00101 Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Well, I'm a student and enrolled in an entry level woods course, which I feel is well below my level. The shop we work in is huge. We have really, really nice stationary tools. For example our helical cutter planer has a 24" depth. Yes depth, not width. Sadly just about everything else is lacking; I can run my finger back and forth with mild pressure across the edge of any one of the chisels without fear. Don't even get me started on the lathe tools. Anyway, I need to resaw a 11/16"x6"x24" board into preferably 4 pieces. The bandsaw the shop has is really nice, a 24" monstrosity with bearing guides and the whole nine yards. However, whenever the blade guard is tightened it twists the blade and the fence will not tilt far enough to compensate for the drift. Our instructor does not want us messing with the tools, and quite frankly I'm surprised he even let me try to fix the drift. So doing a tune up isn't an option not even considering the time constraints. What would be the best option to try to get at least two pieces out of this? We've got a huge drum sander so cleaning them up won't be too big of an issue either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 1. Make up an L-shaped gizmo something like the one shown in the picture. Doesn't have to be fancy, just make sure the vertical face is parallel to the bandsaw blade. (If the bandsaw is set up right, that means the vertical face will also be square to the table.) 2. Attach your board temporarily to the gizmo using hot glue or double-sided tape or something similar so that your board is riding on its edge, ready to be resawn and now nice and stable because it is attached to the gizmo. 3. Draw a line on the top edge of the board where you want to cut, forget about the bandsaw's regular fence, and just follow the line freehand with the bandsaw. OR Don't attach your board to the gizmo, clamp the gizmo to the bandsaw table at whatever angle you need to acommodate the drift, and use it instead of the bandsaw's regular fence. For smallish pieces like you're working with, I find the freehand method easier than trying to set the fence to match the drift angle. Your mileage may vary. -- Russ PS: And about those dull chisels. Instead of complaining about them, why don't you just sharpen them? That seems like one of the very first things you should learn in this entry level woods course that you feel is well below your level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChetlovesMer Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Darn Russ, You stole some of my thunder. Your resaw method will certainly be effective. Although, I took a "beginner's" woodworking class one time and it focused on tuning all the machines. I'm surprised you'd have an instructor that wouldn't use tuning a bandsaw as a "teaching moment". I view that as a missed oportunity. Everyone who uses a bandsaw should know how to tune it. Much like everyone who uses a chisel should know how to sharpen it. A well tuned bandsaw is a pleasure to operate. I have a fairly cheap craftsman bandsaw I got on clearence, but you'd be surprised how true it runs when properly tuned. The only thing I was going to add is that you could always bring your own hand tools. Use the stationary tools that are provided and bring your own chisels, your own block plane and your own smoother. I'd consider having your own marking equipment, measuring equipment, a mallet and nice dovetail saw as well, but that's me. Certainly you can add to the above list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00101 Posted November 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 1. Make up an L-shaped gizmo something like the one shown in the picture. Doesn't have to be fancy, just make sure the vertical face is parallel to the bandsaw blade. (If the bandsaw is set up right, that means the vertical face will also be square to the table.) 2. Attach your board temporarily to the gizmo using hot glue or double-sided tape or something similar so that your board is riding on its edge, ready to be resawn and now nice and stable because it is attached to the gizmo. 3. Draw a line on the top edge of the board where you want to cut, forget about the bandsaw's regular fence, and just follow the line freehand with the bandsaw. OR Don't attach your board to the gizmo, clamp the gizmo to the bandsaw table at whatever angle you need to acommodate the drift, and use it instead of the bandsaw's regular fence. For smallish pieces like you're working with, I find the freehand method easier than trying to set the fence to match the drift angle. Your mileage may vary. -- Russ PS: And about those dull chisels. Instead of complaining about them, why don't you just sharpen them? That seems like one of the very first things you should learn in this entry level woods course that you feel is well below your level. I'm going to be a touch defensive here, but oh well. The shop doesn't have sharpening stones aside from grinding wheels and the sand paper only goes up to 220. Which isn't to say I couldn't bring in my own; however, I don't yet have any decent hand tools or stones. Which again isn't to say I couldn't bring in paper to sharpen them, but once again time is an issue since I tend to take a bit longer on the projects to do better work. And the rest of the students do not take care of the tools at all; I've seen them just smashing the chisels into the bench because they were bored or smacking the bench with a hammer repeatedly. Probably why the tools are in such a sorry state to begin with. To get an idea of how beginner the class is, we had a few days dedicated to how to read a ruler about a month and a half into the class. Several of the students still do not understand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Where is Duckisser on this one? I remember I could change a bandsaw blade faster than our shop teacher, we had one in my dads home shop. Tilted fence or tilt the table, either will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmac Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 I'm going to be a touch defensive here, but oh well. The shop doesn't have sharpening stones aside from grinding wheels and the sand paper only goes up to 220. Which isn't to say I couldn't bring in my own; however, I don't yet have any decent hand tools or stones. Which again isn't to say I couldn't bring in paper to sharpen them, but once again time is an issue since I tend to take a bit longer on the projects to do better work. And the rest of the students do not take care of the tools at all; I've seen them just smashing the chisels into the bench because they were bored or smacking the bench with a hammer repeatedly. Probably why the tools are in such a sorry state to begin with. I'm going to be a touch preachy here, but oh well. In my day job I run into two kinds of people. One bunch takes great pleasure in moaning and groaning about how awful things are and listing all sorts of external factors that prevent them from getting anything done. Then there's another group that somehow, against all odds, manages to overcome the exact same set of presumed obstacles and actually do some useful work. Fortunately, you get to choose which group you want to be in. ------- Oh, wait. You were asking about resawing technique. Have you had a chance yet to try what Chet and I suggeested? How did it work out? -- Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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