Hi Robin, I have a Femi and there's nothing special about them, there's no reason your saw shouldn't cut as well, try checking the bearings that guide the blade, sometimes a chip can get wedged between the blade and the roller, and the small bearing shatters, not that noticeable until some sideways force is put on the blade, I'd check those first.

If all four of those are OK, they might need adjustment, one side of the blade should have the bearings on a cam to adjust.

We know, the size, we now know the section, but there are still several parts/settings that may be relevant.

Play at all pivoting/rotating points, type and condition of blade, tooth size, condition of wheel bands, and whether you usually cut wet or dry (seems dry in this case) compared to the manufacturer advice. All these things, and perhaps others, may have relevance to your problem – no point everyone unnecessarily offering advice on the current details only to find something important has been overlooked/ignored.

Further, it appears that the band support has not been adjusted to minimise the “free length” of the band. I’m sure there are other owners of this supplier that have been very satisfied with the operation of their saw, with (or without) regular corrective actions.

Certainly, if the band is distorted between front and back of cut, poor efficiency could follow. Even the source of bands has been known to make a considerable difference.

How much use has the blade had? They don't last forever particularly if just carbon steel.

Any signs of small cracks starting from the gullets of the teeth which may be your clicking.

Had any snatches recently when small work has moved in the chuck? can kink blade

Easiest way to eliminate a lot of guessing and time spent looking would be to try a new blade, if still a problem then it's the saw, if not then it was the blade.

Edited By JasonB on 19/12/2019 07:34:17

Please forgive this opportunistic post, but someone amongst you bandsaw users may be interested in my “For Sale” Advert.

MichaelG.
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Please delete if it is considered inappropriate.

<edit> Inappropriate asterisk deleted as requested.

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 21/12/2019 10:09:49

I suspect the alignment of the blades guides. the brutal twist back onto the powered wheel is very demanding.

I had similar trouble with my saw and it was compounded with blade breakage. I put it right in the following way

Take the blade right out and dismantle the guide wheel heads. Mine were badly made with cast surfaces that fitted where they touched, re-machine all those so that they can be relied upon to guide the blade correctly. Now stretch a wire or fishing line round the blade wheels with it snugly into the rim groove and rebuild the blade guides.

The aim is to only just support the back of the blade, the wire should therefore just graze those wheels. Take the wire out and refit the blade. Grip it at the low end with a tool makers clamp where it runs out of the guide to twist the blade and set it upright with respect to the vice and held like that refit the side wheels to support it. Next set the guide blocks is to hold the twist before screwing it down to the support beams. Be sure the side wheels allow the blade to run through without gripping it tightly.

Tension the blade to a mid musical tone by plucking the free section at the back of the bow, a dull thud is far too slack it does need to ping.

Tooth count is important. I use 10 tpi for everything other than tube which I cut at 14 tpi. One last point, avoid cutting welds with hard spots, that can take the edge off teeth on one side and lead to curved cuts.

My saw has behaved impeccably after that treatment for more that 8 years now. It has had other problems but not blade throw off or breakage.

Regards Brian

Because if it's tube you are cutting a relatively thin section whose width may be of the same order as the blade tooth spacing. At least, there may be only a few teeth in contact. It's common for the blade to snag and jump off the wheel under those circumstances. If I have to do it I usually support the saw by hand to give only light pressure.

I think the vice is an integral part of the base casting. Though the blade is pulling in the cut so would do the same whatever angle the work were held at eg blade not inline with plane that the arm moves in.

Posted by Robin Graham: "the axis on which the arm swings is not parallel to the vice base".

This was essentially the same problem I had with my Aldi metal bandsaw, which I sent back only a few days after buying it.

I am presently without any metal bandsaw, and my view is that unless a metal bandsaw of this type has at least a few degrees of adjustable sideways tilt at the pivot point, wear between moving parts at the pivot point will eventually cause cuts to stray from dead vertical – that is if they were vertical to begin with, i.e. when the saw was new.

I don't know whether metal bandsaws with adjustable tilt at the pivot point exist, because I've not really looked into it, but if they don't surely they should.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 21/12/2019 02:36:51

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Fundamental rule of Engineering to a price :

If you can’t make it ‘right’ … make it adjustable.

MichaelG.

FWIW.

My bandsaw is a generic 4.5" machine. A failure of the lower bearing and seal (caused by a failed mbearing separator ) I made sure that all the guide rollers were correctly aligned and that the drive and idler wheels mran true, but it still did cut true mor consistently.

I made a tension meter for the blade and since using it it will cut straight, and blades last much longer They now wear out instead of breaking!

But, if I try to force the cut, the blade runs off making a curved cut, just like that shown.

HTH

Howard.

Mine did the same just before the belt snapped, changed to bi metal and fine now.