baok Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I just read two books. The band saw book by Lonnie Bird and The New Complete Guide to the Bandsaw by Mark Duginske. They are in contradiction about blade tension. One says that the tension indicator on your saw is Ok and the other says it is completely wrong. Not only that but one shows three tension meters on the same blade giving three different readings at the same time. So how the heck are you supposed to set the tension? Isit all that important? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave's Not Here Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I use the 1/4" method. I tension the blade until I can only get 1/4" of lateral movement out of the blade. YRMV but it works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcornHouse Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 I just read two books. The band saw book by Lonnie Bird and The New Complete Guide to the Bandsaw by Mark Duginske. They are in contradiction about blade tension. One says that the tension indicator on your saw is Ok and the other says it is completely wrong. Not only that but one shows three tension meters on the same blade giving three different readings at the same time. So how the heck are you supposed to set the tension? Isit all that important? It also can depend on the brand of blade. Timberwolf/Suffolk(?) blades, have very explicit instructions to detension a blade, then tighten it just till it stops wobbling. Unless you're resawing or working with thick material, then the indicator is more than reliable enough, AS LONG AS THE BLADE GUARD IS LOWERED! Resawing is when it really matters, then I crank that sucker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimV Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Years ago, with my 14" bs, I made a tension gage that I read about in an article somewhere. It is 2 pieces of stock, one with a pin in it. The two pieces gets clamped to the blade and you apply tension to the blade then measure the distance between the lower block and the pin with feeler gages. I thought this was a cool idea because like you, I never felt like I got the right tension using the gage on the back of the upper wheel. Well, I only used that tension gage I made like 1 time. I just started to tension the blade until it worked good. I sold that saw and got a larger 18" machine and I don't even look at the tension gage on the upper wheel anymore. I simply tension it until I get a nice sound from the blade when plucked. And coincidentially, it usually is right in the 1/4" deflection range. I think it all has to do with inconsistencies in the lengths of the blade. No 2 blades are exactly the same length. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edh Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Hi, I set the tension by listening to the sound. I think there's a discussion about this in the books you mention. After years of tensioning and frequently forgetting to release tension I broke down and bought a quick release for the blade. Saves me time and a quick glance at the band saw reassures me that the blade is not in tension when the saw is not in use. Simply flip the lever and it's re-tensioned again, ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I get great resawing with the flutter method. Simply loosen the tension until it flutters. Tighten until the flutter is gone, then 1/4 turn past that. I get really smooth surfaces using that method and, of course making sure the blade is tracking properly. To do that I feed a piece of ply or whatever until the blade is fully encased, turn the saw off and note the distance of the back of the blade from either side. Adjust for drift until the blade is equidistant from either side of the kerf. I "eyeball" my bearings, both side and thrust while hand turning the wheels at a good rate. You want them to almost touch, but not quite. I find each blade has "inconstancies" and will be "out" one way or another, dictating the bearing position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baok Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 There are some good ideas here that I have to try. I've done the 1/4" method before but am never sure how hard to push on the blade. But I suspect I have it right since the force required to flex the blade seems to go up exponentially. I'm curious about the flutter method; I'm going to try that. Also plucking it till it makes a certain sound is intriguing. The books mentioned that too. I really admire the quick release lever. I'm definitely goingto replace the knob with a crank of some sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 There are some good ideas here that I have to try. I've done the 1/4" method before but am never sure how hard to push on the blade. That's always the thing that I never understood about the "1/4" of deflection" method of tensioning a bandsaw blade -- how hard to push the blade. I heard a talk by Michael Fortune at the last WIA where he discussed bandsaw set up. I thought his description of how hard to push the blade was great. He said that if you needed to push hard enough to deflect the bandsaw blade 1/4" so that your finger turned white from the pressure, your blade was too tight. He felt that you should be able to deflect the blade 1/4" without any change in your finger color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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