Band Saw Clinic with Alex Snodgrass

my name is Alex Snodgrass I am with Carter products and we are going to show you how to set up the solve for Reese all and small blade that being said let's start with this one right here sorry first thing that we want to do before we do anything with a saw please please please unplug it save the digits okay get our fence out of the way here we're going to take our table off the sole any time that you do a full adjustment on a bandsaw take the table off it will make it a thousand times easier to adjust the saw you'll be able to see the upper and lower guides and how they work with each other okay even if you have a salt like this one here where you've got to take the four bolts out of the trunnion it makes it work the effort to take it off so that you can get that adjustment just right we'll open this up take our blade off now how many of you have blades hanging on the wall like this because nobody showed you how to make them look like that well I'm going to show you an easier way that doesn't require some practice but first let's talk about opening a blade because I've had way too many people say well I just throw well throw blade bend a tooth you've run the blade let the blade separate in between your two hands there and you'll notice that there's a split on either side grab either one and it gives you a controlled opening every time when you want to fold the blade put the back edge on the floor put it in the arch of your foot so that you're not stepping on those teeth again hand palm up twist it to you once twice and push straight down perfect fold every time no practicing all right set that right there for the moment now I'm going to start D adjusting every one of these guides opening them up because I want y'all to see step by step how we adjust this song and I want everyone to notice that as we adjust number one it's going to go extremely fast it's there really isn't much to it but if you do this in the order that I show you you will get a perfect result every time now first thing I like to kind of go over some kind of boring details so I apologize for that but let's start with the tires if you've got rubber tires make sure they're glued down if they're not what happens is rubber with that centrifugal force causes it to sag it doubles up throws the blade off you stop the saw everything looks normal and you wonder why your blade got thrown off or unlikely the rubber tires are not glued down make sure they're glued down don't pull them off put glue on them and try to stretch them back over all you're going to have is a bunch of glue running down the front of the wheel raise it up with a screwdriver or anything usually contact cement has a dauber on it just kind of run around the tire both top and bottom you're good to go do not replace rubber tires with urethane tires hoping to get better performance doesn't work that way urethane tires last longer and don't require glue so they're the natural replacement if rubber tires if your rubber tires are worn out but remember a tire is nothing more than a separation from a steel wheel in a sharp steel blade to keep them from touching and dough in your blade so again don't replace your rubber tires or urethane just for better performance now what we're going to do we've got all of our guides opened up here we're going to install our blade we'll go over one more thing before we get into our adjustment but before we get into our adjustment I also am amazed I've been doing this for about 22 years so I've had a dare to a practice on a bandsaw but when it comes to putting a blade on a wheel I am amazed at how many people tell me the blade should be in the center of the wheel that is incorrect the deepest part of the gullet should always be in the center of the wheel here's why and by the way let me clarify the gullet is the space in between the teeth the deepest part of that gullet is what should be in the center of the wheel remember a wheel is crown if you put the blade in the center of the wheel those teeth are out there in no-man's land unsupported and you're going to get a cut like this back them up so that the deepest part of the gullet is in the wheel in the center of the wheel now the tooth is supported and here's the second thing the side guides that you have to adjust front to back to compensate for the different size blades you'll never have to move again because it doesn't matter whether it's an eighth or a 3/4 inch blade the deepest part of the gullet is always in the same spot that means the side guides never have to be moved again ok now when it comes to tension you want to make sure you set that before you begin to adjust the guide you can follow this gauge here on the back I'm not a big fan of it because if you aren't using computerized welded blades say somebody welds ax blade an eighth inch longer an eighth inch short this now lines up in a quarter inch different spot because you've got two sides of the blade you can use this as a nice reference but not a guarantee before the guides are set with absolutely nothing but a blade on the wheels tapping on the side of the blade you should get no more than 1/8 inch movement either direction not pushing not just tapping with one finger you should get no more than an eighth inch and it doesn't matter