I know there are people with perfectly aligned bandsaw wheels, tires set just right, guides aligned per specs and a perfect blade with exactly the right tension. With that, the saw MAY cut parallel to the miter slot.
I guess I'm one of the unfortunate few who seldom gets a cut parallel to the miter slot. That's why I need a fence that can be set to the blades "lead" /"drift" angle. Anyone need a miter slot - I'm not using the one on my bandsaw.
charlie b
fence that can be set to the blades "lead" /"drift" angle.
Are you shipping the entire table with the slot? :)
dave
Hey, I use mine to attach circle cutting jigs and stops. Not too much else, though. For re-sawing thin slices, a nice 90d upright fence with a rounded contact patch works best - held on with clamps. The aluminum fences I've seen don't impress me much...
FWIW,
Greg G.
I use mine all the time. But then again, mostly I'm cutting sticks to length for jigs or whatnot and I just want something (the miter guage) to keep the mark lined up with the blade while I push it through and stabilize the wood. Dowels and tree branches especially.
Yeah, I could freehand it, but I keep the guage right there anyway (the table saw has an incra; the band saw has the ts's original guage).
I need the table to hold my shop built table. The free miter slot deal requires that you come and get it. I'd take it off for you but I've got no place to put while waiting for you to pick it up. I'm accomodating (just mailed three bullet catch "strike plates" to Northern Ireland. Three bucks to send 30 cents worth of stamped brass parts. But hey, Connor's a Robland X31 owner and we've got to stick together) but I'm not totally crazy - close bot not crazy - yet..
BTW - did I mention that the miter/mitre slot is a sliding dovetail? It's on a Laguna Tools LT 16SEC - a Meber unit with the euro-centric "differences". Dovetailed bar stock from LT is someothing like $12 a foot! (Probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Now I'll never get rid of the damned thing)
charlie b
Give away your miter slot? Are you crazy? It is the perfect place to hold your pencil while you are using the saw.
Since my Rikon's table has 2 miter slots, I guess I could be a donor as well and still have someplace to put my pencil. :)
Actually, I use mine more to hold drill bits rather than pencils, since my bandsaw and drill press are side by side.
-jj
Silly me, I'm going to make a serious comment on this subject...
Totally agree with not using the mitre guage, still have one from my old 18" 2HP Grizzly, never used it, new owner doesn't want it. However the slot I would keep as it may come in handy.
I find bandsaw lore to focus on blade "drift"? If you mean the angle at which the blade wants to cut, relative to the slot or fence, then this can be set by tracking the blade forward or backward from the crown of the tires. So, by drift if you mean the cut is all over the whole damn place, like my Grizzly was, probably not enough blade tension. Spun the captured tensioning nut in that POS.
My first bandsaw was a crappy little 14" 3 wheel taiwan plastic case w/sanding disc, did a hell of a job with my kitchen drawer dovetails, but only when cutting to a line. Ahh, then I got my Laguna LT18, put the first blade on, tensioned it on the crown of the wheels, cut 10" tall, 1/8 inch slices first crack on the factory set fence. Did I say Ahh.....
So now I want to cut up some small logs, up to 8'. Laguna came out with their Logmaster unit, seen it at the last show, easy to make, infeed, outfeed rollers, logs mounted very simply (I didn't care for the sturdiness of their setup), anyways thinking about making my own. Whatever my end result I will be using the table slot (filling the slot with a raised bar so your jig can use a slot and not a bar, so it has a "flat" bottom to run on roller guides). I'll need to make sure the blade cuts relative to the slot for best results and will just track the blade accordingly. With the Laguna ceramic guides which run the width of the blade from gullet back, it seems easier to retrack the blade, instead of resetting the guides anyways.
BTW - You could use the same idea to make a "reverse square slot" and only have to buy one piece of bar stock about the length of your table.
My LT18 did not come with a mitre guage. Any crosscuts I decide to do on the bandsaw can be done freehand. Steve Jensen Abbotsford B.C. snipped-for-privacy@canada.mortise.com chopping out the mortise. Surfing along at 19200 bps since 95. BBS'ing since 1982 at 300 bps. WW'ing since 1985
Nothing catchy to say, well maybe..... WAKE UP - There are no GODs you fools!
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