Changing Band Saw Blades

Came in today, and found the bandsaw so far out of adjustment it was screeching the moment it was turned on. It appears that somebody changed the blade and did a poor job of adjusting the band saw to the new blade. It was over tensioned the guilds where in the wrong place, and the table was slightly out of true.

If you don’t know how to use a tool spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with it’s operation, or don’t do it. Otherwise you could end up damaging it, the blade, yourself, or all three.

Here’s a quick video on how to adjust a bandsaw with a new blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE9IrZGs3SM

Yea it sucks trying to figure something out yourself and having to guess on things when the warden reacts “petty” (I am quoting here) to questions and makes someone uncomfortable going to them for help. So all they have to go off of is a quick few minute explanation from someone who is in a hurry and a few youtube videos that dont always give a good explaination.

It is everybody’s personal responsibility to make sure that they do not accidentally damage the tools and equipment. If you do not feel comfortable finding a method to educate yourself enough to avoid breaking things, please avoid using the equipment until you do.

Please do not damage the bandsaw again.

Andrew, first you dont have the authority to tell someone to not use a hive owned tool. Second how was it damaged? Misalignment isnt damage. I followed an instruction from YouTube, you know the site you recommended…
Third maybe if you werent being a bully that same day, i may have asked for more help. So my advice is if you cant fullfill your duties to help people as a warden politely, step down.

I think Andrew ASKED, as in “Please don’t use a tool if you don’t know how to use it,”
I think that’s a general statement to everyone, YOU were not mentioned.

“If you do not feel comfortable finding a method to educate yourself enough to avoid breaking things, please avoid using the equipment until you do.”

Misalignment CAN break a tool if it’s used too long in that manner, it can cause repeated stress in metals that can fatigue and cause early breakage. Plus the extra wear and tear on the individual parts (bearings, gears, guides, etc)

If you choose to use a tool and break it… or (Grethor forbid) get hurt, then that’s bad all around for everyone. A broken tool needs to be repaired, (if it can be) and YOU getting hurt could be a lot worse! I know you’re self employed now, and I know (personal experience) that there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t covered (insurance) or has to be paid up front, plus that whole deductable thing.

We have some tools that need certification, specifically to reduce the danger of people getting hurt or tools getting damaged/out of alignment. The bandsaw isn’t one of them, but it’s still a tool that is dangerous. You CAN get hurt from it.

I understand the desire to use something when you want to. But I ask myself what is so urgent to me, that I would persist in using a tool if I was not sure about the setup.

Nancy

Nancy the point is it wasn’t damaged, at worse it was misaligned, so this is Andrew making a mountain out of a molehill (Quote: “Please do not damage the bandsaw again.”) This wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t bullying in the first place. People including myself should not have to goto youtube to get a generic explanation of how to change blades when the warden is unapproachable. But when we do this is what happens things get half assed, not because of being lazy but because of the lack of ability to goto someone to see if you are doing it right.

ok I just re-read the original message again… I see the Phrase '(Quote: “Please do not damage the bandsaw again.”) in a later post.

After you said that it was you who left it in that state.

So you agree that leaving something out of adjustment is not damaging? OK.

I went and looked at the original post about sawblades, I did not see anything that I would call ‘bullying’ More like someone being a bit Derpy, maybe he had a beer after work?
I’m having trouble seeing how you could feel intimidated or uncomfortable by Andrew, he’s a big goof and you are certainly confident enough in yourself.

Nancy

Ya know thats what bullys say i was just joking, being a derp… sorry but what you consider derping is considered bullying when its not viewed as fun by the other. Im sorry you condone that mentality.

Wow
just wow.

I know right! perception is a bitch. What you see as “being a derp,” others see as petty and bullying, either way it made someone uncomfortable and didn’t feel they could go to the person designated to help for help.

Oh boy… Look, If I recall… Over-tensioned is bad… the blade can break, sometimes at the weld, sometimes shatter. Too much feed/pressure can do the same thing, especially if the backer bearings are out of adjustment. Out of alignment is bad… the blade can break or come off the drive wheels. Or the blade can be forced into the guides, the table… or the blade can bind badly in the cut, which does unexpected bad things for safety and might lock the blade, but spin the drive wheel, slagging the rubber on it, or scarring the surface if metal…

Badly out of alignment and perhaps over-tightened? Look, the guides are not meant to be loaded in those conditions… add a binding blade also throwing the torque of the motor onto the guides in a direction not planned for?? Yeah… the machine can be damaged. Was it? I dunno… but I understand the concern.

Forget the machine though… broken blade flapping around>?? While your hands are near it in normal operation. !! THINK !!

Man I worked a month as a temp in a sawmill… That boom, crash, and rattle rattle rattle was not your friend. Usually caused by running the machine too fast (load) or misalignment/over-tensioning. Fishing knotted up bandsaw blades wound around machinery? Better go get the knife proof gloves out of the lock out box. I ran out of that place fast, and kept all my digits and appendages. (This thing will eat you----->>>> http://newmanwhitney.com/product/km-16-trimmer/)

I try to thank somebody that catches me making a safety mistake and I think that is good practice. If the warden or an officer feels they need to make a safety call and an announcement… let 'em do their job.

