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6K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  brianhavens 
#1 ·
Band Saw Blade Drift

Now that I have my web site in order, I have had time to resume working on videos. Here is the link and the writeup:

Band Saw Blade Drift

All too often band saw blade drift is a phenomenon that vexes woodworkers who are new to resawing on the band saw, more...
 
#2 ·
Excellent vid, chock full of useful information.

Wondering, though: IS drift an inevitability?? Should we just accept that-even if every single element of band saw tuning is correctly performed-a certain amount of drift WILL occur and MUST be compensated for??

What IS/are the primary cause(s) OF the drift?

Really nicely done. Thanks!
 
#4 ·
I would say that it is an inevitability. I suppose that you could get lucky and the drift on a particular blade will be negligible, but I always check the drift when I install a new blade. The good news is that once you find the drift for the particular blade, it will not change for the particular blade-at least not noticeably. I do not re-check the drift every time I go to resaw, but I do perform the double-check to see of there is space on either side of the blade every time, just to make sure nothing has changed. It is simple enough to do and only takes a minute, and is worth the insurance of not ruining some nice stock.

I an not sure of precisely what causes drift. I have heard several explanations.
 
#13 ·
Nice job Brian. I have been very lucky that my saw cuts straight without drift. I have an older, 68 Delta 14" that I have upgraded with carter guides. In my forst resaw attempt with a 1/2" timberwolf blade I had no drift and sliced a 1/16" piece from some 6" walnut. In the video you show cutting freehand about half way the length of a board and then drawing a line on the table. Why not just leave the test board in place, clamp it down and slide the fence over, clamp it down and then mark the table?
 
#14 ·
It certainly works to clamp the scrap piece to the table and set the fence based on it, and I know that some folks do just that-and have even done it myself. One advantage of the pencil mark is that it can be reused, say, if I am cutting stock to several thicknesses or doing some other cut between resawing. In other words, the pencil line should be good until I change the blade. (But I still check each time that I have space on both sides of the cut using a scrap piece, before cutting into my good stock.)

Now that I think of it, though, I suppose that if you have an installed fence that you adjust for the drift, then there is no advantage to the pencil line, and perhaps clamping the scrap piece to the fence would be easier for adjusting such a fence. Good point. Just be carful that the scrap piece does not move while you clamp it down.
 
#16 ·
Great tutorial and video production. I loved the cutaways, you stayed on target with your topic, and had efficient and clear transfer of information. Lighting and audio was good.

Nice to see the website up and running. It is looking great.
 
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