bleedinblue Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 My local guild just brought this FWW video up for discussion. It seems like an obvious piece to the bandsaw puzzle that I can't ever remember being discussed in other bandsaw setup techniques. He kind of takes a tablesaw setup approach to the bandsaw to eliminate drift. *Will delete if it's already been discussed here and I missed it* 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 My main question is what are these jigs he uses all the time on his band saw that need a miter slot but yet he never cut the slot out of the back piece of wood on that saw. Alternately how many of you use the miter slot on your band saw? If you do use it routinely what do you use it for? I know there are some of you band saw miter slot users out there. I never thought about aligning the miter slot to the blade before it's interesting. I think the merit to take away from this is if you have bad drift on your blade it might be because your tracking is set off. I think it is interesting that this guy and Alex Snodgrass both say that the bottom wheel doesn't matter, which is contrary to a lot of people saying the wheels NEED to be co-planer. Mine aren't and my saw cuts great when the tool that sets it up does it right. What did your guild have to say about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted December 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 To be fair my guild's discussion forum is very inactive. Nothing more than a handful of posts saying it was good advice, etc. Seven responses in like four days. It's the most active thread I've ever seen on that forum On rare occasion I'll put a miter gauge on the bandsaw for a quick cut, but never for accuracy. I'm not sure what jigs would be essential on the bandsaw using the miter slot, but I know I (still) under-use the bandsaw and don't really scratch the surface of it's potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 My band saw and i have a love hate relationship. It's been documented on this forum a few times. Making an outfeed table for it was the best thing i ever did though. For how much i use it i really should spring for a much nicer fence. I hate the stock laguna one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted December 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 I haven't got in to it on here, mostly because I haven't dedicated enough time to work through my problems, but I'm not digging the fence on my Rikon so far either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 I have used my miter slot a couple of times but the accuracy wasn't an important factor, I was using it to off cut small pieces from long stock and was using the miter gauge more as a holding devise. I haven't had any real complaints with my Laguna fence but I have been thinking about getting the drift master fence that Laguna sells. Its a little pricey but eliminates the fiddling with the stock fence. Marc has one on one of his Powermatic saws, probably the bigger one, and really likes it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 53 minutes ago, Chet said: I have used my miter slot a couple of times but the accuracy wasn't an important factor, I was using it to off cut small pieces from long stock and was using the miter gauge more as a holding devise. I haven't had any real complaints with my Laguna fence but I have been thinking about getting the drift master fence that Laguna sells. Its a little pricey but eliminates the fiddling with the stock fence. Marc has one on one of his Powermatic saws, probably the bigger one, and really likes it. That's the one i was eyeing as well. I don't like how the stock one locks down. When ever i go to tighten the screw to hold it in place it always shifts. It's not like my table saw where i can apply a bit of pressure on the t-assembly and keep it strait, it always shifts one way or another forcing me to grab a mallet and tap it to final position and tighten more and then it shifts more.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 I'll have to watch the video later when I have more bandwidth. 2 hours ago, Chestnut said: how many of you use the miter slot on your band saw? I am bandsaw miter slot user wannabe. First I"ll have to get the bandsaw out of the box. I bought the band saw specifically for truing up thick turning blocks, so I plan to make a sled for the purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 9, 2018 Report Share Posted December 9, 2018 3 hours ago, Chestnut said: but yet he never cut the slot out of the back piece of wood on that saw. I think that piece of wood is only temporary, it appears to be easy to detach. Maybe part of some other jig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted December 10, 2018 Report Share Posted December 10, 2018 I use a large magnet and a rule to "expand" my reference plane of the blade back. Then a thin piece of scrap clamped to the miter gauge allows me to adjust the table so that the miter slot tracks that line. Certainly not adjusting things down to the thousandths like on a tablesaw but, works very satisfactorily for the bandsaw. This assume you have already resolved any of your tracking and mythical drift problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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