what size the blade is could be the large blade or the small blades tapping on the side you're ready to go now the last thing I want to cover before we begin to adjust this is coplanar had way too many people tell me well I need to adjust my wheel out because my wheels are not coplanar please please please do not mess with your wheels here's why manufacturers set up the wheels free a specific way for a specific reason how many of you in here have used a belt sander probably everybody when you turn that little knob on the side what happens is the belt takes off if you don't turn it back what happens it keeps right on going if you line these wheels up so dead perfect that's exactly what you're going to have it is a blade that you can't control and keep in one spot and when you turn this you're going to have to back it off and really tweak with it they are actually angled to each other so that we can turn this knob and it moves in States this is pretty much a brand new salt you'll notice the teeth or the deepest part of the goal it is in the center of the wheel you'll notice it is not at the bottom let me kind of prove to you that coplanar really doesn't exist I'm going to do just this and bring that blade way forward on the top notice nothing changed down here at the bottom please don't mess with your wheels and if you do call the manufacturer they know more about their saw than anybody who thinks they know about a bandsaw that being said we've got our tension right we're going to adjust that to where the deepest part of the gullet is back in the center of that wheel we're now ready to start adjusting our guides what you can't see what I'm saying here how's that is that better no I'm not sure see on the on the on this setup it's a little tough to kind of see and I apologize I usually keep it on this one for the small one but we'll try is that seem to be okay for the moment we can back it out just a little bit so you can see maybe both of them yeah we'll bring it down so you can see both sort of I'm trying alright now we've got step number one making sure the deepest part of the gullet center of the wheel step number two tension step number three the side guides where they should be on the blade basically you want the front edge whether you use them blocks or bearings you want the front edge to be about a sixteenth of an inch behind the deepest part of the gullet so we're just going to adjust the body to where it is 1/16 of an inch behind the deepest part of that gullet both top and bottom now you want to get as much of the blade encased as possible but this is not the crucial adjustment the most crucial adjustment on setting up for resaw is the next adjustment and that is our thrust bearing it should be a sixteenth of an inch or basically as close to that blade as you can possibly get without it turning now you're all are going to notice that when I adjust I'm constantly turning the wheel here I do not use a feeler gauge I don't use the dollar bill they don't work okay remember you don't know whether you're moving the blade or the bearing so turn the wheel because you've got a spring soft tires in a flexible blade the only way to see what is actually happening is by turning the wheel now you can see that we're so close that it's touching just occasionally back that up just a little bit and this may take a couple of adjustments make sure that you get this one right if you get this one dead-on you will have absolute perfect resale every time see what happens if that bearing is turning before you begin to cut you're pushing on the back edge of that blade causing the front to flex one way or the other there are generally two reasons why a blade is going to drift one the teeth are not in the right spot on the wheel - you're pushing on the back edge causing the front to deflect one way or the other so let's do the exact same thing down here to the bottom now there's a way to determine whether or not we've got this just right I'm going to show you what that is okay boy this one is just being a little bit obstinate today all right now we've got this set up to where neither of those bearings are turning but and you all know that this does not feel good on the back of my fingers those sharp points I should be able to put the slightest amount of pressure on there to make that bearing turn so close that it looks like it's going to touch but it doesn't okay now both of them are turning if I touch right in the center they both turn if I just turn the wheel and either of them turn now there's only one more step in adjusting this and that's our side guides side guides again should be as close as you can possibly get without it actually touching the blade and every time I say this as close as you can get without touching I think of the speech that I gave my daughter's first date sorry good times alright now as you can see there is movement between there they are not perfectly tight side guides are there to just simply bump the blade back into play if you are rubbing against the side of the blades you are causing enough friction and heat to destroy the blade let's put it this way anybody that has worked with steel and it's there's somebody in here that's work with steel you can back me up if if you like if Steel has been yielded fancy word for bent okay