Bandsaw cutting skew - HELP

[garage nut]

1) Arm seems to be swinging square to the table. I will replace the blade with a piece of wire to take out the effect of the set of the teeth.
2) Not sure how tight the blade should be. For now it is fairly tight. How do you measure?
3) No additional weight on the blade, just the weight of the arm assembly. I have turner the spring tensioner right down.
4) I do not have any other blades apart from the one I got with the machine.
5) I took the blade guides apart and cleaned everything before re-assembling as per a YouTube suggestion.
6) Will take photo of the vice tonight.

Thanks so long

[dbeierl]

1) Arm seems to be swinging square to the table. I will replace the blade with a piece of wire to take out the effect of the set of the teeth.

Make sure also that the blade itself is square to the table. Remember that the guide rollers have to twist it, so roller clearance will have an effect.

2) Not sure how tight the blade should be. For now it is fairly tight. How do you measure?

Long ago I read 25000 psi blade tension. For a blade that's .025x0.5 inch, that would mean 625 lb/285 kg tension.

3) No additional weight on the blade, just the weight of the arm assembly. I have turner the spring tensioner right down.

Replacing the spring setup by a small hydraulic cylinder and needle valve is a good thing. With the spring, it tends to bounce at the weld, and then pretty soon it knocks a tooth off which makes the bounce worse which knocks another tooth off etc.

4) I do not have any other blades apart from the one I got with the machine.

You'll be needing some, or some blade stock and a brazing jig. And of course if it's the blade that's cutting sideways it won't stop until you change it.