mystified by my bandsaw...

...

Is this a full-length fence I gather? I only use a short fence for resaw that only constrains the distance from the blade right at that point--then you don't build any torsion as passing by from either side, the blade nor the work.

It (the fence) is just a rounded roughly 3" thick piece of hardwood...

If there is no lead cutting freehand, then the fence is fine. Two possibilities come to mind...

1. Stock isn't square, btm & fence side,

1. Guides are forcing the blade off course. Keep the as tight as possible, keep them as low as possible.

From what I have read a 1/2" blade requires to much tension on a Delta

Are you keeping the wood directly agains't the fence? My fence has an extension that extends just a bit of a bubble near the blade so you can adjust the wood.

Does this have a riser? if so, are the wheels coplanar. I ask because on mine I had to remove the pins to align, and if they are not coplanar you may have a twist in the upper frame. This would cause the blade guides to be misaligned, as well as the blade , on top it would follow perpendicular to the wheel. So if twisted in it would track toward the frame, if twisted out it would track away but only toward the top of the blade. The guide and wheel at the bottom would be tracking straight.

If it is the case remove the pin and swing the top into total alignment where it's coplanar all the way from the left side of the wheel to right side.

If that's not it, check the guides on your adjustable arm, are they turned at all? (doubtful that this is the problem.)

I have my saw and fence trued up so I stopped using a short fence, was never happy with it. A long fence is definetly the way to go, no short s*it that allows you to wander back and forth.

Hmmm, all that resawing I do with a 1/2 must be wrong then. 1/2 works fine.

Lots of reasons that this can happen.

1. You might actually be letting the top of the board lean away from the fence, it does happen.

1. Blade heat can cause it stretch and you loose tension. Loss of blade tension can change blade tracking.

2. Lower guides are closer to the bottom of the cut, top guides are farther away from the top of the cut.

1. Free hand allows the wood to move so that the blade can cut the way it wants to cut. A fence forces angle of attack on blade.

According to Laguna the cylinder/dowel fences used for re-sawing allows the operator to compensate for this issue when the saw and blade are not set up for optimal re-sawing and or if the saw and blade cannot hold their tension and settings. Think of the dowel guide on the fence as a crutch so that the operator can compensate.

woodchucker wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ptd.net:

No, no riser. I remember now you describing that problem in the group some while back.

The wheels were co-planar last time I checked. I should probably check them again, tho, it has been a while.

John

Leon wrote in news:gIidnYNLbvr14vvFnZ2dnUU7- snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

That did occur to me (as did the possibility that the edges I'd jointed weren't actually flat). I took great care on subsequent tries to make sure I wasn't letting the board lean away from the fence.

I don't think I cut long enough to generate any heat.

It's the reverse in this case - lower guide below the table, of course, top guide maybe 1/4 inch above the wood.

Well, this is what I ended up thinking, even tho I can't really see any angle when freehanding. I'm think I just need to use a rounded point fence with this blade, as you and others are suggesting.

John

Markem wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

As I mentioned, I don't do a lot of resawing, but I've never seen a problem with a 1/2 blade, whether I set the tension by the gauge, by the deflection technique, or by ear.

I have used a 3/4 blade on this saw, a long time ago, with success, but I don't think you can really tension that size properly (plus you have to remove the blade guard for clearance, which isn't a great idea).

If I understand Duginske's book correctly, a 3/8 doesn't have enough beam strength for resawing, and you're likely to get barrel shaped cuts.

John

Wouldn't hurt to check, a small angle could have a considerable effect.

Also, make sure the face of the fence and the blade are perfectly parallel.

Even with square stock this can be difficult on some pieces of wood.

Just running and not cutting will generate some heat but if your tension gauge is staying steady that is probably not the issue.