Jerry a 1/4" blade flexes too much (IMHO) so a 6" resaw would cause it to wander. You could try tightening up a little. As far as using a 1" blade unless you have a powerful 18" saw that would be to wide a blade, even a 3/4" blade is too wide for a 2hp saw.

 

Jerry's profile hasn't been upgraded to show his latest Grizzly purchases.
Neither the jointer or the band saw are listed.

I could do a search and come up with the model numbers. Let's just say my mouth waters for two reasons: the capabilities of each item and the shop space required to house them.

Use a wider blades for resawing. Thinner blades are intended for curves - the very thing you don't want when resawing.

 

my nighbour has a 18 " band saw and cuts bowl blanks with a 3/8 blade with 3 tpi cutting liniar a 18 "log 20 "across in a few seconds free hand and straight revoving a small amount for the base then draws the outline of the bowl then saws the waste off this will take a total of less than 5 minutes the wood is green apple and looks great he is moose hunting but will try to get some pictures Andy

 

I had a good learning session out in the shop this morning. During the time that I was bed ridden with my recent illness, my brother from Alaska came down to be with me as the illness was pretty serious. During that time he became interested in making band saw boxes and installed a quarter inch blade on the saw. Several weeks later after he had returned to Alaska and had recovred enough to get out in the shop I found that the blade was off of the saw and all of the adjustments were way out when I reinstalled the blade. So I did the set up and all went well for a few days and then one day when I went out to the shop the blade was off again and the set up was all wrong after putting the blade back on the wheel.

I have come to begin to think, but am not certain yet, that when we were releasing the tension on the blade, we were over doing it and while untensioning the blade is important it probably is not a good idea to over do it with the very narrow blade. This does not explain why the setting of the guide bearing were so far off. Anyway today I reset everything and very carefully released the tenstion just enough to take the tension off but did not release it enough to get a enough slack in it cause it to come off of the wheels after being idle for a few days.

Now I do have a guesion about the very narrow blade. I did some resawing with it and in about a 12" cut using the narrow blade I had taper of about .010" from one end of the cut to the other. The workpiece was about six inches tall when set on edge against the fence. The blade is set up according Alex Snodgrasses' instructions. Can I assume that when I install a one inch wide blade that the taper will or should be less that what it is with the narrow blade. It is difficult to measure precisely the distance from the bottom of the gullet to edge of the tire. I use a dial caliper but the depth gauge won't fit into the gullet and a little bit of guess work is required the way I am doing it but should be within .020" of being correct I think but can't be absolutely certain of that. The table is square with the blade as the vertical taper on the cut is about .005" which may or may not meet the standards of most folks but seems to be pretty good in my limited experience.

Comments on my experience and/or concepts will, as usual, be appreciated.

Jerry
C City, TX

Just an observation about bandsaws...after running and setting them up for 50+ years, I have never seen any metal or woodworking Company, ever release tension on a blade; once it was installed and set up. The only time we took off any tension, was during changing blades, or cutting inside a circular opening.
Look around to what the big factories are doing with their machines.

I'm beginning to think that the (tensioner/untensioner) is just another gadget to add dollars to the cost of a bandsaw. {The manufacturers will warn you to use that method.} I do not agree with them, however.
On a really cheap, low quality bandsaw, you may want to release the blade; because the frame will not be as beefy as a better saw.

If anything, putting the blades under, then overtensioning; would not be good on the welds over time.
Now, if you are going to put your saw in storage for several YEARS, then you may want to release the tension.:yes4:

Also, when you are squaring up the blade, use the widest blade you have.

 

The only time we took off any tension, was during changing blades, or cutting inside a circular opening.

You can'y use a band saw for inside circles.

I never release the tension.
I use a 1/2" 3-4tpi blade for re-sawing.

 

The jointer is Grizzly's GO604ZX 6" model with Spiral Cutting Head, the Band Saw it also a Grizzly product model GO513X2. It is 17" machine with a 2 HP motor running on 220 Volts.

I am aware that the thin blade is not the proper blade for resawing, but since I had to do a complete new set up and want to keep the thin blade on the machine so that I can practice cutting curves with it, I had to or at least wanted to see how well my set up was. The test for me anyway, was to see if the blade would cut straight or not. The fact that even though it is a thin blade for cutting,curves, it does cut staight, as I said, only .010" of drift in a 12" cut on a six inch tall board. By the way the cut was .150" thick, I suspect that whan I use a wider blade made for resawing that the error will be much less than .010". I'm not completely sure what difference it will make, but on a longer cut it may be important. Anyway, I couldn't be more happy with the new Grizzly machines.

Jerry

 

The jointer is Grizzly's GO604ZX 6" model with Spiral Cutting Head, the Band Saw it also a Grizzly product model GO513X2. It is 17" machine with a 2 HP motor running on 220 Volts.

Jerry's Band Saw:
G0513X2 17" Bandsaw 2HP w/Cast Iron Trunnion

(second character is a zero, not the capital O)

The 1/2" blade comes with. Obviously the Grizzly knows the BS will run a blade of that size.

 

In response to Art's comment about the one inch and 3/4" wide blades being to wide for a 2 HP machine, I purchased two one inche wide blades with the new saw due to my ingnorance about what Art is saying. The blades have not been put on the saw and I am going to call Grizzly and see If I can exchange them. Perhaps I can hear from others in regard to what Art is saying and this is not to say that Art doesn't know what he is talking about so please Art, don't take offense at me asking for other's input on the matter.

Jerry

 

Jerry, I run 1" blades(at 2 or 3 tpi) on my 16" 2HP Grizzly band saw all the time.

