24TPI Bandsaw blade experiments

The blade arrived and I've fitted it. I've spotted a neat trick for measuring the tension of the blade, which involves clamping calliper jaws to the blade and measuring the stretch as the blade is tensioned. here for example. I haven't bothered with this yet.

I've tried cutting a few different materials. In all cases, it leaves characteristic vertical groves on the work. On solid pine and MDF, this is very fine: A tiny bit of sanding and it's gone. This is also true of aluminium angle. The 8mm aluminium rod is a little more noticeable. 3mm polycarbonate or acrylic is pretty rough. Not really sure what the cause is.

Another thing I've discovered about this saw is the t-track for the mitre guide isn't standard, so it's also not possible to buy an after market mitre gauge. That's a shame, because the provided one isn't great.

What I'm working on now is a sort of sliding table. I've cut down a strip of hardwood to fit in the mitre slot, and glued it onto a piece of MDF. On top of this, I'll add some t-slots parallel to the cut with more MDF between them. I've used this one before: 9.5mm thick, neatly matching a layer of '9mm' MDF. Unfortunately it's out of stock which is the usual story with UJK Technology. The value is too good! The idea is to use hold down clamps to hold work in place while it's cut. They are also out of stock! Perhaps this will result in smooth cuts, or perhaps I'll have to make the improved blade guide.



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