Circle mill alinement

[jerry-m]

I have a Foly Belsaw and I have lost the owners manual... I need to know how much lead to allow
and which side to put the lead on...  I would really like to have that page e-mailed to me If anyone still has a manual...

I found a site to down load the manual, but it will only let me download the first 10 pages.. Something about my computor I suppose ???

Thanks to anyone that can help me 8)       My e-mail,   jbm600@msn.com

[Fla._Deadheader]

  You want the blade to lead into the log, about 1/16th-1/8th inch or so. When you take the first cut, and the blade is not "waving" at you, as you gig the carriage back, the teeth should NOT touch the log.

  When I set my first Circle saw up, my Tutor placed a straight board on the carriage, and advanced the headblocks to the blade. Have the board span the entire blade and then take yer measurement.  Adjust from there, if need be.

  On some lumber, you see the "scrub" marks, where the far side of the blade would hit the log as it was gigged back. That throws sawdust up in the air and all over the sawyer, so, ya know ya got to pay attention, and see if the blade is "waving".

  BE SURE the teeth are sharpened straight across, 90° to the blade. Any ° of mis-filing, will make the blade lead in or out. That's more important than anything you do with the lead.

  Someone else will set ya straight, if I didn't esplain it well enough.  ;D ;D ;D

[Frickman]

Deadheader beat me to the punch. You need to ensure that the guide rail on your track is straight, and everything in good order so that the carriage runs past the saw in a straight line. You then adjust your mandrel bearings to put 1/16" to 1/8" lead in the saw. The front of the saw, where the teeth are doing their thing, will be closer to the log than the back side, where your splitter is.

I like to use a dial indicator on a magnetic base to check the lead. You zero it out on the guide line on the saw at the front of the saw, and move the carriage forward so you can check it on the guide line at the back of the saw. If you don't have a dial indicator, there are alot of ways you can rig something up, like Deadheader talked about.

You'll have to play around with the lead to see what your saw/mill combination likes. I have a saw that likes about about 3/64" lead, or just under 1/16". Another saw needs just over 1/8" to work right.

One thing you never, ever do is adjust the lead with the saw guides, or by filing high to one side. The old-timers tried to, and sometimes they got lucky and it worked. It is very important to file the teeth square and to adjust the saw guides only after everything else is lined up. The saw guides are used to guide the saw back to it's intended saw line if you hit a hard knot. They are not used to put lead into the saw by pushing it.

[jerry-m]

THANKS FD & Frickman,

Very much appreacicated... I have been setting the saw back up after replacing the wood that the
rails fasten to, so I lost the proper lead... Couldn't remember which way to go... I think right now that I have it adjusted with out any lead...

At any rate great advice, TFF comes through again 8)

Thanks,   Jerry

[Minnesota_boy]

If it has no lead but saws well and throws no sawdust back at you, leave it where it is.  Some mills seem to perform well that way.