Heeeelp please wont cut

[gensetsteve]

Have some big butts of poplar and have been cutting like butter. Have put a stem on the miser that is just above the felling cut and tapers from 25" down to 20. No matter what I do from either end the blade enters the cut and within 6 in it is tracking up by an inch looks, feels and sounds bad. I have changed 3 different blades. My miser cant have gone that far out of adjustment so quickly and I am just on one section of bed. Is it because the stem is so near the root and the blade is following the grain.

[Big J]

There are only really two things that it can be - either the alignment is out or there is something wrong with the bands. You've eliminated bands (unless they are not new, you might have a resharpening issue) so it's alignment.

 

Have you dunted the guide rollers on anything? They are very delicate on the Woodmizers and even a slight knock can put them out. For the band to track up an inch over 6 inches sounds severe. Could be that the tracking on the band wheels requires adjustment too.

 

Part of the problem with cutting without regard for accuracy (which I know is irrelevant to your needs) is that you will accept a bad cut. A bad cut, due to a blunt band or indeed poor alignment only exacerbates the underlying cause of the bad cut and I think you would end up with a situation where it was cutting very badly indeed.

 

Also Woodmizers and their tiny bands do struggle on non-straight grained timber.

 

Jonathan

[gensetsteve]

Thanks Jonathan I am sure your right on all counts. I remembered after posting that when the stem was the other way round it was trying to cut down because the guide wheel stopped turning. We had the timber leveled and chocked. When we turned it end for end it tried to start cutting up hill. I dont think we gave it a bump but its possible. The blades came with the machine 15 of them, 7 were meant to be sharp the rest used so could be 3 unlucky blades many more to follow. We did start to notice poor results so took the opportunity to move and level the bed. My next idea is to put spacers on the bed and a string line. Before I adjust anything will try another stem and may be try some more blades. It was working fine sunday day later turn sour. We were getting a cubic metre an hour out inc cross cutting it. Picture of the stem below they are a bit big for a lt15 I may try chainsawing a metre off the fat end.