I need a re-sawer

[jhelfer]

I have a new project that will require me to re-saw some 3/4" thick lyptus to 1/4" pieces. maybe 3-4" in width, not much longer.

I guess I have a choice between using a BT3100 table saw or a 12" Delta band saw.

I tried to resaw something on a band saw once, and the results were pretty disastrous.

Any advice as to how to set this up in my shop? I would definetely apreciated it.

[final_t]

You can resaw on the TS with that, and if you only have a few 1/4" pieces to make, I personally would suggest it since the edge finish will be a lot better than a bandsaw, since your wood is only 3/4" thick.

Setup: Make a featherboard for the sliding table (lock the table down) so it keeps the pressure on the piece against the fence. Set the fence for the 1/4" thick cut, and make **** well sure you are NOT in the line of fire when the cut completes, because it's probably doing to kick back. You can avoid this by making an aux fence to clamp onto your existing fence that ends right at the tip of the sawblade so that when the wood falls free it doesn't get picked up by the blade and tossed at you.

[drumpriest]

jhelfer, where in pittsburgh are ya?? I could probably lend some first hand advise, send me a PM.

Your band saw is the best tool for doing this. First thing is get the right blade for it. A 1/2" 3 TPI quality blade from Olsen or Timberwolf will make short work of the task. Also setting up a fence on the bandsaw can be tricky, as it involves measuring drift. A tall fence clamped to your bandsaw table, set to the blade drift angle can make extremely good resaw cuts.

[LCHIEN]

I have a new project that will require me to re-saw some 3/4" thick lyptus to 1/4" pieces. maybe 3-4" in width, not much longer.

I guess I have a choice between using a BT3100 table saw or a 12" Delta band saw.

I tried to resaw something on a band saw once, and the results were pretty disastrous.

Any advice as to how to set this up in my shop? I would definetely apreciated it.

resaw with a TS and you'll lose nearly 1/4" of wood to kerf.
resaw with a badnsaw, you'll loose a lot less but still only get 2 1/4" pieces from 3/4" to start.

[jhelfer]

Also setting up a fence on the bandsaw can be tricky, as it involves measuring drift.

I noticed the "drift" on the band saw as I was ruining a piece of wood

Not sure what I haveto do to deal with it though. Actually, the band saw is pretty new, I'm not even sure I have the blade adjusted properly. It's the stock 1/4" blade though. I understand that the 1/" blades are recomended for resawing.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I noticed the "drift" on the band saw as I was ruining a piece of wood

Not sure what I haveto do to deal with it though. Actually, the band saw is pretty new, I'm not even sure I have the blade adjusted properly. It's the stock 1/4" blade though. I understand that the 1/" blades are recomended for resawing.

Drift occurs on all bandsaws. You have to compensate in your fence setting.

Good news, the 1/4" stock blade would be about the darn worst thing you could use. You can't fit a 1" blade on your saw. As suggested the 1/2" Timberwolf or Olsen with 3 TPI (teeth per inch) will breeze through lyptus.

I would definately take dumpriest up on the excellent offer. It's not that tough, but an experienced person sure could shorten the learning curve.

[bigsteel15]

jhelfer, where in pittsburgh are ya?? I could probably lend some first hand advise, send me a PM.

You guys are all very lucky. I can't think of anybody, except maybe some in remote areas of the upper midwest states and Alaska who doesn't have at least one other BT3er within 1 hour driving distance.
I know they sell them here, but I haven't seen another in Alberta, nevermind Edmonton. One newbie in Calgary I think, but that's 3 hours away.

If someone knows different, let me know.

[gjbivin]

I noticed the "drift" on the band saw as I was ruining a piece of wood

Not sure what I haveto do to deal with it though. Actually, the band saw is pretty new, I'm not even sure I have the blade adjusted properly. It's the stock 1/4" blade though. I understand that the 1/" blades are recomended for resawing.

Most 14" bandsaws can't really handle 3/4" or thicker blades. I use a TimberWolf 1/2" blade to resaw, and have had good results, even with thin cuts.

For resawing, I made a fence that clamps to the BS table. Two pieces of 3/4" ply, one 3" wide and the other 6" wide, and length the same as the BS table width. Glued and screwed together at as close to a right angle as I could measure, and added a couple of triangular braces for strength. I use two 6" clamps to fasten it to the table, with the vertical face of the fence at the distance from the blade teeth that I want.

It's best to determine the angle of drift for the blade by cutting a straight line down a piece of scrap and noting the angle that you have to feed it in order to follow the line. This is the angle that you should set the fence across the table so the blade will track the cut properly. In my experience, it doesn't have to be exact, but should be within a couple of degrees.

Cut the piece about 1/16" thicker than desired so that you can run it through the planer or sand it to the final thickness. If your BS cuts are straight and relatively smooth, you might be able to get by with 1/32" extra.