Set it Up Like a Pro! - 4x6 Bandsaw - Rob's Garage 

Thanks Can5. I've been waiting for someone to notice that! I watched loads of videos on this topic and none of them got it right so I had to do this. I did miss one point however - If you want to adjust the blade to be vertically square to the addon vertical cutting table, you'd need to do that with those two lock nuts behind the bearing holders, and do it before adjusting them to square the blade to the vice. After squaring it up to the vertical table, drop the saw and as the final step, adjust the large vice jaw square to the blade. I'm still enjoying this saw every time I use it.

Yes thus was enlightening. You would have felt so cringe watching me try to adjust the band saw. I couldn't find any good videos for a few tries and finally I got the keywords right to fins THIS. Everything was nice, detailed and cut and n dry. Which is good for adjustments of machinery. I had no experience in this world, now I Wil go fix thus, with diligence .

Thanks Rich - Exactly the kind of comment I need to keep going with this, so I appreciate it.

Yes these are very confusing gadgets to set up aren't they! So just be sure to keep this handy for next time. Thanks for dropping by.

Thanks for the feedback Robin!

Thanks Graham. Glad it was useful!

Hi Paul. Brilliant news that you got your saw up and running :) In later videos you'll often hear me say 'slow cuts are straight cuts'. That's a good rule of thumb to follow once you've got it set up as you have. I sometimes want to push the blade down to speed it up, but I just walk away and do something else instead. Another good tip is to get a blade with fewer teeth for larger solid pieces. Something with half the number of teeth or even a variable tooth blade e.g. 6/10tpi is good to keep on hand. Thanks for the comments!

Thank you for your good advice…I’m not one to speed cut but I didn’t know that a blade with less theeth would cut thick gauge better … so thanks for that I’ll go get a few today:)

@@paulstylie9628 Yes, it's well worth getting one. The metal chips get caught between the teeth inside a longer cut and lift the blade up off the workpiece.

That's great to hear, thanks Mostafa

Excellent. It's a fun tool to use. It'll be perfect for cutting exhaust tubes. You might find you have to control the drop speed with a finger under the end. I think that's why some people make a sort of hydraulic control for it. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback Dave!

Hey that's great news Dave! I'm glad that all worked out. I also need to sort the work holding. I've been holding off doing the usual extended jaw faces that everyone does until I can think of something interesting or smarter. And the other upgrade I still need to sort is a blade with fewer teeth. The 14tpi is just a bit too fine for many things.

@@Ducati900SS - I agree about the blade. Regarding the other mods, I think that they’re worth doing, maybe just not worth doing a video if there are already loads out there.

Thanks Tom!

Definitely.. would be nice if there were an easy method to square it up like that!

And thanks for the comment!

Hi Gumba. That does sound odd. I'm wondering if it has been put together or fixed with parts not meant for it. I'm assuming it was second hand for 70 bucks. See if you can load a video of it to your channel if there's anything I might be able to help with?

@@Ducati900SS I figured it out. The main issue was the guide bearings being loose, combined with a stuffed blade. Once I snugged up the guide bearings I was able to get the blade square to the bed, though it's almost at the end of the range of adjustment. It still cut crooked, and the blade felt like it had less set on the inside than the outside. I replaced that and now it cuts very nicely.

@@Gumbatron01 Excellent, great to hear that worked out. It's still my favorite tool because it saves so much time and is so easy to use.

Hi Bob. I went down to the garage and pulled one of them off the machine just so I can be sure where the offset is. It is at the bearing end of the bolt. The rest of the bolt and the hole in the bracket are otherwise round. I took a photo and uploaded it here: ibb.co/4fRTbpb

Thanks for the comment John, glad it helped!

Hi Kerrin. Thanks for the feedback!. I've done a search and have found 4x6bandsaw@groups.io Is that the place? I'm not in many forums or groups because I make videos here on RU-vid and group owners hate it when people post their videos... so I just have to rely on others posting my content if it fits the discussion. I'll go and have a dig around those discussions. thanks!

@@Ducati900SS Hi Rob, Yes that’s the group. Lots of good discussions etc on these saw & how to get the best from them, & fix issues! Cheers Kerrin

@@kerringalvin1240 Cool, having a browse already!

