If there is one thing i dislike in woodworking is some of the “magic” in area’s. I recently bought a 14″ rikon bandsaw and I have found the bandsaw definitely falls into this category. Sorry I’m degressing and haven’t even asked the question.
I have a rikon 14″ bandsaw 10-325 deluxe and am attempting to resaw 2″ ash edge banding to about 2/32″. I just bought the bandsaw and have been fiddling around with tension and what not. I do not own a beltsander so I’m attempting to have the edge as smooth as possible. Here is my setup:
– One steel blade 3/4″ 4 tpi
– All the bearings spaced to about the thickness of a dollar bill.
– One 5 inch fence which is square to the blade and set for drift.
– I put the tension up to the max on the gauge.
– I plan on jointing the showing face and gluing the cut face.
After doing all this i have found my cuts are straight (no wedge)..and are the same thickness throughout. However..my cuts are not that smooth…kinda cheese after it has been grated.
My questions are:
Is the above set up sound about right?
– Does tension affect smoothness of cut?
– Can my 14″ rikon properly tension a 3/4 blade? According to many sources smaller units like mine can’t tension a 3/4 blade properly.is that true with the rikon. One of the reasons i bought the machine was that I was under the impression it was more heavy duty.
– I noticed when i tensioned the blade up to the 3/4 gauge guide the spring located inside was hardly compressed half way…what gives with that? Since the guide is attached to the spring it appears as if when i max out the gauge the spring only compresses half way? I’d tension it further but I think the gauge would actually stop me from compressing the spring past half way.
– Am I going to hurt the frame if I had to max out the tension on the spring?
– I noticed that if I change the tension dramatically I usually need to change the tracking is this normal?
Please help.
Replies
The cut you are achieving with your saw is typical of any band saw, they are saws after all and saws leave a relatively rough surface, that is why shops have jointers, planers, and sanders to clean up after the cut is made.
To answer your questions in order:
1. Your set up sounds fine.
2. Tension doesn't have a huge effect on the smoothness of the cut. A very loose blade will give a rough wandering cut, but once the tension is in the midrange for a blade, further increases will have little effect.
3. Your saw can sufficiently tension a 3/4 inch blade. Up until a few years ago, most of the Delta style 14" saws, those with cast iron frames, had undersized springs that couldn't properly tension wide blades. Your saw is of a completely different design, with a much larger spring that can easily tension a 3/4 inch blade.
4. Most springs when fully compressed can be damaged and won't return to their full length, the Rikon's designers properly designed the spring on their saw so that it could tension a large blade without the spring being overstressed. The spring also serves as a shock absorber for the machine, it still needs to have some additional range to move at high tension.
5. Overtensioning the spring will eventually break something on the saw and won't, in any case, give you a better cut, so I would recommend against it.
6. The tension on the blade causes the frame, the wheels, and the axles of the saw to flex slightly throwing off the tracking, so you should set the tension and the tracking before you adjust the guides. Once the guides are set against the blade don't change the tension or tracking.
The teeth on a standard steel band saw blade are set slightly to give the body of the blade clearance. Even quality blades have slight variations in the set that can cause some teeth to cut a bit deeper than others which will create a slightly rough sawn surface.
If you invest in a carbide or Stellite tipped saw blade, the precision ground teeth will cut smoother than any all steel blade. We have been testing a Resaw King blade from Laguna that gives an exceptionally smooth cut, but at a price, it costs $1.50 per inch.
Hope this helps,
John White
I have a Rikon band saw as well and love it. I use a 3/4" 3tpi Timberwolf blade, for resawing and it works very well. I think the bandsawn edge will always be somewhat rough and needs planing. I put the stock through the thickness planer after each pass through the saw. Then when I have the laminates all cut, I put them through one after another so that I can get the same thickness for each one. I'm not sure what you would do if you don't have a thickness planer.
Adam Fisher
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