 

Hi I don't see the big deal

I use 3/4" blade on my 3/4 HP HF band saw no big deal I just can't go real fast..

 

Duane, I just phoned Grizzly about running the wide blades and they told me that I should have no problems with the one inch blade on my machine, will give it a try. Thanks for your input.

Jerry

 

Art, I made a mistake about the blade it is not a quarter in inch blade, it is one eighth inch blade.

Jerry

 

Jerry, if you can resaw 6" lumber with an 1/8" blade and stay within .010, I'd say that is exceptional performance!

 

“ Release the tension when the blade is not in use. Why put some stress on the blade if you’re not using it?”. Those are the exact words I got when I asked someone from the band saw industry. Might help.

 

What Is Going On With My Band Saw?

For some reason the blade on my band saw is coming off of the wheels when it is not running. Between the time that I close the shop up in the afternoon and when I return the next day is when this happening. I tried leaving the blade tentioned and untentioned and the blade is off of the wheels most of the time after setting all night, it doesn't happen every night but the majority of the time it does. I have a one eighth wide blade on the saw right now just for some more information to throw into the problem.

Has anybodey else ever experienced this issue?

Jerry
C City, TX

 

Different width of blades require different amounts of tension.
Screw type adjustment handles that.

The on and off crank allows quickly remove tension and then reapply it to the preset tension.

What Would Alex Do? (Snodgrass from Carter Products).

Additionally, blades can be produced in any length. For instance my 14" Jet BS took 93 1/2" blades before I installed the 6" riser. For some reason blades are listed as 105" long for a BS with the riser. What happened to the 1/2" ?? The result is a 105" blade is a tighter fit than the 93 1/2" blade. When I order from sawblade.com, I get a blade that is 105 1/2" long!! and I'm happy. The blade is no longer a tight fit.

So the screw type tensioner is a must.

 

My guess is that the tyres are not flat enough and the saw simply slides of the top wheel. Hard to see, however, how this happens with a little tension on the blade.

 

Didn't you already ask this here?
http://www.routerforums.com/tools-woodworking/37741-learning-more-about-my-new-band-saw.html

 

I did mention it earlier. It was the first time that it had happened and at that time I just fixed it and assumed that it was something that had happened when my brother used the saw. When it continued to do it is when I decided to ask why it was happpening.

Jerry

 

You should have continued with the first thread, instead of spreading it all over.
Maybe a Mod will merge them.

 

I have a bear of a time keeping a 1/8" blade on my Jet 14" and as already mentioned it went back to excessive crown on the tires. I simply have not used the small blade enough to Justify new tires or the efforts of cutting down the existing tires but do clean the tires of excess waste, (blue pad and Scrubbing Bubbles - followed with a wipe down with Shop Alcohol) - if this is not a fix you may wish to invest in a scroll saw

 

Richard,
I have come to about the same conclusion that you have experienced, the crown on the tires is pretty steep, the saw is brand new and with the gullet dead on top of crown, the main part of the blade is sort of hanging off in space so to speak due to the crown, at least this is the present theory, the fact that you have had the same problem sort of verifies my thinking on this. Thanks for the reply. I have not had the blade come off during use, it has only happened after the saw has set for a time without being used, I have learned how to put the blade back on by myself. I just put the blade on the top wheel and put a piece of tape around the top of the wheel to hold the blade in place, untention the blade put it on the bottom wheel add a little tention, remove the tape, turn the top wheel by hand until it seems to be right, add the final tention and give the switch a quick on and off test, if all goes right I turn the saw on and see if the blade is where I want it to be on the top tire. Sometimes it takes a little tweaking to get it like I want it. Until I tried using the tape to hold the blade on the top wheel it required some help from my wife to put it back on, but the tape did the trick of course. As we all say, live and learn.

Jerry

 

After reading the other post that was pointed out above, I agree with Harrison67. I have never taken the tension off my blades after a days work. I make lots of band saw boxes, and use a 3/16" blade almost exclusively. I have never had any issues with either the saw or the blades by not taking the tension off. In my opinion, it's harder on the blade to constantly stretch the blade by tensioning, and then relaxing it by taking the tension off. It's kinda like bending a piece of sheet metal back and forth until it finally breaks.

 

Jim,
That sure makes sense when you put it that way.

Jerry

 

I hadn't thought of tape for the top wheel; I use a small springed clamp.

I think the sawdust on the wheel is causing slippage.

A 1/8" blade is pretty tiny for such a big band saw and the smaller the width, the less tension needed.
You might try just a little more than what the indicator is showing.

And you might call Grizzly about it.

 

I hadn't thought of tape for the top wheel; I use a small springed clamp.

I think the sawdust on the wheel is causing slippage.

A 1/8" blade is pretty tiny for such a big .band saw and the smaller the width, the less tension needed.
You might try just a little more than what the indicator is showing.

And you might call Grizzly about it.

Ralph,
This morning the blade was still on the wheels, it had been left tentioned this timel. also I realized that setting the gullet in the center of the tire is not needed except when resawing, so I probably could move the blade a little to the left putting the center of the blade in the center of the tire and all will still work alright for cutting curves. You sure are right about the blade being little on that big saw.

I'm now in the process of finding a good way to better light the blade where it is cutting, I think that it will help my vision problem that I am having following the line when cutting curves.

Jerry

 

Check out this band saw setup video: How to Set Up a Bandsaw - Fine Woodworking Article

 

Alex Snodgrass doesn't agree.

I'm going with Alex.

Regarding middle of blade aligning with middle of wheel. Alex says back of the gullet aligns with the middle of the blade.