace the whole tube. Unbraze it. Do you know some frames are put up in the jig, drilled and a NAIL is driven into each hole in each joint socket then the frame is removed from the jig to make it easier to braze it up. Nails ain't just for wood.>What's your experience with this?WHAT ! Ummm what ? I must have dropped off. . .
Oh you meen with carbon fiber. Oh sorry I was "dreaming". Lets see . . . carbon fiber . . . what's that ? ? ? . . . that's epoxy an pencil shavings or some such. Nasty stuff. Them things can be DANGEROUS. Never touch 'em. No sir. Not me. I don't like to take chances.: )rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/29/2009 9:32 pm by roc
Roc,
Great - no, super-great - story and the telling of it! It put me (uncomfortably) there. I'm glad the incidents you've had on your bike haven't soured you on the sport. Nothing like it, is there?
I had an old Olmo Special steel framed bike once when I lived in Boulder for a year. It was my commuting bike to my job on a concrete pouring crew.
You know how the wind blows in Boulder, don't you? One day I took off from my apartment and took exactly one pedal stroke - and then coasted the rest of the nine miles to my job, sometimes opening up and holding out to the sides the tails of my flannel shirt to use as a sail. A pretty good tailwind that day.
I wish I still had that bike. It was pretty bullet-proof. But there were days when working all day pouring concrete and then having to fight the wind and mountains to get back home at the end of the day was pretty tough. Or, rather, in biking terms, not "tough" but "character building."
ZoltonIf you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
>concrete pouring crewThanks for the kind words. Yes I too worked concrete, inside though, in a concrete casting plant for a year or so. I am a bit light for that kind of work. I was glad to move on. I went on to live in my dream location working a dream job so it was GOOD.At the concrete casting plant toward the end of the day before we poured it was up on the mixer truck poring box after box of reinforcing "needle" like pin things into the mix. Came in fifty pound boxes. Climb mixer truck steel ladder with rubber gloves with lard and diesel fuel mix on everything, on boots etc.Truck jumping and rocking RummmWhooshRummmWhooshRummmWhooshRummmWhoosh as it mixed a full load at full speed. And I am up on top looking into the terrible maw of the beast raking these stupid needles in and they go right into your fingers through the thick cloth reinforced gloves at times. Cloud of diesel exhaust up next to ceiling, great for the lungs IT WAS NUTS !So yah I can relate.
Take care !PS: >suprised I still ride after all the crashing about.
Well we are talking forty years of cycling here. I suppose it is like child birth; after a while you forget what it was like and you think you want to do it again/somemore. Yep nothing like it. I was reading about Chet Baker the world renowned jazz man trumpet player. He had an addiction to heroin. I have this bike addiction. I think I got the best deal.PPS: Nice to hear from all the cyclists ! I won't take up more space here responding individually, I have hogged it enough. I find I am seen by drivers when I wear my white cycling helmet. If I wear another color or none at all people are always pulling out in front of me. Be safe everyone.laterrocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 4/30/2009 10:01 pm by roc
Edited 4/30/2009 10:09 pm by roc
Roc,
Great story, I once rammed my first year 1987 carbon fiber Trek 2500 into the side of a stop sign runners car at 22 mph , Pretty funny actually. I hit his front fender and launched rite over the hood out of my clipped on shoes in a forward head flip and landed on the other side of the car on my posterior, Luckily I suffered no injuries . I immediately jumped up and proceeded to give the driver a piece of my mind. As for the bike the forks were aluminum and were trashed, both front and rear rims Mavic open 4 cd clinchers were also trash . Amazingly enough I had the frame inspected by Trek for alignment and damages , None. I still have the bike to this day. As for his car it was not pretty, crushed fender and hood his insurance company called to see if I was really on a bicycle.