as soon as it gets friction or heat it wants to come back to its original state so that means even a bearing is going to create enough friction and heat to cause the teeth to come into a line form a knife edge and then it's going to seek the easiest route through the wood okay so again the more you can keep that blade cool the longer it's going to last now we are 100% set up the last thing we've got to do is put our table on and level it I'm going to show you how to do that and get it within three to five thousandths of an inch by using nothing more than a two by four and then we generally get to everybody's favorite part of the class and that is I bet you all didn't know that we have a little bit of a guarantee and the reason I say a little bit is if you can get this past my father god bless you basically if I have done this correctly well teacher gets an A if I have done this incorrectly everybody gets free guys what's not to love alright drop or insert in grab us a chunk of pine here now any time that you're going to level a table up get yourself a piece of 2x4 and what I'm looking for it's just something that I know is flat on both sides I know it's been joined on both sides so it's good and flat try not to get a piece with Ahmad and we'll plug our saw back in got a dust collector on right down above our work now I know my table is square because I've got my leveling pen set but even I had to do this the first time make a simple cut flip the wood over bring it around back if the blade will go back into the cut we know that we're within three to five thousandths of an inch across the surface of the table not just up one side or the other okay so now comes your favorite part take our fence we'll see if we've done this right oh I hope so hate to start the year off incorrect all right now when you set your fence and by the way anybody that has a fence on your saw don't try to get everything just perfectly square the nice thing about a bandsaw as long as the fence is square or within a quarter of an inch of being that way you should be able to get a straight cut reason being is a bandsaw blade has curved it's wider in the front than it is in the back so as long as you're within 1/4 of an inch you should be able to get a straight cut so we're going to set it up about like such and now I'm not going to use that piece of pine I am going to use a real piece of hard wood now when Yuri saw I don't like that we've got just a little bit of a tilt see if we can get that tilts out of there real quick when you Reese all will have to live with it make sure that you feed at a constant pace what I mean is don't over cook it what happens when you cook get the rules it's is that further outside the bullets rub the juices side of the blade and then we get that bowl and you're cut and that's generally completion just a little bit too fast and if you just cook with a nice constant pace should get a nice great accurate cut how'd we do dead-on accurate in the end just right now let y'all pass that around now as far as top to bottom again for some reason we got just a little bit of a tilt if you're going to do some extremely tall wood like this make sure that your fence is this tall is whatever you're cutting that way you've got support and you don't get that tip or tilt okay alright now that goes over resaw yes sir oh well you were raising your head now you got to ask a question thicker wood half inch three toothbrush nice safe high alright now this is four quarter inch or smaller blades completely different from what we just went over there that one don't want it touching the blade in any way shape or form this is completely different this is called a blade stabilizer this is strictly four quarter inch or less yes sir there should never be drift on a bandsaw ever there should never be drift in a man soul whatsoever and anybody that tells you that is not setting the saw up right now everything that I've just showed you if it doesn't work you make sure you get my card from my father and I can guarantee you I will answer questions within 24 hours okay I've been with Carter for 16 years I've been working with band saws for 22 everything that I've just told you wasn't something that is in a book matter of fact any book you pick up will tell you put the blade in the center any book will tell you make sure everything's coplanar this is my own personal experience so take it for what it's worth okay all right now you'll notice I do not have to take the table off on this unit because there are no guides underneath the table to adjust if you've got guides like this just back them away this is a specific guide that is four quarter inch or smaller okay it is set up so that number one make sure we've got it unplugged number two we're going to adjust that blade so that the deepest part of the gullet is where center of the wheel take the stabilizer drop it right into place bring it up against the back edge and I think we can see this on there and you want to push the blade forward one-eighth of an inch spring load that blade tighten it now the first time we do this this you may want to take a look at here as well on the wheel don't do that again notice the blade comes way forward when I roll the wheel because I've pushed it forward here so we're going to use our thrust