Jens Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Hi guys! I borrowed a tablebandsaw and I have a problem. It's not giving me a very nice cut... Zoomed in Is this normal? Do I need a saw with finer teeth? I guess I can just sand afterwards but it's a lot more convenient if I can get it even right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Hi guys! I borrowed a tablebandsaw and I have a problem. It's not giving me a very nice cut... Zoomed in Is this normal? Do I need a saw with finer teeth? I guess I can just sand afterwards but it's a lot more convenient if I can get it even right away. Finer teeth blades do not cut a re-saw type cut better. Make sure of a few things before you cut; make sure you have the blade set up to cut square and straight to the table, make sure the guides do not have too much slop(but not so close they bind), be sure the wheels are clean and the balde is tracking correctly, be sure your tension is set correctly, make sure to hook up your dust collection system to pull as much dust away from the blade as possible during cutting. If all the general settings are good then look at the blade you are using. A 3 TPI racker will clear out the dust well, and 5/8" to 1" blade width should be fine(of course you want a sharp blade, dull blades are obviously going to give you trouble). Make sure your guide will keep your board square and not cause the blade to mis track. Finally and most importantly be careful with your feed rate. Keep the material moving steadily through. Don't go too fast or the blade will not have time to clean out the cut(causing mis-tracking, binding, and skipping). Try not to go too slow or you will generate too much heat which will burn and cause the blade to twist and mis-track, The blade should make steady progress run very smooth. If it is twisting, binding, slowing down because of loading, or jumping and skipping something is wrong. Stop and check the set up and your technique. Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Is this normal? Do I need a saw with finer teeth? I guess I can just sand afterwards but it's a lot more convenient if I can get it even right away. Looks pretty normal to me. You could try to go a little slower but I doubt that the quality of cut will be substantially better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitefly SA Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 usually builders just clean up the edges with orbital and drum sanders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 usually builders just clean up the edges with orbital and drum sanders I clean up with a router using an MDF template. Cleanest cut you'll ever get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanb Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 For a cheap tabletop band saw, it looks pretty normal. For a good band saw, it looks pretty bad. You might be able to improve things somewhat with adjustments (as already mentioned), but you will always have a certain amount of that to clean up with a band saw cut. The router trick works very well in the right circumstances, but there are lots of other ways to do it as well. Adjust the saw for the best cut possible, then be sure to leave enough extra material that you can clean the marks off without removing wood past your cut lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 I am looking at that picture, and maybe I am not seeing things correctly. However, that is not the kind of cut a band saw should be making. It looks like the blade is not traveling through the cut smoothly and at a steady pace. My band saw is NOT a high dollar band saw, but I have learned how to dial it in for really clean cuts. You will have blade scratches no matter what you do, but they should be very slight and consistent across the cut(very even). As far as using a router to clean it up, seems pretty excessive if the cut is good. Maybe light sanding with a sanding block or ROS(unless you have a drum sander). So besides the ruffish surface. Is the cut square, and true along the length? Peace,Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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