On a more comical note I also have a 1985 Pinarello time trial bike ,20" Radial spoked front wheel ,zipp 900 disc on the rear All Dura Ace components very nice bike. So I am riding along and pop goes the rear sew up, I pull over on the shoulder and pull the rear wheel to change tire Easy enough just peel the old off stick the new one on except the wind factor kicked in . I put the disk wheel on the ground as I retrieved my spare tire and co2 canister next sound I hear is my rear disk lifted by the wind while rolling across the busy road finally coming to a stop in the center as cars are trying to miss it , needles to say my heart was racing those carbon fiber disks are not cheap and I was no where near home. The thought of carrying my bike in those not made for walking shoes was un thinkable. I must have looked pathetic in spandex trying to dodge cars and chase down that wheel in those shoes.
Tom
The bike stories are fun - I spent about 10 years in that business. Yes, I know about nails, LOL. There were more than a few bikes that got out my employer's door wherein the nails were all that was holding some portion of the frame together. It was amazing how long it took before the first sign of failure showed up (these were 'sport' bikes, not clunker three-speeds of the era). No one, to the best of my knowledge, received anything other than a bad surprise. Once the problem was discovered I got to spend too much of my time, over too many states, testing the joints.
I also had the fun job of cutting up extreme hi-end frames that had failed (always at a lug) to return the failed bit to the factory for analysis.
Tom,
I really got a laugh out of the vision of you dodging cars trying to run down your disk wheel! That must have looked funny to a lot of the folks in the cars. Of course that's the general state of their reaction to bikers overall..
I got hit by a car last summer in a manner somewhat similar to your ramming that car broadside.
I was riding in a bike lane along a line of cars, doing what I'm supposed to be doing and in the area designated for me on the roadway. The cars were stopped for a stoplight and a guy in a minivan had made a hole in the line of cars so a woman in an SUV could make a left turn into her driveway. You can probably guess what happened next...
She made the blind turn in front of the minivan and there I was, tooling along relaxed at about 17 mph. I had about eight feet to lock up my brakes and swerve violently to my right to avoid a direct hit. The car was up in my grill in an instant - and I up into its. Her front fender hit my left leg and my momentum carried me halfway over her hood. Then I switched directions and fell down onto my back with the bike on top of me.
I was so mad I couldn't say anything for a long while. My rage was compounded by the fact that the woman who had hit me came boiling out of her car blaming me for the accident..."You bikers go up and down this road so fast and you don't wear bright clothing and I couldn't see you because of the van and..." On and on. I just sat there in the road and looked at her.
After a while I got up, checked myself out, checked the bike out, retrieved my water bottle and then got back in the saddle and rode away.
In retrospect, this was not a good idea. I did another 38 miles that night, and by the end I was starting to tighten up in several spots. I was hurt more than I realized. The next morning, cantalope-sized bruises started to sprout all over my body, and for the next week I walked around like an old(er) man. Lesson learned there.
Also, in my dazed state I could have missed some damage on my Trek 5000, and that could have resulted in a more catastrophic accident somewhere down the road.
Despite the trauma, it was a very lucky deal in all. I could easily be dead. Now I'm not so cavalier riding in close proximity to cars like that. Truthfully, I had let down my guard after riding so long with no incidents. I'm not that way anymore..
Zolton If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
>A little more experience with all this<Carbon fiber bike frames that is. Who knows, maybe carbon fiber hand planes are just around the corner. So don't throw me out of the chat room for talking about stuff unrelated to wood and bandsaws. Please. I will be good. Later.I was in the right place at the right time today and some body had a fairly new, a year or two old, full carbon fiber frame. He was trying to decide about the hair fine line around the part of the frame where the bearings for the crank go in ( bottom bracket ). Looked like a crack. A very long crack. If you straightened it out it would be about three inches long.I was the only one with a jeweler's loop in their bike bag. Not on a ride; I was at work. I always carry a jeweler's loop. But I am not a nerd or anything. OK you found me out. Even though I kept my " pocket protector " well hidden in my bike bag.Under magnification I could see how the crack wrapped half way around the bottom bracket where all that fiber is epoxied to the aluminum shell that the bearing parts thread into. The crack was deep in places and was traveling coaxially with the crank axle deep into the frame. Bad news. I suppose the bike company is going to warranty it.Funny someone asked about this and a few days latter I come across one.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 5/6/2009 10:13 pm by roc
Roc,
Wow. Not only did you probably save that biker with the cracked carbon fiber frame some road rash, you also owned up to a very difficult thing - carrying a loupe in your bike bag.
