In Texas, we say "Yee-Haw" when something exciting happens.
Yee-Haw!
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| I got my 18" bandsaw today http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=39404 |
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| Author: | Tai Fu [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | I got my 18" bandsaw today |
I just got the bandsaw today... compared to all the other machines in the room it is a monster! It literally weights a ton, probably close to 200kg to be exact. Both wheels are cast iron... tested it with a magnet and it weights a LOT. I had to disassemble the saw partially to get it into the shop because there were a limited number of people to help me with the move. The saw vibrates a bit but its not too bad, certainly nowhere near as bad as the Rexon 10" saw, however since I disassembled the saw and reassembled it, there's a good chance the drive pulley is out of alignment, so I will need to fix that. One curious thing is that the blade tension mechanism has no spring... just a square nut that bears against the mechanism when you turn the knob, as shown in the second picture. I think the spring is meant to absorb some shock but it seems it's not used in the design of this saw... I tried to google it but all I could find was information about the Delta 14" saw or its clones... not the bigger 18 inchers. I also tried to cut a piece of plywood on it and the blade drifted a bit... not sure if its the crappy factory blade it came with or not enough tension... without a spring all I could rely on was clamping a dial caliper on it (4" spans) and crank the knob until I get about .001" of stretch... it works well because I could hardly deflect the blade. Otherwise the blade cuts through stock like it's not even there. The stock fence needs to go... it is made of cast iron and weights half a ton, but furthermore it allowed no adjustment for blade drift since it's a one piece casting... not sure if I can make use of it but I think perhaps I can get the magnetic fence, and it can then be stuck to the side of the table to increase its size a little bit, since the table was only 18" x 18". Maybe I can make a wooden resaw point fence and stick it to the cast iron fence instead of messing with nuts and bolts. I also had a little trouble locking the trunion... I need more leverage so that I don't tilt it when I put some force on the table. The blade guide is rack and pinion, I didn't think it was at first glance, it just didn't have oversized knobs like the Grizzly machines, and I have not seen any trouble with misaligned guides so far. The guide block is round metal for the top guide, and square metal for the bottom guide; one is square and the other is angled. Resaw height is around 10" or so, can be increased to 12 if the blade guide is removed. Update: Now that I think about it I think the blade drift was probably caused by the blade not being completely centered on the wheel... |
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| Author: | Pmaj7 [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Nice. How did you get it in there?! Happy new year! Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2 |
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| Author: | Tai Fu [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18 |
pat macaluso wrote: Nice. How did you get it in there?! Happy new year! Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2 I had help from 2 others, we had to carry it up 2 flights of stairs. Basically I disassembled the saw to make it easier to move. I removed the table and trunion, the motor, and the upper wheel assembly (along with the tension mechanism), and it shaved enough weight off that 2 people could carry it. If I had gotten a 26" bandsaw it would not only not fit in the shop, it would have been impossible to move too (since it would weight 400kg) |
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| Author: | jfmckenna [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Nice looking machine. |
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| Author: | Alex Kleon [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Hope you use it lots and lots! Alex |
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| Author: | klooker [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
How are the guides? Are you able to accurately set them? That will help with resawing. Does it look like the wheels are balanced? Can you see where holes have been drilled to remove mass from the wheels? If not, this may be a cause of some of the vibration. If the wheels were not balanced, you can balance them by adding mass. It's tedious but possible. Kevin Looker |
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| Author: | bobgramann [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Congratulations. Nice saw. I got the vibration out of mine by replacing the belt with a Power Twist V-belt. What's important about the fence is that it is easy to set it exactly where you want it. If you can do that, you can make extensions and attachments to it for the functions that you need. When I can stand the waste of the wide kerf, I use a Woodmaster CT carbide blade. It has no drift, so I can resaw with a standard vertical fence. When I want a narrower kerf, I use a blademaster with pivot point about 3/4" from the fence so I can follow a line when I resaw. When I got my 18" saw, the ease and quality of my work increased quite a bit. I'm sure you will develop a good relationship with your new saw. |
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| Author: | Tai Fu [ Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
bobgramann wrote: Congratulations. Nice saw. I got the vibration out of mine by replacing the belt with a Power Twist V-belt. What's important about the fence is that it is easy to set it exactly where you want it. If you can do that, you can make extensions and attachments to it for the functions that you need. When I can stand the waste of the wide kerf, I use a Woodmaster CT carbide blade. It has no drift, so I can resaw with a standard vertical fence. When I want a narrower kerf, I use a blademaster with pivot point about 3/4" from the fence so I can follow a line when I resaw. When I got my 18" saw, the ease and quality of my work increased quite a bit. I'm sure you will develop a good relationship with your new saw. My only gripe is the small tension and tracking knob... it's really hard to turn them sometimes and I think I'd like to get them replaced... or at least mount a lever on it to make it easier to turn. Also what do you say about the tension mechanism? It doesn't seem to have a spring so there's no way to tell the tension of the blade without using a tension meter... are there saws designed to tension its blade without a spring? What do larger saws use to hold their tension? I have heard that people who own larger saws are generally expected to have a tension meter. Update: It's official, I hate the guide adjustment... it is bolted in with hex bolts that you loosen in order to adjust it, problem is the lower guide bolt is impossible to move without taking the table off, you simply cannot swing a wrench in the tight space. I think I'd like to get it replaced with a Carter guide, or at least make them myself... The metal guide isn't really the issue but its usability. |
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| Author: | Darrel Friesen [ Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Replace the guide bolts with allen head bolts or use a socket and extension. Places like Busy Bee here sell wheels for tension and tracking. Not sure if you have tool stores there that provide similar things. |
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| Author: | Herr Dalbergia [ Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Nice saw...finally you got one...have fun and be safe!!!!! |
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| Author: | gozierdt [ Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Nice saw!! Glad you finally found one. You'll work out the little issues with it as you use it, and it's big enough to do some real resawing for you. Hopefully you have some lumberyards close to you that can supply you with some of the wonderful Asian wood species. |
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| Author: | dzsmith [ Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
In Texas, we say "Yee-Haw" when something exciting happens. Yee-Haw!
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| Author: | Tai Fu [ Thu Feb 21, 2013 12:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: I got my 18" bandsaw today |
Another update: I changed the blade from the stock ones (which is still quite sharp) to another blade it came with (welded by the guy who sold me the bandsaw), and initially I was getting a LOT of blade flutter so I turned up the tension. Now it runs so smoothly I was like "Is that thing really running at 3200spfm?" On the stock blade it was shaking fairly badly at that speed. So I guess its true, never judge a saw based on its stock blade. I am still getting some shaking when the saw is spinning up or down... For some reason the drive belt flutters quite a bit when spinning up/down, but stabilizes when running. As for the tracking knob, I realized there are 2 nuts on the shaft of the tracking knob, so I just turned it with a wrench, worked well at high tension. I noticed that the tracking changes when you increase the tension (means I have to tighten the tracking to keep the blade centered), is that normal? Now all I need is some 1/2" 3TPI bimetal blade and woodmaster CT, and everything will be perfect. |
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