Hi Brian, great to hear from you. And that's the perfect use for these tools too. The vertical movement is basically built into the hinge of the saw. People will argue with me about this, but if your blade is not faulty or badly broken in, and if you have aligned it so that it does not touch the sides of the slot as it cuts into a workpiece, then it will cut straight. But... you can still make a perfectly aligned saw go off on a tangent by applying too much pressure. Just like when you exert a lot of force on a manual hacksaw, the blade twists... and that often makes us hold the saw on a silly angle to try and get it to cut straight. So, with the big bandsaw, I suggest making a very slow cut as a test. Hold the weight of the upper part with your fingers and just feed it very lightly downwards. Go as slow as you can and see if that gives you a straight cut. Let me know what happens. The idea is that only the edge with the teeth actually cuts anything. The rest of the blade does not. And so long as the blade is not touching the sides, it will only cut directly down in the direction that the main hinge moves it. And the best way to upset that is to put pressure on it. Also, a blade that developed a bad side when it was first used will also want to cut more on the sharp side than the blunt side (I'm referring to how the blade is actually two rows of teeth in parallel). And again, the more pressure is on that blade, the more it'll want to cut off track. But regarding the hinge - In my video above at 17:11 I place a right angle pointing upwards and then I tilt the top part up and down. I didn't really say what I was doing there and it might look like I'm checking the angle of the blade itself, but I'm actually checking to confirm that the top half of the whole unit drops down in alignment with the right angle. If the blade was touching it at one end of the movement and not at the other, it would indicate the hinge was not square. You could check that as well and see what you find. Let me know if this makes sense and then let me know what happens if you check this and also try the super light cut test, Rob

@@Ducati900SS Thanks for your prompt response I had reversed the bracket on the spring tensioner so no weight downwards and was trying very light cuts after the first 1/16" error I reduced it to about half by putting a little offset on the guides (I know its not recommended), I was using the same method as you with the 2" x 3/16" aluminum for the test with a new blade. I repeated it with a 2"x4" piece of timber and it looks ok so maybe the coarse teeth on the blade are biting in too much and causing the problem. I can see the hinge is a very solid casting and is unable to me modified and most unlikely to be damaged in any way. Wish I had done this setup a from the start and i would not have had to face and square 16 x 2" cast iron biscuits for loco wheels to get them sorted as they were previously an 1/8" + out of whack. Brian

Hi, thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Definitely clean it all off. Whatever lubricants the last owner used is going to be all over the blade and the wheels. These saws get very messy very quickly inside the cover and it's worth checking and cleaning it often. One doesn't need to use a lot of greasy lube. Just some CRC/WD40 if the material is sticking to the teeth. If the saw isn't faulty then it should work fine cutting just about anything. Make sure the blade is tight enough, like I show in the video here. Sometimes people with old saws have trouble adjusting them because the bearings are worn out and the wheels can't be aligned. Just be aware of that possible problem as yours is second hand. I'm pretty sure cleaning the blade and wheels and tightening it up will do the trick for you. In my opinion this is the 3rd best workshop tool after the lathe and mill. I put a 100mm cylinder of aluminum on mine the other day and let it cut slowly and lightly.. it took over an hour but the cut was flawless. I always say 'light cuts are straight cuts'. Another thing to know is that thicker material needs fewer teeth on the blade. I still have the 14 tooth blade and it would be quicker if it had half as many teeth. Keep an eye out for a second blade for yours if you're cutting solid blocks. Anyhow.. let me know how you get on with cleaning and adjusting.

