Breaking bandsaw blades

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Graham's Blade tension meter is a much neater product than mine, but based on the one made and documented by Jacques.

The meter is clamped to the blade, before any tension is applied. Tension is increased until the DTI shows, FROM MEMORY, 0.05 to 0.07 mm extension.

Since using this technique, blades have lasted so much longer, and the cuts are more accurate.

I commend the device, and careful alignment to all readers.

Howard

[egaParticipant @ega]

Posted by Brian Wood on 04/12/2019 13:01:06:

I tension my blades to get a musical note on the long length down the back of the bow. A 'thud' is no good nor are notes in the high violin range.

There are numerous mobile apps which might help in finding the right pitch in between.

I have my own H&V saw set up so that one turn of the tensioning screw takes the blade from relaxed to correctly tensioned. This action is always coupled with turning the power (at the wall) on or off as appropriate which helps to avoid starting untensioned; as you rightly say, running untensioned will cause problems but I am not clear whether relaxing the blade actually helps to prolong its life.

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