The other day, I saw where someone had cooked up a router height gauge that used a dial indicator. I had to have one of these. So I figured this would be a great quick project that would use my bandsaw and drill press, two tools I've been wanting to use on a project. (you see, I've been making a lot of cabinets and such lately...)
So I head over to my bandsaw. It's a Delta 14" with a riser block. I Noticed that I had my 1/2 inch blade on it. No problem, I'll switch over to that 1/8" blade which should be perfect for cutting out this curvy piece of hickory.
An hour later, I had it working. But I learned a couple things:
- Bandsaws are difficult to adjust correctly.
- I suck at adjusting bandsaws.
And I've read Larry Byrd's book. I guess I need to read it again.
My main problems were that the tension wasn't right, and I had the thrust bearing too far forward. And even if I hadn't made these mistakes, getting the tracking just right was difficult as well. People talk all the time about dedicating routers to certain bits. I'm ready to pick up a grizzly 14" bandsaw just so that I can have a 1/8" blade and a 1/2" blade installed and tuned at the same time. Maybe I need a third one with a bimetal blade for metal work. And a big fourth one for heavy resawing.
The VS drill press worked perfectly the first try. :-)
brian