The Band Saw: Parts, Capacities, Blades and Setup

The blade is a steel loop. The lower wheel drives it, the upper wheel tensions and steers it, and guides above and below the table hold it straight where it cuts. Because the teeth cut downward, the work is pressed onto the table rather than lifted. That makes the machine good at curves, at ripping and at resawing — standing a board on edge and slicing it into thinner boards. Grizzly's 14 in manual lists straight cuts, miters, angles, resawing, ripping, crosscuts, curves, circles and duplicate parts among its work. The saws in this guide are woodworking machines: Grizzly's manual says its saw is for wood and wood products, not metal, glass or stone, and the handheld portable band saws sold for metal are a different tool with slow, bi-metal blades.

The size a band saw is sold by — 9, 10, 14 or 15 in — is its wheel class. Two capacities matter more. The throat is the distance across from the blade to the frame, which limits how wide a piece can pass to the left of the blade. The resaw or cutting height is the clearance up from the table to the raised upper guides, which limits how tall a board can be cut on edge. They do not follow each other, as two Grizzly saws sold as 14 in show.

• Wheel size is not a ranking. A bigger wheel class goes with a bigger frame, but the table above shows a 14 in saw with 6 in of resaw height and another with 14 in. Blade maker Suffolk does report shorter blade life on two-wheel saws with wheels smaller than 14 in — one stress among several, with tension, thickness and speed.
• Blade length belongs to the saw. Grizzly says lengths are usually unique to each brand and the distance between wheels, and gives a range as narrow as 3/8 in. Olson's formula from wheel radii and centres is for a saw whose manual gives no length.
• Blade speed is surface feet per minute, not rpm. The G0555LX's motor turns at 1725 rpm and its blade runs at 1800 or 3100 FPM, its two speeds; Olson computes speed as rpm × wheel diameter in inches × 0.262. Use the maker's published figure where there is one.
• Widths have limits at both ends. Each saw states the narrowest and widest blade it takes — 3/8 in on the 9 in G0803, 1 in on the PM1500. Blades are explained in band saw blades.

These three are set in order, with the saw unplugged, every time a blade goes on. Tension stretches the blade: Grizzly and Powermatic both put a scale on the upper wheel indexed to blade width, and both call it an approximate or initial setting. Grizzly then fine-tunes it by a flutter or a deflection method; Powermatic tells you to note the setting that works for each blade. Tracking is where the blade rides on the wheels, adjusted by tilting the upper wheel while it is turned by hand: centred on the crown on Grizzly's crowned wheels, the centre of the tire on Powermatic's, the centre of the wheels on Rikon's. Guides keep the blade from twisting and being pushed back, and makers set them differently — lightly touching the blade on Grizzly's G0555LX, about 0.004 in away on Powermatic's saws, within 1/32 in on Rikon's. The procedures, maker by maker, are in how to use a band saw.

Most saws come with a rip fence and a miter gauge; Grizzly's manuals say whether the fence can be adjusted for blade lead and whether a resaw attachment is included, and Powermatic's PM1500 has a tall fence plate and a resaw pin. Tables tilt for bevels, to 45° on each saw whose tilt is listed here; the G0555LX and PWBS-14CS also tilt 10° the other way. For dust, ports run from 2 in on the 9 in benchtop to two 4 in ports on the G0817. Two makers state a minimum airflow at the port — 400 CFM for the G0555LX, 350 CFM for the PWBS-14CS — and Grizzly warns not to confuse that with a collector's rating. Dust collection does not make a saw safe; its guards and the way it is used do.

• Run the saw only with the blade guard in place and the wheel covers closed.
• Set the upper guides close to the work — the makers' figures run from just clear (Grizzly) to about 1/4 in (Rikon).
• Let the blade reach full speed before cutting; never start with the work touching the blade.
• Keep hands out of line with the blade; use push sticks or blocks for small or narrow pieces.
• Turn the saw off and wait for the blade to stop before backing out of a cut or clearing scraps; never slow the blade with a hand or the work.
• Unplug the saw to change blades and for every adjustment except where its manual says otherwise.

• Blades: band saw blades and choosing a blade.
• Using the saw: band saw safety, how to use a band saw and band saw projects.
• Choosing a saw: any band saw, a benchtop band saw and a portable band saw.
• Stock: the lumber guide, choosing lumber and reading grain. Other saws: the table saw guide and, for curves by hand, the coping saw guide.