adjustment to bring it back so that the deepest part of the gullet is back in the center of the wheel that way the blade is sprung into the groove how many of you have tried to cut into something and back out only to have the blade pop off this all this eliminates that how many of you would like to be able to get perfect straight up-and-down cuts when you do bandsaw boxes this takes care of that how many of you like to be able to turn within half the distance that you would normally turn with any blade we don't have side guides so now the blade can flex but here's the best part when you cut on a bandsaw it most of the time you kind of feel like it's hard to make the turn that's because with a guide like this the back edge can pivot and move and slide so that means the center of pivot is constantly changing on the blade making it very tough to follow a line now the back edge is in a groove it can't move poet and didn't know it okay now the center pivot never changes so that means it makes it much easier to follow a line and cut now close this up we want to make sure that our table is level which I can take now it's not even close careful sorry thank you how we doing okay good thank you whoever said that we're dead on here we go all right now just to kind of give you an idea and if y'all have been around the booth you've surely seen this and this will take all of about one minute of your life move that dust collector so we keep all of our friends on the front row friends what I'm doing here is a simple three-dimensional cut anytime that you do something three-dimensional you want to cut the front you want to cut the front tell you right now we just lost power are we back up are we running tests 1 2 3 test 1 2 3 come on come on hey we're your back ok now what did I do with my piece of wood yawl you're welcome to fire me if you want we lost juice we're back thanks pop all right now we're able to back out like I said since we unload that blade now I was where I was at I believe was any time that you do something to Reda mention all you want to do the front view then the side view if you're doing four-dimensional front view side view then top view and as you all can see we have the front view of that reindeer cut out now okay now we'll take the top off give it a toss we don't we want to be able to see where to put the horns ahead the neck the body in the legs leave the bottom piece on so we've got a flat surface to work with now remember I said it's nice to be able to make a nice sharp turn now the front edge can flex instead of binding between those two stationary points ruining the blade so we get half the distance now here's kind of where and think about this I don't care how good you are on a bandsaw you will not cut any faster than a blade can track we'll do a quick rundown of our deer okay I will pass that around look at their reindeer can fly okay next thing we want to do is yes sir absolutely any matter of fact you can change them in and out in less than one minute but I've tried not to cart or commercialize this so I'm trying to make sure that we we stick with the program so I promise you after the class I will give you all the Carter commercial okay now next thing that we're going to do is our bandsaw box we'll just need a little this dream would slide right by y'all here pups can I get a marker pen something thank you sir now if you all have seen these boxes up there they're pretty basic okay there's not a whole lot to them but you can't really tell where they're cut in at you always want to follow the grain that way the cut line looks like a grain line and people can't really see where you cut in we'll just use a piece of this old green wood here all we want to do is just kind of trace around it now all bandsaw boxes are made pretty much the same and yes I did just feel its panel so what we got here is just the outside design of the box we'll just follow that right on around now remember I said it's nice to be able to cut perfectly straight up and down I wasn't kidding especially in thicker wood in bandsaw boxes so now we've got the outside design cut okay now we're cutting green wood so I shouldn't have to move the dust collector it should drop down pretty quick now if y'all do not have a quick release on your soul if you don't have two souls you're going to probably want one of these if you start doing bandsaw boxes because you will see how many times I swap from saw the saw to do to this one little box so we've got the outside design cut we're going to set our fence up to where it's about oh maybe a quarter of an inch and we'll just cut that box off I just don't have any place usually I set it right here on the table so we'll do that we've just cut the back off yes sir why because we need a straight cut and when you glue that back on you don't want that edge wavy at all you want a nice straight accurate cut now we've cut the back off we can see that our grain is running in this direction so we're just going to cut in and around and leave maybe quarter of an inch all the way around so now for the most part we have already done the full outside of that box okay you would glue the back on don't worry about this filling it actually close it and glue it shut what that does is it gives you less curve around the drawer so that the