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Adjusting Blade Tension
Proper blade tension is essential to long blade life, straight cuts, and efficient cutting. This
bandsaw features a blade tension indicator to assist you with blade tensioning.
Signs you do not have proper blade tension:
1. Blade stalls in the cut and slips on the wheels.
2. Blade frequently breaks from being too tight.
Recommendation: Loosen blade tension at end of each day to prolong blade life.
Adjusting blade tension:
1. Turn blade tension knob (A) Fig.9 clockwise to tension blade.
2. Tension blade until blade tension guide indicator (B) is in the green zone.
Blade Care
To prolong blade life, always use a blade with the proper width, set, type, and TPI for each
application. Maintain the appropriate feed rate, feed pressure, and blade speed, and pay
attention to the chip characteristics. Keep your blades clean, since dirty or gummed up
blades pass through the cutting material with much more resistance than clean blades,
causing unnecessary heat.
Blade Break-In
The tips and edges of a new blade are extremely sharp. Cutting at too fast of a feed rate
or too slow of a blade speed can fracture these tips and edges, quickly dulling the blade.
Properly breaking in a blade allows these sharp edges to wear without fracturing, thus
keeping the blade sharp longer. Below is a typical break-in procedure. Use the Chip
Inspection information on the previous page as a guide to evaluate the chips and ensure
that the optimal blade speed and feed rate are being used.
To properly break in new blade:
1. Choose correct speed for blade and material type.
2. Reduce feed pressure by half for first 50-100 square inches of material cut.
3. To avoid twisting blade when cutting, adjust feed pressure when total width of blade is in cut.
Adjusting blade guides
The left blade guide assembly should be positioned approximately 1/4" away from
workpiece if possible. This will help ensure straight cuts by keeping the blade from twisting
and drifting off the cut line.
To adjust left side blade guide assembly:
1. Disconnect bandsaw from power source!
2. Loosen blade guide knob (A) Fig.10.
3. Slide front blade guide assembly (B) as close to workpiece as possible.
4. Retighten blade guide knob (A).
To adjust blade guides:
ATTENTION: This is the most important adjustment on your bandsaw. It is impossible to
get satisfactory work from your bandsaw if the blade guides are not properly adjusted.
The blade guide bearings on your bandsaw are adjusted and power tested with several
test cuts before leaving the factory to insure proper adjustment. The need for adjustment
should rarely occur when the bandsaw is used properly. If the blade guides do get out of adjustment though, it is extremely important to readjust
immediately. If improper adjustment is maintained, the blade will not cut straight, and if the situation is not corrected it will cause serious blade
damage. Because blade guides adjustment is a critical factor in the performance of your bandsaw, it is always best to try a new blade to see if this
will correct poor cutting before beginning to adjust. If a blade becomes dull on one side sooner than the other, for example, it will begin cutting
crooked. A blade change will correct this problem the blade guides adjustment will not. If a new blade does not correct the problem, check the
blade guides for proper spacing.
NOTE: There should be from .000" - .001" clearance between the blade and blade guide bearings, to obtain this clearance adjust as follows:
1. The inner guide bearing (A) Fig.11 is fixed and cannot be adjusted.
2. The outer guide bearing (B) is mounted to an eccentric bushing and can be adjusted.
3. Loosen hex. nut (C) while holding the hex. bolt (D) with a wrench.
4. Position the eccentric by turning the hex. bolt to the desired position of clearance.
5. Retighten the hex. nut (C).
6. Adjust the second blade guide bearing (E) in the same manner.
ADJUSTMENTS
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 11
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