New blade arrived today. Picked up a Highland woodslicer 1/2" . It tracks like it should, put it on, shot a video just to show you it was the Olson crap.
The fence didn't need touching, my alignment for my timberwolf was the same as the woodslicer. 0 thousandths diff on a 3" wide 12" long board after taking 1/16 slice off.
Like I said OLSON's suck. It's a shame because it's an American company, but I can't let crap like that go... The blades suck.
Welp, alrighty then! Get to cuttin'!
Glad it was cheap fix.
Snip
Don't totally write off Olson, I have never used that brand but people are buying them. ;~)
The reason I say not to write off Olson is because I bought a bunch of Timberwolf blades 10 years ago and none of them tracked correctly on my Rikon BS. It was the BS. I am not saying that there is an issue with your BS but I learned that some blades and some saw brands do not play well together. I got rid of the Rikon after about 2 weeks and ordered a Laguna LT16 HD. This saw, the Laguna, does not care what brand I put on it, including the Timberwolf blades that Timberwolf they took back and replaced to fit the Laguna.
I've done it on my saw when I needed that extra few inches of resaw depth. I have flat tires and a wide blade, I imagine a crowned wheel could have issues if not tensioned correctly (not too much or too little).
-BR
Oddly, and counter to what you would think, the crown helps the blade stay centered, I read that some where when researching BS's 10 years ago. With my Laguna the tension does not seem to be critical and I seldom adjust the top wheel tilt when going from a 1/2" to a 1.25" wide blade.
As they say, YMMV. I have the Rikon and, once adjusted, haven't had any problem with tracking on several different brands of blades. But I do love my Woodslicer :-).
+1
Personally I've had bad luck with Olsen and TW on my MiniMax, but only from a blade life perspective. It all comes down to what you cut and how much wear is applied to the blade. Some steels are better than others and some tooth designs are not appropriate for one application that may not seem that different from the application they excel at.
-BR
I thought Lagunas had flat tires (maybe not...) As a kid I first was introduced to "crowning" when noticing the wide pulleys on dragster blowers had a curved profile. It works to keep the belt centered since for some reason I don't quite understand the belt likes to climb. I'm sure the same physics are in force for crowned band saw wheels.
-BR
Rubber with a slight crown.
Belt sanders have a crown on the rollers too.
I would venture to guess that the crown allows the blade to pivot slightly. If the blade on the cutting side is pushed back slightly the rigidity of the blade causes the blade to come forward on the opposite side of the wheel to counter act the tendency to come off of the wheels.
It makes sense that if ther is a high spot on the wheels you want that spot in the center vs. the front or back.
A high spot was on both front and back would cause the blade to dull quickly.
My and apparently woodchuckers issue was getting the blades to track correctly to begin with. Timberwolf had me cut one of their blades and lay it out flat to observe that it laid out straight, it did. Oddly/out of the blue they asked me if my saw was a Rikon. Yes, they responded that they have had some issues with their blades and that particular 18" saw.
In defense of the Rikon the blade that came with it and one, a no name brand that I had custom made, worked fine. Unfortunately the roller bearings were an issue for me as they got dirty quickly and there was a lot of vibration along with the tracking issues with different blades.
Some of the blades moved forward and backward as the saw ran.
Mattias Wandel explains this:
Thank you. That explained tracking and at the end of the video another witness that guides are not necessary per the comment about the band saw mill that used no guides and had teeth on both sides of the blade for sawing in both directions.
Not all. my 6x48 have straight drums. But my 1x40 has crowned wheels.
Very nice. The "stretching" from the crown makes sense, negative feedback control loop!
-BR
:
My tires are flat rubber hoops, but out of curiosity, I placed a square across the tire surface and sure 'nuf, there is a very slight crown, maybe 10 mils at the center across 1 1/4" of width. My wheels must be machined with an ever so slight crown (learn something every day!) I still run narrow blades (1/2" and smaller) with the teeth hanging off the front of the tire as recommended, never get any movement, but I'd assume that tweaking the tracking is effectively putting a pseudo-crown under the center of the blade.
-BR
Teeth off the front of the rubber? How old is the saw? What brand? I wonder if the tire is worn. Old saws didn't have much crown and had rubber, which hardened or wore down. Maybe your tire needs replacement.
I let my narrow blades ride in the center. I don't usually have to touch my saw, other than set the thrust bearing and guides.
Many Italian built BS's have "rubber" tires. My Laguna has rubber.
I'm not questioning the rubber, I'm curious about the teeth being off front (assuming off the rubber) That too me is what I don't understand. I never heard of that.
Lonnie Bird was at our local Woodcraft last Saturday demonstrating his line of CMT router bits. I showed Lonnie your message on my iphone he said you were more full of shit than a thanksgiving turkey then lectured our class on the staggering amount of misinformation on the internet.
Who is Lonnie Bird?
He is there to sell you something. I got my information from the MiniMax rep. Granted you should use guides but you can saw with out them.
I suspect the Minimax rep knows worlds more about this subject than him.
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