Blade Breakage
Many conditions may cause a bandsaw blade to break. Blade breakage is unavoidable, in some cases, since it is the natural result of the peculiar stresses that bandsaw blades must endure. Blade breakage is also due to avoidable circumstances. Avoidable blade breakage is most often the result of poor care or judgement on the part of the operator when mounting or adjusting the blade or support guides.
The most common causes of blade breakage are:
•Faulty alignment or adjustment of the blade guides.
•Forcing or twisting a wide blade around a short radius.
•Feeding the workpiece too fast.
•Dull or damaged teeth.
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•Top blade guide assembly set too high above the workpiece. Adjust the top blade guide assembly so that there is approximately 1⁄4" between the bottom of the assembly and the workpiece.
•Using a blade with a lumpy or improperly fin- ished braze or weld.
•Continuously running the bandsaw when not in use.
•Leaving the blade tensioned when not in use.
•Using the wrong pitch (TPI) for the workpiece thickness. The general rule of thumb is to have at least three teeth in contact with the workpiece at all times during cutting.
Blade Care &
Break-In
Blade Care
A bandsaw blade is a delicate piece of steel that is subjected to tremendous strain. A blade will last longer if you give it fair treatment and always use the appropriate feed rate for your operation.
Be sure to select blades with the proper width, set, type, and pitch for each application. Using the wrong blade often produces unnecessary heat and shortens the life of the blade.
A clean blade performs much better than a dirty blade. Dirty or gummed up blades pass through the cutting material with much more resistance than clean blades. This extra resistance also causes unnecessary heat.
Blade Break-In
The sharp teeth tips and edges of a new blade are extremely sharp, and cutting at too fast of a feed rate may fracture the beveled edges of the teeth and cause premature blade wear.
To properly break-in a new blade:
1.Choose the correct speed for the blade and material of the operation.
2.Reduce the feed pressure by half for the first
3.To avoid twisting the blade when cutting, reduce the feed pressure when the total width of the blade is in the cut.
4.Use the Chip Inspection Chart on Page 23 to check the blade efficiency.
