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Band Sharpening Options

Started by butterfingers, October 28, 2014, 10:46:23 PM

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butterfingers

Hello all.. great forum here!!!! A couple years ago I bought a Woodmizer LT30 from a neighbor that had passed away. The mill came with a multitude of bands new, used, ect. Many of the bands had been resharpened by the previous owner. I have finally used most of the sharp bands and some of the new ones. The mill came with a woodmizer ltaga sharpener and single tooth setter that I have used on a half dozen bands with limited success. I am now considering options on how to maintain my blades. I understand WM's resharp service is great and intend to send them box of blades to sharpen as soon as the label arrives, but have a hard time with justifying the cost when I have a sharpener sitting around. The sharpener is not all that pretty but seems to be fully functional, however I am missing the templates/angle gauges and all the cams except the one on it which has an "H" stamped on it. I called WM and they said that is for hardwood and is a 9deg angle, but when they looked up what the previous owner had bought for blades they were all 10deg. I don't know much about the sharpener other than what I've read in the owners book and online. I do know that dressing the stone properly is critical and easier said than done!!! So anyway my options are
1.Use Resharp
2.Get a 10/30 or other cam for my sharpener and us it
3.Convert my sharpener to CBN if possible
4.Buy new sharpener (not leaning toward this one seeing how I don't do that much sawing currently)
5. Any Ideas???

Banjo picker

I don't have a woodmizer sharpener, but you can sharpen the 10 degree bands with the 9 deg. cam.... I would go light on the grind the first couple of times ... After that they will be 9 deg. blades....nothing wrong with that...you can cut lots of wood with a 9 deg band.   Should be able to buy what ever cam you need.   Woodmizer guys will be along with more help....Banjo
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

slider

I would go with Banjo on this one.It would not take much to change these to 9's.If you can find it Tim Cook has a good video on dressing the rock properly.I think it's on youtube.
al glenn

drobertson

since you already have the equipment, I would suggest to get a handle on the sharpening. Go with what you have as mentioned, then add to the cams later if desired.  Once you get it you wont' regret it.
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

pineywoods

I have a 20 year old wm sharpener that I have used to sharpen all my blades and some for neighbors for the last 15 years. Some observations...
The cam has absolutely nothing to do with the hook angle. That is determined by the tilt adjustment on the grinder motor. The cam controls the gullet shape and the face to gullet transistion. The most critical item is shape of the grinder rock. One thing that will bite you..there must be absolutely zero end play in the grinder motor shaft. Once you get a rock shaped properly, use it like a free-hand grinder to grind a slot in a thin piece of sheet metal. Use this as a template to check the shape  and adjust accordingly. Grinder rocks don't wear evenly. You will need to re-shape after sharpening several blades. I use a diamond file to shape the rock. So far as I know, there is no cbn wheel for this grinder. The wm cbn sharpener is a totally different animal..
Set is just as important. More set is better than not enough. It's easy to convert the single tooth setter to dual tooth. Search pineywoods dual tooth setter mod.
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Chuck White

I have to go along with Banjo Picker and Slider on this one, also agree with Piney Woods info!

Nothing wrong with using 10° blades, sharpened to a 9° profile.

I use Wood-Mizer 10° Double Hard blades for everything I cut, but a while back I adjusted my sharpener to 8° for some hardwood and had no problems whatsoever, then converted them right back to 10° when the hardwood order was done.

With the 9° degree, you should be able to cut most everything.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

bandmiller2

Fingers, simple, you own a decent sharpener may not be the newest but it will do the job. Don't sweat the cam thing use the one you have. As piney suggested a diamond wheel dresser makes the job of dressing much easier. To start off dress the wheel to the shape of the bottom of the gullet just below the cutting face. You want to grind the face and tip of the next tooth as the wheel leaves the gullet. Sometimes you will need to sharpen a couple of times before you clean all of the gullet. Its well worth your time to learn to grind and set the bands. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

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