Adjusting the Blade Guides
The blade guides should touch the blade with a
fairly light pressure. With the help of the blade
guides the saw blade can be adjusted so that it is
parallel with the log bed.
Both blade guides
are fastened with a
M8 screw.
6
Maintenance of Saw Blades
Sawing is almost always trouble-free with a new
saw blade. After some time of sawing with the
blade the results will begin to degrade, though.
When this happens, you have to change saw blade
immediately.
A saw blade that does not work cannot be made
to saw straight by the help of the blade guides or
increased blade tension. Sometimes, however, you
can increase the serviceable time somewhat by
tensioning the saw blade a bit more.
The number of cuts you can make before changing
the saw blade can vary considerably. This is mostly
due to how much dirt there is in the bark of the
logs. Normally you can cut 15-25 logs, or 25-50
cuts through bark.
The majority of saw blades for small timber
bandsaws are tooth tip tempered, and are often
considered as disposables which are to be thrown
away when the sharpness is lost. You can, however,
sharpen the blades. Machines for sharpening
bandsaw blades can be more or less advanced.
The simplest type of machines only sharpens the
front of the tooth and the gullet. Since the blades
can only be sharpened a couple of times, it is not
necessary to sharpen the tooth back.
Sharpening the front of the teeth brings the
sharpness back; sharpening the gullets prevents
cracks in the blade.
After a couple of sharpenings the saw blade is worn
out, and cracks appear in the gullets. The cracks
grow quickly, and the blade breaks if you do not stop
sawing. Clear clicking sounds is an indication that
the blade is about to break. Immediately interrupt
sawing if you hear that the blade is starting to
break. A saw blade that breaks can damage the
equipment.
If the saw blade is sharpened several times, it
can be necessary to adjust the tooth set. There
are machines for this too, but in practise the only
realistic alternative is to do it manually with the
help of a pair of special pliers for adjusting the
tooth set.
A built-in chip extractor! As you can see
in the picture under "Adjusting the Blade
Guides" there is a barrier in front of the
driving wheel that creates a fan housing.
The air intake at the centre of the wheel
further improves the air flow. Sawdust
always accumulates in bandsaws, but
the design of the machine significantly
reduces this problem!