drawer isn't so sloppy in the box okay so the outside like I said pretty much is done the last thing we've got to do is our drawer itself now you want to cut the front and the back of the door off you can't cheat just make two passes you do have to actually cut front and back off then the last cut that we've got to do is the inside of the drawer now if you look up here you'll notice that some of these boxes they look identical just one smaller than the other that's because what I've done is I take the last piece and just start over and just slowly make some progressively smaller boxes take our drawer we would glue our drawer back together and now we've got basically a full bandsaw box don't make me look bad now come on and you got full bandsaw box okay now as you can see 90% of the work is it finishing it that's why I don't finish okay all right last thing we're going to do is this snake and we're going to get you all out of here so you can enjoy the rest of the show and then I'm going to turn you all over to my father's capable hands and I'll be glad to answer any question that you may have as well what did I just do there folks I open the saw and didn't unplug it y'all got to keep me on my toes all okay we'll just open up another 1/8 then I thought that was a 1/8 that was hanging up there I was what half went what did I do Oh got you thank you thank you can I say I was feeling shy and nervous all right now all we did was just switch that little old 1/8 or that 3/16 / 1/8 because we've got to be able to do some real tight turns here now any time that you do snake work flex work first thing you want to do is shape the snake in whatever shape that you want if you want the head to come up like a Cobra then you've got to have the wood in that shape okay the second thing you have to do is drill the hole because if you cut this key and then try to drill the hole it's going to crack it almost every time so that being said let's take I know I set that piece of wood down here right there right down above our work and we're going to imagine that I have already drilled the hole and the only reason I'm using square stock here okay is it's very simple to get ahold of you can use round stock make sure you plane the bottom so the flats always on the bottom and then I usually plane the side just a whisker so I know exactly where 90 is the only reason I started using square stock because my wife bless her heart decided she wanted plant hangars that were square not round I just I've learned not to have so the first cut is to make a key okay now I'm going to lay this I can't get near that I'm going to lay this on the table you want to make sure that you lay this out in the order that you cut it you get it out of water I'll tell you right now a day is a terrible thing to waste they are impossible if I get them out of order I throw them away that's how tough they are to put back together now from here on out it's the same cut the best accessory you can get for doing snakes is an iPod they are the most boring thing in the world I don't care whether you like Pink Floyd Bill Gaither Garth Brooks Bach Beethoven get an iPod because it's going to you're going to need it remember the four corners of the table starting with one two three four in that order the wood is pointed at one straight two straight three straight for and out there's one piece okay rotate the wood one time again with it pointed at one straight - straight three straight four and out two pieces y'all starting to get the hand here the same cut over and over and over and when it's 22 feet long trust me my neighbors thought I was some sort of a weirdo with a bandsaw in the front yard because when you do a 22 foot snake you need 44 feet of Swing and my shop does not have 44 foot of Swing we'll just do one more cut and put it back together for you here and all we're doing is just sliding everything back together the exact way that we cut it and just like that instead of having a solid piece of wood we now have flexible wood okay now that goes over Reese all set up small blade set up bandsaw boxes and snakes now I have three more things I want to cover and we'll get you out of here number one make sure that your tables are good and waxed sand them down and wax a mile I like to use a boat wax or Johnson's paste wax remember a bandsaw pulls everything down to the table so if it's smooth that makes it much easier to make your turns and twists okay number two if you all enjoyed this seminar please let them know upfront if you did not enjoy this seminar please let them know upfront that's the only way we can improve and make this better for everybody and last but not least thank you all very much for your time I hope that you enjoyed it

Channel: thewoodworkingshows

Views: 1,077,262

Rating: 4.9299531 out of 5

Keywords: Band Saw, Alex Snodgrass, The Woodworking Shows Seminars

Id: wGbZqWac0jU

Length: 35min 13sec (2113 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 29 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/screwikea]

This is kinda, sorta a response to my other post. If I were hunting through this subreddit, this video is exactly what I'd want to see.

[u/[deleted]]

Wow, thanks for sharing this...I'm heading out to the garage right now to set my ryobi the right way. Thanks again