Blade Lead - Grizzly G0580 Owner's Manual

Blade Lead

Bandsaw blades may wander off the cut line
when sawing, as shown in the figure below. This
is called blade lead.
Blade lead is usually caused by too fast of a
feed rate, a dull or abused blade, or improper
blade tension. If your blade is sharp/undamaged,
properly tensioned, and you still have blade lead,
perform the following procedures.
Figure 66. Example of blade lead.
To correct blade lead:
1.
Make sure the blade is properly tensioned
and the blade guides are adjusted correctly.
2.
Use less pressure when feeding the workpiece
through the cut—this will reduce the feed
rate.
3.
Make sure the miter slot and fence are paral-
lel to the blade line (see the Aligning Table
and Aligning Fence procedures in this man-
ual for detailed information).
4. If after Steps 1–3 there is still blade lead
present, compensate for this condition by
skewing the fence or shifting the table, as
instructed in the following procedures.
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To skew your fence:
1. Cut a piece of scrap wood approximately
thick x 3" wide x 17" long. On the wide face of
the board, draw a straight line parallel to the
long edge.
2. Slide the bandsaw fence out of the way and
cut halfway through the board on the line by
pushing it into the blade. Turn the bandsaw
OFF and wait for the blade to stop. Do not
move the board.
3.
Clamp the board to the bandsaw table, then
slide the fence over to the board so it barely
touches one end of the board.
4.
Use a 4mm hex wrench to loosen the four
fence adjustment cap screws on top of the
fence, skew the fence so that it is parallel
with the scrap piece, then re-tighten the cap
screws.
5.
Make a few cuts using the fence.
— If blade lead is still present, repeat Steps
1–4 until the blade and fence are parallel
with each other.
— Or, shift the table, as instructed in the fol-
lowing procedure.
To shift the table:
1.
On a scrap piece of wood, mark a line that is
perpendicular to the front edge.
2.
Cut halfway through the board on the line by
pushing it into the blade.
3. Turn the bandsaw OFF and wait for the blade
to stop.
4.
Disconnect the bandsaw from power, then
loosen the six hex bolts underneath the table
that secure it to the trunnion brackets.
5.
Shift the table to compensate for the blade
lead, re-tighten the hex bolts, then re-connect
the bandsaw to power.
6. Repeat Steps 1–5 until there is no longer any
blade lead.
Model G0580 (Mfd. Since 11/06)
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