I don’t see anything objectionable in the first post. No names were named, and it was general information, with an educational link.

Thing is, that tool as found could have been a danger to the next user or bystander… that in my mind is an unacceptable risk, and a warden or officer has every right and responsibility to publicly address the issue. I don’t think as stated bullying was intended, nor a charge merited. That being said, people take things the way they do… and emotions that happened have to be accepted and acknowledged as an event, even if attributed incorrectly. That’s part of managing conflict

I mean, if somebody feels uncomfortable asking a warden for help because of a personal issue, the solution is to go up the chain of command and ask an officer. Seeing as discomfort is mentioned, maybe that ought be done privately off list? Cause otherwise it can be said we’re straying into a public vendetta… and need some conflict resolution training as a whole. If not… best at the regular public meeting… motion to discuss problem. Entered in minutes. There are far more effective and cooperative ways of solving a conflict, and darn it… it’s time we started using them.

Just out of curiosity what broke on the band saw? Or was it tension, guide height/ alignment problems, did a blade break?

So to clarify: The bully happened when I was trying to get information on the blades we had. Afterwards when i felt uncomfortable about the situation I did notify leadership. I brought up his disrespectful nature on this occasion and on other occasions…
Regarding how I changed the blades, the blade i used worked flawlessly to cut what i needed with no odd noises or gittering. For both that blade and returning to the old blade, I followed the instruction of an officer given to me the meeting before this happen and a video i found on youtube as i was unclear on a few steps given by that officer. The youtube video wasn’t completely clear so i did what I could. If Andrew was not acting in a Petty way (Petty was the word used by an officer) that made me feel uncomfortable speaking with him. Due to his actions, I did not feel comfortable posting on the board or messaging him privately, as i was concerned his actions could cause my medical issues to flare up on an already stressful day.

I was the one who responded to Daniel’s private leadership message. I haven’t talked personally with Andrew yet. I’ve attached only my response here, not yours (or further messages) to respect your wish to deal with this more privately. I suggested working through existing and newly created personal problems first, in order to move forward.

I am not trying to deminish your reaction or feelings, no one can predict how others will take things. I am acknowledging that you feel this way and trying to move forward. You both will hopefully continue to be members in a community organization; trying to work through past problems so you can successfully coexist is the best course of long term action that I see. It is short-sighted not to at least attempt this.

If you don’t feel comfortable talking with just Andrew and me or another mediator, (and I definitely understand the hesitation to meet with someone you feel uncomfortable with), then I’d like to discuss it breifly at the next meeting that you are both able to attend, in a group setting. I realize this is not the solution you asked for, or are looking for, but I think this is an important step to take first before anything further.

Daniel,

I haven’t talked among leadership, so this is just coming from me.

While the conversation today on the list was annoying and petty, I don’t think this merits his removal, or even the consideration of his removal, as warden. I do definitely think it merit being addressed though; I was already going to talk to him.

Looking at the overall track record of Andrew’s service as woodshop warden, (continued progress on infrastructure, improvements for tools, classes, open workshop hours, helpful attitude towards/for the greater community, etc.), I honestly think this is a personal problem between you two. As such, I think the next step is to try to talk it out together, perhaps with a neutral mediator, to help you two come to an understanding and agreement. That way you two can move forward from the past disagreements and establish a better working relationship for the future. (We all know too well that you don’t have to be best friends with someone on a personal level to be able to have a successful working relationship.)

Now, I can help facilitate working an understanding out between you two, or we can pick someone else, but I really think this is the next sensible step to moving forward,

Elly

I think it was out of adjustment, not horribly broken… sorry if my post is confusing. But way out of adjustment can lead to bad stuff.

See… leadership is on the ball and active on the issue. Well done.

Mike

Now for levity: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865662026/The-Clean-Cut-Kid-President-tells-viewers-how-to-disagree.html

When I came in Saturday and attempted to use the bandsaw it emitting a very loud screeching sound, so I immediately turned it off. When I opened the covers I was unable to manually turn the wheels, so something was clearly stopping the blade from rotating correctly. I got Greg and we spent the next 15-20 minutes getting it correctly aligned. It appeared that the blade was over tensioned, and the tracking was off. The guide bearing and the upper blade guides also appeared to be set incorrectly, which isn’t a big deal, they’ll mostly just cause poor cuts or screw up the teeth of the blade.

I think Mike did a good job explaining the dangers of broken band saw blades, but just to re-iterate this is what it says in the manual: “Over-straining is a common cause of blade breakage and other unsatisfactory blade performance”. Page 8. The manual for this is available in the Tools section of the wiki, which also covers the correct method of changing saw blades, and tensioning them.

If people have questions about the correct operation of the various tools in the woodshop I’d like to direct them to the tool wiki:
https://wiki.hive13.org/view/Tools

I added this to the wiki in October, along with a number of other manuals for our various tools. I believe I have updated all the woodworking tools in the wiki with the appropriate manual where possible. If there is a woodworking tool with a missing manual, please let me know, and I’ll make sure it gets updated. (I’m omitting the other sections because I don’t feel comfortable with my level of expertise in those areas)