​@@Ducati900SS Hello again! Now i have degreased absolutely all, and put on a new blade 10/14. Doing some research what 10/14 means, something as how many theets per inch maybe? its Bi-metall atleast. Its still somethings in europe that .has a fot/inch meassure, like Boats for an example, i have a 30fot boat, its allways fot when talking boat but still we also talk meters at the same time and it that case 30 fot is around 9,3meters haha Here in Scandinavia we are all about millimeters and liters etc. After a gentle "renovation" it didnt do it, at all. Band keept stepping off under pressure, slipping.. adjusting leveling and what i tougth was good tensioning of the blade. One key thing was that i didnt tighten rhe blade well enough, it felt very thight and had a distinct high "tone" to it but i was problably a bit of a coward at the time thinking "well damned it gonna break soon" but now i know better, tighten it more than comfortable realy. I did a whole lot of tinkering with the adjustment of the toppwheel where the only adjustments could be done, the drivewheel is not at all adjustable as i found out... So atleast for now it is working very well, and i upploaded 3 videos on youtube just for you and im linking them bellow here. Where in the Americas are you located? I'm from Stenungsund/Gothenburg Sweden. Thanks for Sharing Your contents, appreciated. Cheers//Alexander part 1 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aowNq1n9V1U.html Part 2 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b5J8V22SBmU.html Part 3 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QeOBGiOtmmM.html

​ @Exxella Those cuts are looking great. That's an interesting variation on the saw as well. The 10/14 means that the blade has both 10 tooth per inch (TPI) sections and 14 tooth sections, allowing it to cut better on larger pieces than just a 14 tooth blade. If you look into TPI numbers you'll discover that the recommended TPI for a given material thickness is a lot lower than one might think e.g. a 25mm rod of steel wants about 6 TPI. I've not been able to find a lower TPI blade here so I'm stuck with the 14 TPI one for now. I put it through a 100mm block of aluminium a couple of weeks ago. Took over an hour but it was a nice cut. Glad to see your saw is cutting nice now. I'm in NZ.. way over on the other side of the world :)

​@@Ducati900SS New Zeeland, thats about 17'770km from Sweden and thats a bit. a good damn long bit.. Did you have it cutting on highest speed on the solid Aluminium i guess? On mine it goes 3 steps, 20 meters/Minute for hard stainless etc. 29 Meters/min for regular mild steel etc. 50 Meters/min for like aluminium and soft as like it. I am still learning about this coldsaw, its a perfekt cut every time at 90 degres but find out now when turning it to cut 45 degees it misses about 1 deegree. Not the worst.. The goal on every cut is to minimize gaps when welding. For me i bought this used and its have not dissapointed me yet, real glad i have it and thankfull for peaople like you, posting. Have 2 new videos upploaded om YT just for you. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wIPYpfek4NE.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-84ALMOtY8a4.html

​@@Exxella Just watching the videos now.... Very good. The saw is looking good. I was cutting everything on the middle speed, but last week I changed it to the 50 m/s speed just to see how it goes. There's always that question about whether one should put a rectangular bar in flat or vertical. The way it cuts is greatly affected by the orientation. I tend to go vertical when I can but I might slow the drop with my finger if it's going too fast. What I really need is a blade with fewer teeth or one with the mixed teeth like you have. It's on my to-buy list! Does the angle really stop hard at the 45 degree setting on yours.. is there no way to move it past that a little? I'm sure you've looked hard of course. In the second video I can see a little stop screw for when you straight it back up again. You'd think it would have something similar at the 45 degrees end. It must hit something and maybe it's something you can file or modify. I was looking at a similar one to yours on the local site and there's a user manual with lots of good data in it (not sure if RU-vid lets me put a link in here): images.machineryhouse.co.nz/products/B003/PDF/B003%20-%20Instructions%20Manual.pdf I'm looking at the exploded parts diagram on page 24 in there. The curved slot in the base seems like the only thing it would hit. Would it b possible to file it a little further.

Hi James. Great to hear you've got one going.. they're such a great tool to have. Now, I know there is disagreement about this in some of the video comments, but in my assessment, the main thing that causes a blade to veer off course is a combination of an unevenly broken-in blade, and too much pressure. This assumes that your saw is otherwise perfect and that the blade is adjusted to be vertical and doesn't touch the sides of the slot as it cuts in. If you have a completely fresh blade, you can test this by holding the upper saw with your fingers as it drops and only letting it do an extremely light cut, with very slight pressure. If it cuts straight then that was the problem. Also - when the blade cuts under its own weight, the cutting pressure changes quite a lot depending on the shape and orientation of the workpiece. You'll notice that cutting a tube starts slowly then and speeds up a lot and then slows again at the end. The fast part of the cut is where it will veer off if the blade has any uneven wear or too much pressure. So I'm not sure what the issue is with your one, but consider those points before trying to correct the cut by twisting the blade off-vertical. Another area I've noticed where people have trouble on old or well-used saws is the hinge/rod/axle wears out the holes that it sits in in the chassis. Check if there is any slop.. even the slightest movement of the upper saw to the front or rear. It has to be a tight fit without any knocking. That could cause the sort of change in the cut that you're seein. Let me know what you find out after some further investigations. Rob

