Blade Care & Break-In; Blade Breakage - Grizzly G0948 Owner's Manual

Blade Care
& Break-In
Blade Care
A bandsaw blade is a thin piece of steel that is
subjected to tremendous strain. You can obtain
longer use from a bandsaw blade if you give it fair
treatment and always use the appropriate feed
rate for your operation.
Be sure to select blades with the proper width,
set, type, and pitch for each application. Using the
wrong blade will produce unnecessary heat and
shorten the life of the blade.
A clean blade will perform much better than a dirty
blade. Dirty or gummed up blades pass through
the cutting material with much more resistance
than clean blades. This extra resistance also
causes unnecessary heat.
Blade Break-In
The tooth tips and edges of a new blade are
extremely sharp, and cutting at too fast of a feed
rate fractures the beveled edges of the teeth and
causes premature blade wear.
To properly break in a new blade:
1.
Choose correct speed for blade and material
of operation.
2.
Reduce feed pressure by half for first
50–100 in of material cut.
2
3. To avoid twisting blade when cutting, adjust
feed pressure when total width of blade is in
cut.
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Blade Breakage

Many conditions may cause a bandsaw blade to
break. Blade breakage is unavoidable in some
cases, since it is the natural result of the peculiar
stresses that bandsaw blades are subjected to.
Blade breakage is also due to avoidable circum-
stances. Avoidable blade breakage is most often
the result of poor care or judgement on the part
of the operator when mounting or adjusting the
blade or support guides.
The most common causes of blade breakage
are:
• Faulty alignment or adjustment of the blade
guides.
• Forcing or twisting a wide blade around a
short radius.
• Feeding the workpiece too fast.
• Dull or damaged teeth.
• Over-tensioned blade.
• Upper blade guide assembly set too high
above the workpiece. Adjust the top blade
guide assembly so that there is approximate-
ly ⁄ "– ⁄ " between the bottom of the assem-
1 1
8 4
bly and the workpiece.
• Using a blade with a lumpy or improperly fin-
ished braze or weld.
• Leaving the blade tensioned when not in use.
• Using the wrong pitch (TPI) for the workpiece
thickness. The general rule of thumb is to
have no less than two teeth in contact with
the workpiece at all times during cutting.
Model G0948 (Mfd. Since 08/21)