That's one I've never heard. However, I will admit that when it's 90 degrees and humid and you're standing by the side of the road, hunched over a flat tire with sweat running down into your eyes and mosquitos are buzzing around your legs, it is difficult to see those little snake bites. Is that what you use the loupe for? Don't you just throw in a spare tube instead of patching?
Funny you should mention your, well, persuasion toward that side of the personality ledger. Just tonight a guy on my Wednesday ride modeled a plaid skirt for us.
Not to ride in. He uses it to change into his bike shorts before the ride and afterward, before he drives home.
Funniest thing ever. He was standing by his van and suddenly there he was in a skirt. As you can imagine, it elicited a few comments from the hard boys. One said, "You're fulfilling my secret desire for a Catholic schoolgirl - but the hairy legs really kill the deal...
I don't care what happens, I'm not wearing a dang skirt!
Zolton
If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
>change into his bike shorts before the ride . . .I'm not wearing a dang skirt!<I can tell you the runners and the bikers I used to travel with had no qualms about changing on the side of the road sans skirt, car door, what have you.The guy with the skirt was doing everyone a favor if you ask me. Considering the alternative. Which unfortunately I can definitely say from experience is NOT pretty. Bike racers and runners are not known for their gentility and modesty when they are running on pre-event nitro. You can hardly keep 'em on the ground let alone worry about who is seeing how much of what.I can not believe some of the stuff I have seen before a race just because there were so many people around that the cops couldn't hope to cart them ALL off and not enough "facilities". They were quick about it and gone into the crowd of participants. Just another race. What's the big deal ?Yah a bit of a wrap is DEFINITELY preferable to the honest and manly alternative.Just think of it as a big locker room towel around the waist. Try to ignore the pink color and the daisy flower print and stuff.For the uninitiated that are still with us and not searching for the "UNSUBSCRIBE" button; bike shorts are worn without underwear and are lined with shammy like material against the skin to forestall the wear and tear from six or ten hours sitting on that less than plush but absolutely necessary skinny bike saddle.: )PS: Calfee. Got it. Thanks.
rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 5/6/2009 11:45 pm by roc
Edited 5/6/2009 11:47 pm by roc
As long as this thread has changed from bandsaw related to biking, take a look at this video of amazing bike stunts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbikesnobnyc.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embeddedIt starts off slow and looks like no great shakes, but keep watching...Jerry
If the company doesn't warranty the frame tell the rider that Calfee Design repairs other models of carbon frames.
www.calfeedesign.com/
The analysis is basically fine; I'm just saying that the controlling limit in this case is the fatigue limit, not the elastic limit. Both "elastic limit" and "fatigue limit" have precise definitions in metallurgy, and they're not the same thing. Your bicycle frames avoided failure not because they were stressed to no more than the elastic limit, but rather because they were stressed to no more than the (lower) fatigue limit. Steel that is repeatedly stressed to the elastic limit will suffer fatigue and fail in short order.
You can think of it this way:
Stress above the elastic limit: Failure happens almost immediately.
Stress below the fatigue limit: Failure due to fatigue is essentially nonexistent.
Stress between the fatigue and elastic limits: Likelihood of failure is proportional to the number of stress cycles. As you increase the stress and move closer to the elastic limit, the number of cycles to failure gets smaller, eventually reaching (approximately) 1. As you decrease the stress and move closer to the fatigue limit, the number of cycles to failure gets larger, eventually reaching (approximately) infinity.
As for bandsaw blades, I'm sure they're designed so that the stresses are always below the fatigue limit. However, the steel in the vicinity of the weld has, in effect, been heat-treated differently from the steel in the rest of the blade. So it's quite possible that the normal stresses of going around the wheels will exceed the fatigue limit for that part of the blade, even in the absence of macroscopic defects like incomplete welds, etc.