@@Ducati900SS excellent! Thank you for the reply. That gives me quite a few things to try. I think i’ll start with the spring. It feels like it could use more tension and it’s at the tightness position. I have two new blades as well. The gentleman who owned the saw before me had extras but I reinstalled the same blade since it was still sharp. That sound like the culprit. When the sun rises I’ll let you know what i find out 👍

@@Ducati900SS alrighty!! You’re the bandsaw king! I checked the axle first thing and it was good to go. No slop and moved freely. It could probably use some grease. After I made sure it was something I could repair I went to town… again heh. I got a new blade on there, turned the bracket around on the spring tensioner(for the arm travel speed) and after that the guides were waaaay off. I readjusted those and broke in the blade using your tutorial. I wish I could say it’s completely solved but wow! You would be hard pressed to to scrutinize the cut. It’s good enough that a hand file can finish off the trueness. Absolutely awesome! This saw will be instrumental in my next project, a Crosskart chassis. I have an abrasive wheel chop-saw, but this is such a better option. I couldn’t be more happy with this machine now. You rock 🤘🏽

Great to hear it's better. Light cuts are key to keeping it all on track. I had a look at a crosscart just now... looks like lot of fun! :)

Hi and thanks for the tips. It is correct as I stated, that the angle of the blade does not set the angle of the cut. This is because the cut is made by only one edge of the blade, the one with the teeth. That said, it requires that several other things are also correct and true at the same time. and I didn't make this clear in the video. I'll just put some further info here below because I know that more than a few people will, and have, questioned this. First, to cut straight ahead, the blade must be correctly broken-in. Even the slightest uneven tooth wear will cause the blade to cut on one side. It's very easy to cause this issue on a new blade with just a single overzealous cut. The blade has two parallel lines of teeth and if they are not 100% even then it's going to bias to one side forever-after. The second thing is that the blade section that is beyond the teeth must not touch the sides of the slot as it cuts in. It it touches the sides then it will obviously veer off-course as it gets into the workpiece. And If one's blade is uneven or the saw has some other fault, then one might be able to use the rollers to counter the problem, but it is still a fault and should not be the basis of the initial adjustment. The final thing that greatly affects the cutting angle is the cutting pressure. We've all done handheld hacksaw cuts where we end up holding the saw on an angle to try and straighten the cut. What we're really doing there is cutting too hard, and with a blade that is long-since unevenly worn. In my opinion, most minor cutting angle problems are caused by both issues; the blade wear and cutting pressure. And yes, one could use blade angle to try and counter a problem, but technically that's fixing a fault with another fault. I'm not saying you're not getting the outcome you wanted with your adjustment, because it worked and that is therefore good. I'm just speaking technically about the issue. It's all very similar to how use Ducati bevel owners are always trying to fix one problem by adjusting something else... e.g. change jets to fix a worn choke slider. So my attitude to adjustments is to always go back to as-new and as-designed and then take it from there. We can note that in my video here, the cuts I made were instantly perfect, with no further calibration, and have been ever since. I am very careful with cutting pressure and make slow cuts to keep it like this. I think many wouldn't be prepared to go as slow as I tend to, but I've got time to waste on it and enjoy watching it cut. In the video I only touched very briefly on this after making that point and I should have explained further. I could do that in another video if people start throwing rotten food at me :) Thanks for the comments!

@@Ducati900SS Thats a very long winded post and I can assure you the angle of the cutting blade as installed in the saw DOES matter and it is not a matter of opinion but that of fact. If you were cutting steel with a manual hacksaw and tilted the saw off plumb what would you expect to happen to the cut angle? Smae thing with the blade in these saws. Your video is none the less fantastic and one of the better ones out there for sure. This is not to be taken as critisim but rather pointing out what helped me and may help others with this issue in the future

@@WEEChannel-in4wi No worries at all. Let's leave the posts here for people to read and make up their own minds about. And thanks for the comments, Rob.

