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Blade Breakage
Many conditions may cause a bandsaw blade to
break. Some of these conditions are unavoidable
and are the natural result of the stresses placed
on the bandsaw; other causes of blade breakage
are avoidable.
The most common causes of avoidable blade
breakage are:
•
Faulty alignment or adjustment of the blade
guides.
•
Feeding blade through the workpiece too
fast.
•
Dull or damaged teeth.
•
Improperly-tensioned blade.
•
Left blade guide assembly set too far from the
workpiece. Adjust left blade guide assembly
as close to workpiece as possible.
•
Using a blade with a lumpy or improperly fin-
ished braze or weld.
•
Leaving the blade tensioned when not in use.
•
Using the wrong blade pitch (TPI) for the
workpiece thickness. The general rule of
thumb is to have no fewer than three teeth
in contact with the workpiece when starting a
cut and at all times during cutting.
-30-
Blade Care &
Break-In
Blade Care
To prolong blade life, always use a blade with the
proper width, set, type, and pitch for each applica-
tion. Maintain the appropriate feed rate and blade
speed, and pay attention to the chip characteris-
tics (Refer to Blade Speed Chart on Page 32 and
Chip Inspection Chart on Page 33). Keep your
blades clean, since dirty or gummed up blades
pass through the cutting material with much more
resistance than clean blades, causing unneces-
sary heat.
Blade Break-In
The tips and edges of a new blade are extremely
sharp. Cutting at too fast of a feed rate or too
slow of a blade speed can fracture these tips and
edges, quickly dulling the blade. Properly break-
ing in a blade allows these sharp edges to wear
without fracturing, thus keeping the blade sharp
longer. Below is a typical break-in procedure. For
aftermarket blades, refer to the manufacturer's
break-in procedure to keep from voiding the
warranty.
Use the Chip Inspection Chart on Page 33 as
a guide to evaluate the chips and ensure that the
optimal blade speed and feed rate are being used.
To properly break in new blade:
1.
Choose correct speed for blade and material
type.
2.
Reduce feed rate by half for first 50–100 in
of material cut.
3.
To avoid twisting blade when cutting, adjust
feed rate when total width of blade is in cut.
Model G0887 (Mfd. Since 01/19)
2
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