-Steve
Steve,I love Knots ! There are so many interesting and learned people here. Thanks for speaking up.>the elastic limithe just told me that the plastic limit was were it stayed bent when it was bowed and when straightened that work hardened the material and could lead to failure. So the two terms plastic ( deformed ) and elastic ( basically undistorted when the force is removed)Thank you for the info. I did make a copy into my metal working files.
I wasn't ignoring your post I just had not read that next e-mail (yours ) until now.As far as "failure" happening almost immediately I am thinking microscopic molecular failure but on the larger scale one can bend something back and forth allot into what he called the plastic state and still not have immediate failure of a structure.Perhaps plastic is too vague and broad a termrocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/29/2009 4:02 pm by roc
"As far as 'failure' happening almost immediately I am thinking microscopic molecular failure but on the larger scale one can bend something back and forth allot into what he called the plastic state and still not have immediate failure of a structure."
That's true, especially when you're bending. But when it comes to fatigue, where testing to 106 or 107 cycles is de rigeur, "immediate" just means "after fewer than 1000 cycles." ;-)
-Steve
Now I Got it.ThanksrocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
>blade
How many teeth on the blade will fit in between an inch including the one on the zero mark and the one on or inside of the one inch mark ?
If it is three or four get a better blade of same number of teeth.
If many more teeth like 14 then get a coarser blade.
A long shot but the top guides may be misaligned some how so the blade spirals through your work.
Not too much to ask of your machine. Properly set up you could cut through twelve inches on a curved line or more. The blade needs to have deep gullets so it can cary the saw dust out of the kerf other wise the gullets fill up and you just rub wads of wood in the gullets against the kerf and everything gets hot and does not progress.
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 4/27/2009 1:05 am by roc
Roc:Great information that makes a ton of sense. Never having owned a band saw, I've got much to learn. Thanks for your valuable assistance
I have the same saw. I would speculate you are trying to use the wrong blade for the wood/thickness you are trying to saw. Suffolk machine (Timberwolf blades) has a chart for their blades that show which blade to use for the thickness/type of wood you are trying to cut.
http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/silicon_steel_selection.asp
You're either using a blade with too many teeth per inch for the thickness of wood you are cutting, or the wrong tooth shape/configuration, or both. Check out Suffolks' chart and see if that isn't the problem...
BTW, I recently did this myself, and I should know better...?!
This is great information. I think you nailed the issue. The Grizzly 1/2 blade that I'm using is a fine toothed blade. After your input, it seems apparent this is the wrong blade.
Thanks
Here's another vote for the Timberwolf brand blades from Sufolk, the best value I have found in bandsaw blades.
I just spoke to the folks at Suffolk ( thanks Jeff)Very knowledgeable customer surface... got 4 blades for the price of three and I was very pleasantly surprised with how reasonable the blades cost. Check out their website....lots of good info. The blade that's currently on the machine looks like something I might use to cut metal.
Anxious to get my order from Suffolk.... the bride wants the table done yesterday.
I have the non extreme version of that saw and its the blade. Trash the stock blade and call suffulk machinery. They even have (had) a deal where you buy 3 and get the fourth blade free. Get the resaw blade and go to town. Have fun and enjoy. Mines been going strong for several years now and still love it.
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Rich,
To follow the other good advice you have gotten.
I purchased my bandsaw at our annual trade show. The manufacturers rep walked me over to one of the bandsaw blade only distributors and told me to throw away the factory blade and deal with the blade only guy.
The only other thing you might do is read this article:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=24093
The basics should apply to a 17" saw as well.
Don
that's a fine article Don. Thank you. Having just added a table saw and band saw, I have much to learn......which is all good
"buring regardless of how slow the feed rate is"
In addition to getting a better blade, your feed rate may be too slow. Cut as fast as the saw will allow you to without changing the "sound of the saw".
After you get a good resaw blade (previous posts apply), make a few practice cuts on some scrap 2X12's or something similar. Your saw will tell you how fast to go if you get the feel of it and listen.
You have plenty of saw for what you're doing!
Regards,
Mack
"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
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