Hi Kev, yes these are such great tools. Didn't think I would buy one until I wasted money on the handheld version. The 4x6 is exactly the tool one needs to go with a lathe and mill. Regarding the capacitor - I've gone down and removed the cover and taken a photo for you with all the details - See if this loads for you, or let me know if it doesn't: tinyurl.com/23smr9kr And regarding my video series here - I think the best mods I did are the vertical table, the vice jaw lock (of which there is a recent shorter video where I remade it), the simple spring tension mod and the 90 degree fence stop. The adjustment video here is also good. Most RU-vidrs get it wrong, and even I missed a bit in this one, but the points I've made about setting up the bearing and blade are all still good. Oh, and my chip tray is simple and as someone said 'elegant' and I agree with that :) Others also do a good mod where they extend the vice fences to hold shorter pieces closer to the blade. I haven't done that yet, but am considering it. I also think any owner should get a blade with fewer teeth, about 6-8tpi. It becomes worthwhile for cutting anything bigger than a thumb. And I subscribed to you from your other comment... let me know how you get on with your bandsaw, Rob

I just reread your comment - Let me know if I've got the wrong capacitor there in the photo. It was right there on the side of the case so I took it to be the one you were after?

@@Ducati900SS brilliant Rob i got the photo, thank you very much for taking the time and trouble for this, it's helped me a lot. Very much appreciated.👍👍👍👍 I'm working my way through your videos. Regards Kev

@@Ducati900SS There's sometimes 2 on the side of case on some motors, so if you only have the one it will be correct for the start capacitor, Some motors have 2 a start and a run capacitor, the start one is the larger Micro Farrads one cheers👍👍👍👍👍👍 Kev

@@MrFactotum Ok good stuff. Anything else, just let me know!

Hi Jorge, that's no good! What happens that makes the cuts bad? It would have to be out of adjustment or it might have a bad blade? Also, too much force or pressure on the blade makes bad cuts.

Not really all that surprised to hear you've had this issue. They are cheaply made tools in the end. Mine had that problem where there wasn't enough casting material in the vice jaw and there was no way it could have been adjusted to work with machining it down as I did. If I didn't have a mill at that point, I would have to have taken it back to the store. Good reason to buy local too if possible. Let me know if your replacement one works (assuming you're getting one).

Hi Jeffrey, thanks for the comments. Can you go here and then click the button that says View Email Address - www.youtube.com/@Ducati900SS/about Another person had trouble with it but for others it works. Let me know what happens.

heh yes, good point. I'm just not used to it yet. I'll make an effort to remember that one!

Hi Marco. The blade on my one is 1640mm long and 12-13mm wide. There shouldn't be any squealing or metal dust at all from the blade touching the flange. In fact, the blade should be able to run nicely on the wheels without even touching the flange, but of course you will want it to just barely rest against it. If the top wheel has to be adjusted or tilted so far back that the scrapes the flange so badly just to stay on, I would suspect that the bottom wheel is not straight. Can you examine the bottom one and see if you think it might be crooked, possibly a badly worn out bearing, or bent or broken axle mount? That wheel doesn't usually have adjustments like the top and if it is not straight and square, it will definitely throw the blade off. Let me know what you find out.

Note also that the motor mount could be bent. The metal is not very strong on some of these tools.

ok, I think I can guess what's happening. The button formats the address as an HTML email link. I imagine this would fail to work if a phone or other device hasn't got an email client configured to use a mailto link. So what I've done is add the email in the main text on the About page. Grab it from there and we'll see if that works.

I've also put the email in the description panel on this video. I'll let you know if I receive something there.

Haven't seen anything in the mailbox. What are you seeing when you look for the email address? It's there in the description panel above.

Saying improper email

@@jeffreyboatright6919 Is that message in a bounced email that you get back after sending one to the address or are you seeing that somewhere before you even send. If you put your email into your RU-vid About page, I can go and send one to that.