Hey Norwood, how about posting a few educational videos on your site or you tube. I was doing some garage milling over the past few days because I can't get out to do anything else right now. Snow up to our necks! I was going back through the manual and was reviewing the blade tensioning part. I have been tightening up my blade to the point that the spring is compressed completely, and thought that was how it is supposed to be. But now after reading the manual on that subject several times I am not sure that is correct.. If Norwood was to post a couple of video's on things such as this it would be a great help. A video is worth a million words, I see the competition has a series of videos on blade coiling etc. Maybe you could do a few on maintenance etc. And by the way what is the correct tension?
Thanks Bill M
Sorry double post, I waited, really!!!
I second that motion Bill. Especially the blade coiling. For the life of me I cant figure that out.
Practicing blade coiling with a long V-belt is a safe way to learn.
Mountain dog have you watched the WM vids on you tube they have a really good blade coiling video. I can coil them up but still struggle at opening them up.
No I haven't. I'll look them up. Never had a problem opening them.
I found the WM videos. Excellent! Couldn't be any simpler. Norwood, you need to adapt this method into your video library. The method shown in the book just doesn't do it, for me anyhow.
I have a very simple techinque for uncoiling blades. Untie the blade and hold the blade teeth up and toss into a clear area like a frisbee. They almost always uncoil before they land. Probably best not to do it on concrete or gravel incase the teeth make contact with the ground.
Wear leather gloves when coiling or uncoiling.
Here's how I do it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C392uypgu9E&feature=youtu.be
Good judgement comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgement.
Gee, now that I see you do it its simple. I just could not get the technic from the print in the norwood book. But I have always been that way, I have a hard time understanding what I read but if I see it I can get it right away. I'm just a hands on learner.
Brilliant and very very clear video......im happy i have seen it before i even have my bandsaw.....lol, feeling a pro already ;p
I figure it's a lot safer to have those nasty sharp teeth well away from me when the blade is uncoiling pretty much out of control!
I called Norwood and the correct blade tension on the LM 29 is as follows. Tension the blade until you feel the tension on the handle increase. At that point you will see that the spring is fully compressed, now turn the handle back 1/8th of a turn, you have now tensioned your blade correctly. And that is straight from the horses mouth.
Bill M
That's good to know about the tensioning technique. Thanks for checking that out & reporting back. As for coiling the band saw blades, you can always practice on a v-belt, like the belt to a riding mower. Same technique without the bite.
Good judgement comes from experience... experience comes from bad judgement.
I just looked at a post by macahamillion and Norwood told him to tighten the LM29 blade until the washer makes contact with spring and then go one more 1/8th turn that is not what Norwood told me. Please Norwood place the correct procedure on line in a clear and understandable way.
After my phone call today Bill, I think we are better off figuring this out on our own. I'll be the ginnea pig. I had to tighten mine about a good full turn to get it right.
I cut roughly 1000bf give or take 100 and just put my second blade on as I was having to push a little harder.
Yes you are right on that, I guess it is what works for each of us. But still it is too bad it was not made clear, that way the next person will have it a little easier.
With all this talk about blade tension I was out at the mill Wed to resaw some cedar beams. We have the mark 4 mill and it has a scale for blade tension. I took some photos of the scale to show what ours look like. Hope you can see it but if not it has a thick washer painted white and a scale that you line up the washer with the mark you want the blade tension at. We have never had a problem with a blade beaning to loose
Now that I have the photo on after many time trying. We use the 3/4 mark to set our blade tension at. Would like to see what our mills have for a scale to tension there blades. Just tighten till tight and then turn handle so many turns sounds unreal. I would think a company would would make sure that a customer could use there mill with out calling then a lot to start using it. I like the mark 4 that JR has and we have used it hard more then once. If our mark 4 has this scale why didn't Norwood use it on all there mills ?
This is a pic of my ML26, I did turn mine as the manual said the first time. Though the manual says also to make a mark for a reference which I did and have always set my tension to the exact spot every time I replace my blade without any problems at all.
I'm with you, Sawwood. And I feel really out of the loop on the new Norwoods. I have a LM2000 and, once I got the tracking set, I never had to bother much with it again. I set the tension according to the scale underneath the saw carriage (light or heavy tension as needed) and never had a problem with the band jumping off the wheels or riding the back of the rollers. There has to be something gained with the new tension systems, but, if so, you'd think there'd be some way to tell the owners how to reliably adjust them, when and how. Of course, I may be talking out my ass --- I don't have a new mill.
I don't think there's a set rule for tension on every blade to be a certain amount of turns. They vary in length for one thing . I fust with mine for a while when I first got it now I just go by feel crank until it feels like it did the last time I used it and when I check the scale it's always close. Use the saw and try different tensions and stick with what works for your particular mill trial and error is a good teacher . For the perfectionist Lenox sells a gizmo for a few hundred to set or test your blade tension.
My only squawk is the speed of this site it eats up to much of my time waiting for posts
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Backwards ?
Luckily i guessed it before i wrote the answer ;p
About blade tension, I know Norwood is all excited about having so many patents on their stuff and all, how about one more for their trophy case.
How about coming up with a strain gauge for the saw blades? I'm thinking of just a little sticker that you put on the blade from the factory; you can also sell the stickers (matched to blade type and temp of course), and when the strain gauge is in the middle of the saw, when it breaks (or changes color), the blade is tight enough?
Simple yet effective. I like it.
So, Baron you edged the board you cut the nail off on !!!
I have milled enough now with out problem's with blade tracking or tension, and have things dialed in sort of the way Bill has it described. Correct or not no issues to date. I was chasing a tracking issue, and I have found that I have not been cleaning the belt enough on the non driven side. The lube water does not keep that belt as clean and with the hemlock I get pitch build up that changes the tracking through the day. Now I give it a scrape off with every blade change and sometimes during a break. See ! live and learn. And any newer people... take an evening in man land and take your roller's apart, knock the bearings out ,pick the seals out and pack them with some good grease. Only takes a few minutes to do, the bearings only have a very light grease in them. this will make them last and is a good time to get some numbers off them and have a couple of bearings on hand.
so Baron , what was wrong with your nail in the wood blade?
Baron
I've sent several boxes of blades out for sharpening, and they all return reversed. Drives me nuts. Put new blade on saw, put covers on, start saw, "something's wrong with this picture", curse, shut off saw, take covers off, pull off blade, put bandaid on finger, reverse blade, put blade on...
yah. drives me nuts.
Blair
otoh, I just realized, I can always tell the difference between used and resharpened blades! Silver lining, indeed!
A couple times, I've covered it over by turning it into a coaching session, when helpers are present. "oh, what's wrong with the way we've put the blade on?" Studied silence. [points at teeth]. One of the helpers didn't, ever, get it. The kind of person who throws all the nails with the point on the wrong end away. The other bright spark saw it immediately; with him, I fessed up and explained what was goingo on. The other - oh well; he's now in university...for engineering...
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