Gaining experience with bandsaw milling blades

[BobL]

I finally arrived at the point where had to set a bandsaw mill blade.

I have been using 3 blades and just lightly touching them up with the Dinasaw sharpener, which is a fun machine to use.

However, I have not used the Dinasaw setter because it sets in a LRNLRN sequence and all the blades we have are LRLRLR. L=left, R=Right and N= Neutral or raker. The other reason for wanting to move to the LRN sequence is because the sharpener is capable of angled sharpening of the teeth tips (with different angles for the N and opposite angles for the L/R) but this really requires the teeth be in the LRNLRN sequence

The instructions to convert the blades I got from the setter manufacturer was that I keep sharpening and using a blade until the teeth had run out of usable set and then reset the teeth to the LRN sequence. If I was to reset the teeth prior to this I would risk breaking them. The manufacturers also suggested creeping up onto the correct set for the teeth that had to be set the opposite way. This all made sense and as we have 9 blades for this mill I figure if I butchered a blade in the learning process that would not be too bad.

So I did this and although I did not break any teeth it was far from a straight forward exercise. In a sequence of 6 consecutive teeth i.e. LRLRLR only two end up with the correct set. This is because the setter does not set rakers or neutrals or rakers - it just leaves them alone, and the teeth that are set in one direction and need to be moved to the opposite need an extra push by the setter to so this BUT this then pushes those that are already set correctly too far and the setter cannot back correct any over push.

For any original LRLRLR sequence I ended up with LRlrlr. l=slightly left, r - slightly r. The second two "lr"s in the sequence are the teeth that had to be moved from R to L and L to R.

When I tried this blade on the saw it cut poorly and the blade wandered a bit so I increased the set and this helped with cutting but not with blade wander. I tried doing a few other things which I won't bore you with but in the end I used a manual hand saw setter and set all 53 neutrals/rakers by hand. Then I ran the blade around the setter another half a dozen times around the setter and slowly the Rs that should have been L and VV moved into the right position.

Now it at least cuts straight.

On the next blade I am thinking of using the hand setter to correct the last 4 teeth in a LRLRLR sequence to neutral to see if that speeds up the process. Any comments and suggestions at any of any of this is welcomed

Oh yeah, after doing all this the boss noticds how much work is involved (i.e. how much milling is not happening) and has agreed to buy 2 new LRNLRN blades !!!!

 

[hamish]

Bob
The Dinasaw Setter takes a bit to get used to and the simple skipping of a tooth ruins the day quite quickly. I have had more luck removing the set from the entire band then starting from scratch. On occasion I have started on the wrong sequence in error and have made a LRN band into a LRLRLRLRLR band.
If the indexer is not properly aligned its very simple to skip a tooth and toss matters off.

Just wait till you put on a new band and forget to adjust for the new tooth height and start breaking off tips at a rate of............way too many in a few cranks.

 

[BobL]

Bob
The Dinasaw Setter takes a bit to get used to and the simple skipping of a tooth ruins the day quite quickly. I have had more luck removing the set from the entire band then starting from scratch.

Sounds like a good idea.

On occasion I have started on the wrong sequence in error and have made a LRN band into a LRLRLRLRLR band.
If the indexer is not properly aligned its very simple to skip a tooth and toss matters off.

That sort of happened with a practice band but fortunately it was very early on when I had not applied much set and so nothing was ousted too far out.

Just wait till you put on a new band and forget to adjust for the new tooth height and start breaking off tips at a rate of............way too many in a few cranks.

Yep I can see that happening

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I do all the blades by hand for setting. I've done a ton in the last couple weeks, easily 50-60 blades.
Most for LT15 and 40 Woodmizers, couple for oddball mills too.
Can't say I've seen LRLR blafes, all I've done where normal LRNLRN.

The Woodmizer blades are better to do, being it's a Woodmizer sharpener and setter.

 

[hamish]

I do all the blades by hand for setting. I've done a ton in the last couple weeks, easily 50-60 blades.
Most for LT15 and 40 Woodmizers, couple for oddball mills too.
Can't say I've seen LRLR blafes, all I've done where normal LRNLRN.

The Woodmizer blades are better to do, being it's a Woodmizer sharpener and setter.

Left-Right bands are more common outside of the US for mill use, but quite common amongst woodworkers globally, not to mention most vertical resaws.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

It's possible, just happens that we have only gotten the LRN blades. Blades are darn spendy... ordered some last week and it was over $400 for a box (10 blades)

 

[BobL]

It's possible, just happens that we have only gotten the LRN blades. Blades are darn spendy... ordered some last week and it was over $400 for a box (10 blades)

That's cheap
The boss just spent over US$400 for TWO 210 x 2" bimetal blades for the BSM.
The cost of the blades was not the only problem - $100 of that was for air freight from one side of Australia to the other (e.g. like NY to LA).
Prices and price structures were driven sky high by the mining boom we experienced here in the last decade and although the boom has gone the prices have not and are unlikely to because of limited competition.
We could get things much cheaper by importing them from the US but the boss likes to support local businesses.

Imagine my trepidation when I go to sharpen these!!

 

[4x4American]

It's possible, just happens that we have only gotten the LRN blades. Blades are darn spendy... ordered some last week and it was over $400 for a box (10 blades)

That is way too expensive!! I got a box of 15 WM double hard 4 degree blades for $315.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

That is way too expensive!! I got a box of 15 WM double hard 4 degree blades for $315.

Shipping was about $100.

The crazy thing is I found a box ordered in 2000 the other day and the shipping was $37!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

That's cheap
The boss just spent over US$400 for TWO 210 x 2" bimetal blades for the BSM.
The cost of the blades was not the only problem - $100 of that was for air freight from one side of Australia to the other (e.g. like NY to LA).
Prices and price structures were driven sky high by the mining boom we experienced here in the last decade and although the boom has gone the prices have not and are unlikely to because of limited competition.
We could get things much cheaper by importing them from the US but the boss likes to support local businesses.

Imagine my trepidation when I go to sharpen these!!

I'm sure "special" blades are spendy. I was talking about normal Woodmizer blades.

 

[BobL]

That's cheap
The boss just spent over US$400 for TWO 210 x 2" bimetal blades for the BSM.
The cost of the blades was not the only problem - $100 of that was for air freight from one side of Australia to the other (e.g. like NY to LA).
Prices and price structures were driven sky high by the mining boom we experienced here in the last decade and although the boom has gone the prices have not and are unlikely to because of limited competition.
We could get things much cheaper by importing them from the US but the boss likes to support local businesses.

Imagine my trepidation when I go to sharpen these!!

Blades arrived - guess what - they were 9 teeth too long!!!!!
Just as well the boss is away or he'd be livid.
I call the company and they gracefully admit it's their mistake and immediately arrange for their local agent to fix the problem.
It's a 15 minute drive to the saw doctor and they thankfully do it on the spot and I was sawing an hour and half later.
While I'm there I discover that the agent will do me a better deal on the same blades (Lennox) than the dealer on tech east coast AND no freight charges!
Guess where we're going next time?

The new blades are smicko! - I love the sound they make - a quite ShhhhhhhhhhhhShhhhhhhhhhShhhhhhhhhh.
OK its not as much fun as a chainsaw ! but they fair rip through the Aussie hardwood!

 

[hopm]

If you run Lennox, Baker Industries is a good reliable source.