Grizzly G0513X2 - Manual (Page 49)

G0513 Series Bandsaws
-47-
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 circum-
stances. 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.
• over-tensioned blade.
• top blade guide assembly set too high above
the workpiece. adjust the top blade guide
assembly so that there is approximately
1 ⁄
8
"– 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 not less than two teeth in contact with
the workpiece at all times during cutting.
Blade care &
Break-In
Blade care
a bandsaw blade is a thin piece of steel that is
subjected to tremendous strain. you can obtain
longer use from a bandsaw blade 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 will produce unnecessary heat and
shorten the life of the blade.
a clean blade will perform 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 fractures the beveled edges of the teeth and
causes 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
50–100 in 2 of material cut.
3. to avoid twisting the blade when cutting,
adjust the feed pressure when the total width
of the blade is in the cut.