I bought an old 10 inch Craftsman bandsaw. It gets the job done but I stink at cutting straight lines. I have watched some videos on making a fence but was curious if any of you have your own and what was your experience. Thanks.

A fence can be any piece of straight material clamped to the table. Mine is a 3" high piece of 1/2" Baltic Birch ply attached to a 2" wide piece for clamping. Unless you are very lucky, you'll need to angle your fence to account for drift. 

 to gauge the drift, strike a straight line on a sufficiently long (24" should do it) flat piece of 3/4 X 6" material and cut to the line for about 10-12 inches. You'll likely need to skew the material right or left to maintain your line. Stop cutting at about 10-12 inches, maintaining the boards angle. Shut off the saw. Holding the just cut piece in place, set your fence to match that angle. 

But....before any of the above, watch this video to properly tune the saw.

PS..I added tags to your post. We like to see those as they help others who may be searching for the same info.

Edited June 28, 20206 yr by Gene Howe

Thanks Gene good information. I have watch that video a few times. I need to watch it again as my blade snapped the other day while I was using it. No damage done other than a bit in my shorts 😉. 
 

thanks on the tags. I have not been on a forum that uses them. I appreciate it.

Edited June 28, 20206 yr by KevTN

19 minutes ago, KevTN said:

Thanks Gene good information. I have watch that video a few times. I need to watch it again as my blade snapped the other day while I was using it. No damage done other than a bit in my shorts 😉. 
 

thanks on the tags. I have not been on a forum that uses them. I appreciate it.

Blade breaks do get your attention, don't they? 

With that 10" saw I doubt if you will be able to use a fence for it will be like impossible to get the saw tuned up to use a fence...

  When using a fence and it is not set perfect the straight edge will cause the blade to go crazy.....

My 12 " Sears saw only uses small blades and I have never bought a 1/2" blade and don't think the guides will go that big..

 The 9 " band saw I have  is so small I have to do all the cutting free handed and with practice this might be your best route to go on yours....

  What size blades are you using.

Here goes my newbieism the blade that broke I think it was 1/2” I have a small 1/4” on it now that came with it. I can measure in a bit.

Some say an inch makes a difference. However, the Shopsmith is only an 11" saw and, accepts a fence readily. But, without the Carter guides resawing was a supreme hassle. ..for me, anyway. 

Try to get the blade so it runs in the middle of the wheels.... Then you have a blade that is running straight up and down when it enters the wood. This is how a blade is made but when a person has it set to run on the edge of the wheels is when it will not go straight through the wood...

I could never get my Taiwanese bandsaw to cut straight using a standard fence. I made a pivot point "fence" that works pretty good but it's not perfect. Set it so the blade teeth are aligned with the center of the pivot and clamp it to the table.

 

 

 

 

Kevin, the saw should have two sets of guides on it....one set above table and one set below.  Most are about 1/4” square.  Make sure these are near the side of the blade.  If not, the blade will walk on you.

6 minutes ago, Ron Dudelston said:

Kevin, the saw should have two sets of guides on it....one set above table and one set below.  Most are about 1/4” square.  Make sure these are near the side of the blade.  If not, the blade will walk on you.

I have used a dollar bill as a spacer for the blade guides.

Before my bandsaw got upgraded with the Carter guides, I'd cut some oak to use as guides. Soaked them in used oil and ran them fairly tight against the blade. Worked pretty good. 

Good information everyone. Thank you for taking the time to give the information.

On 6/28/2020 at 9:19 AM, Gene Howe said:

Blade breaks do get your attention, don't they? 

My Shopsmith Belt Sander belt popped yesterday.   Fortunately, they don't have much mass.

2 hours ago, kmealy said:

My Shopsmith Belt Sander belt popped yesterday.   Fortunately, they don't have much mass.

Musta been an old one. Or a cheap one. Never had one come apart on me. 

I've had several band saw blades pop on me.  They don't normally hurt.  It simply just spill out of the top part.  Of course all the ones I had to pop were small ones.  And, it is only running at 750 rpm.  I wonder if I turned it up a bit would it cut faster or worse?  

 

BTW, Gene, where did you get your Carter guides and how difficult to retrofit?

Edited July 12, 20206 yr by FlGatorwood

11 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

I've had several band saw blades pop on me.  They don't normally hurt.  It simply just spill out of the top part.  Of course all the ones I had to pop were small ones.  And, it is only running at 750 rpm.  I wonder if I turned it up a bit would it cut faster or worse?  

 

BTW, Gene, where did you get your Carter guides and how difficult to retrofit?

Got them from Carter. I bought two different sets. One for doing scroll work and one for regular stuff. Changing out wasn't difficult at all. Took about an hour, IIRC.  They make a world of difference. 

I will vote with Gene on the Carter guides. Even with a kinked blade they still give a pretty fair cut, with good blade it is amazing. Mine came from Rockler when they had a sale on.

Roller bearings make far more sense to me than cool blocks.  Those blocks seem as if they would provide more resistance to the blade while a bearing would have minimal resistance.  I will investigate that soon.  

@KevTN,

Which Craftsman saw are you using? Some of the older ones had fences available for them.

I'll be adapting a table saw fence to fit my old Delta 10" bandsaw, and scroll saw. They both use the same size table.