Grizzly G0561 - Manual (Page 29)

g0561 7" x 12" Metal-Cutting Bandsaw
-27-
figure 35. Feed rate dial.
Feed rate dial
on/oFF valve
5. With the correct saw blade and blade speed
selected, turn the saw and lubricant pump
ON.
6. open the on/oFF valve, then slowly rotate
the feed rate dial clockwise to a slow feed
rate until the saw begins to cut the workpiece
(see
figure 35).
7. observe the chips that exit the cut, and
increase or decrease the feed rate according
to the chip characteristics.
— if you get a tightly curled, warm shavings,
brown to black in color, you are using too
much downward pressure.
— Blue looking chips are caused by extreme
heat from too high blade speed.
— thin powder-like chips are from insufficient
feed pressure. this will dull your blade rap-
idly.
— the best cut and feed rate will give you
evenly shaped spiraled curls with very little
color change, if any at all.
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 circumstances.
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.
• Feeding the workpiece too fast.
• dull or damaged teeth.
• over-tensioned blade.
• Blade guide assembly set too far away
from the workpiece. Adjust the blade guide
assembly approximately
1 ⁄
4
" away from 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.
the general rule of thumb is to have at least
three teeth in contact with the workpiece at all
times during cutting.