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Always fast for wood.

The slow speed is for cutting metal or plastic.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

It has a high speed of 1950 FT/min. Would higher than that be better? I could put a bigger pulley on the motor.

Well I'm not a pro about bandsaws but mind has a high speed of 2959 ftm.

_________________
Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I know faster is better with chainsaws and circular saws, so i'm thinking that would also apply to the bandsaw as well to get less wander in the cut.

As long as you can clear the chips. I think your feed rate will have more effect on wondering. If you try and feed to fast and not let the blade cut and clear the chip you will force the blade to bend in the kerf cut and wonder. At least that's what I think.

I agree with you on the feed rate. I do also think the feed rate can be increased with speed.As the speed increases, the wood would be cleared faster by the blade and so the feed rate could go up.I've seen this happen in a chainsaw mill alot.

Speed and feeds baby! I just think if the blade is going to fast that it might not clear the chip. It's sort of a balance with the teeth per inch and board thickness thing also. The tooth pattern also, hook or skip tooth and the wood type. It's the sum of the parts to a degree and just not speed. If you go too fast the blade is going to start to heat up and then get gumed up and on and on .

You made some good points Chris,I can see where heat could cause problems with these thin blades.So i'm thinking the wider blade would work best with increased speed and mabey .030 kerf.with skip teeth.

Yeah, I'm sure it's a good blade (I'm a lenox fan for hack saw blades and hole saws, I'm an electrician an use them all the time)for someone who does alot of resawing but $130 for a 1/2" blade is out of my budget range at this time. I appreciate the heads up and will add it to my wish list.

Chris am I understanding this correctly? I have never mounted a blade in that manner. "Front of blade just past center of wheel? If that's the case that would mean that a 1" blade would need about a 2" wide tire? And a 2" blade a 4" wide tire? I must be misunderstanding what you meant.
Confused in Buffalo

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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I would be concerned with taking out the set.

It depends if you have crowned wheels. It's probably like 2/3 of the wheel. the set of the teeth should be just clear of the crown and should not be digging into the tire. I suppose the arch of the wheel plays a role in it too. But if the wheels aren't too crowned and a 3/4" blades set clears the wheel it should be OK. The idea is to not have the blade deform to the shape of the wheel so it's not being fed into the work at an angle causing it to wonder. Some use the fence with the post in it to compensate for the angle of attact and some have fences that can be compensated for it too. It's all in the Band Saw Handbook by Mark Duginske chapter 5. On a flat wheel the blade set rides infront of the tireoff the wheel.

So does your rikon have crowned wheels? Mine look flat.

Yes.

Well after re-sawing thousands of bd/ft I think I'll stick to my 40 year method of center blade over center of wheel +- a wee bit. Part of my set-up always includes adjusting the fence for drift. I wouldn't use a fence that couldn't be adjusted.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Just wanted to say how much I agree with all of what Bob has posted. I went the cheaper route, using a jet 14" saw with a 1.5hp motor and it was a pain to resaw with. From the uneven kerfs to the wandering blade, that small of a saw had it's issues and would kick out on thermal overload if you sawed too much at one time or sawed hard woods. It will work in a pinch, but you will tire of it quickly if you have much resawing to do.

The larger saw with the 1" carbide tipped blades and 5hp motor makes all of the difference in the world.

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Reguards,

Ken H

That's one of the nice features on the Rikon.It has drift adjustment on the fence by moving the two fence mounting bolts one way or the other in or out.

If i was to go with .042 kerf/1or 11/2" blades,I'd just get a bandsaw mill with a 25 hp. gas motor and resaw on it.And the blade would be lubracated.That way i could also do the big timber as well.

You all can do what you want to and adjust your fences or whatever. What works for you works for you. What works for me is setting the blade the way I do and leave the fence alone. Just another way to skin the cat. If you ask me a question and I answer it to the best of my knowledge that's all I can do. I'm not telling anyone my way is the only way. I'm just saying it's one way.

Chris, I'm glad you posted and with pictures of your set up with the same saw i just bought. It's always good to see all the different ways to do things and then decide what is good for you.And i thinks this saw will pay for it'self in no time at all resawing my wood.Thanks for all those who posted it was all appreiciated.

Chris I didn't mean to get you upset. You certainly can set up your saw anyway you want to. It's the other people reading this that I'm concerned about as I feel your method is not safe. Just as an example suppose you have a 1 1/4" w. tire and you wanted to use a 1" blade. Using your method with the front edge at the center of the wheel you could potentially have 3/8" of blade overhanging the rear of the tire. Move up to a larger blade and it becomes worse. I'm just using these sizes for sake of illustration. I would hope that we are all open to constructive criticism without getting all bent out of shape. This is how we learn. No harm meant.

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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I'm not saying that. The blade would be more forward then half. That's why I only use a 1/2" blade on my saw that is rated for a 3/4" blade. The back will not be extended pass the back of the wheel by much if any and it isn't tight against the tire at the back anyway because of the crown. I didn't think this up. It's in the book I mentioned (Chapter 5)which plenty of people have read and this was also explained to me when I bought my saw at Woodcraft by the fellow whose teaches the bandsaw class and rips veneer on his saw for box making. I assure you I'm not the only one who uses this setup as there are others here I'm sure who set their blades like that. No harm done Bob.

I'am not an expert on the band saw but it makes sense to me that whatever method you use,the part of the blade in contact with the tire should be as close to the set as possible so that it can help disapate heat from the cutting edge.

Well not to beat up on a dead horse but curiosity got the best of me. Sitting a bit bored with no football to watch I went and dusted of my 20 year old copy of Mark Duginske/s Band Saw handbook and went to chapter 5. Read it over several times and I'll be darned if I could find where he states to track your blade with the front edge a little past center. That probably works out with a 1/4" blade due to it's narrow width. Maybe a newer edtion is different?

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

It doesn't state it in those exact terms. But with what it says and what I learned form other woodworkers it makes sense and works for me. If only 1/4" of the blade is supported it stands to reason at least for me that I would want the support to be near the front of the blade to help keep the blade from wondering and fluttering doesn't it? With a 1/2" blade it's pretty much centered. My setup now with an 1/2" blade is only off center by 1/16" towards the back. That puts the front of my blade 3/16" from center of wheel. I've nevered used a 3/4" blade because I was told that 14" saws weren't setup for the tension for a 3/4" blade and that with my setup method with the front being where it is there is too much blade to the aft unsupported and moving it forward would lead to more difficulties with blade drift. So I've just stuck with 1/2" for the largest. I'm not saying that 3/4" won't work with another setup and fence compensating. I'm just saying that this has worked for me and maybe if someone is having trouble with drift then maybe this blade tracking method is worth giving a look at if your wheels are coplanar and your machine is setup okay.