Please check you bandsaw blade

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Texatdurango

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The last few times I used my band saw I noticed the blade was not running quite true so today I decided to open the saw and check things out. What I saw totally shocked me and I'm SO GLAD I decided to have a look rather than continue using it, GOD only knows what kind of damage it was about to create.

What I found was that the blade was cracked in 28 places, three cracks were almost all the way across the blade and could snap at any moment (see photo below).

There was a group buy held here during Late February, early March 2010 for 111" Laguna "Resaw King" blades and this was one of those blades and what amazed me was that I only used it a few months last year then the saw sat in storage from July, 2010 to January of this year and I really only started using it again several weeks ago so it has little use on it and is actually still very sharp.

I share this for one reason......... GO OUT TO YOUR SHOP AND CHECK YOUR BANDSAW BLADE.... even if you didn't buy a blade in this group buy, you never know what condition it's in and what catastrophe waits around the corner!

I took the blade off the saw a few hours ago and upon closer inspection noticed many more cracks than originally noted so there are far more cracks than the 28 that I originally noticed. I have no idea what caused this but I just contacted Laguna to see what they have to say.

This may be a freak one-time incident and the only blade that this is happening to but to be on the safe side, please have a look at your blades!

Here are some shots of the blade.......

blade cracks.jpg
 
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I have a JET 10" B3NCH bandsaw, with a Jet 1/2" blade I purchased from Anderson's General Store. This will be my second in the last six months. I was noticing my blade this last week the few times I was using it coming forward considerably off the back guide bearing. I decided to stop and look slowly rotating the wheels, ended up finding a similar crack at one tooth. I've had blades snap off on me before, sorta catches me off guard. :) I went ahead and remove this and put on another Jet blade I had as backup. I don't get either why mine got a crack. I'd adjust everything, it has been running smooth, only cutting simple pen blanks in the last 4 months. I agree though you need to check your blades often, never know what you'll find.
 
George,
I appreciate you posting this warning. Will check my band CAREFULLY in the am. I haven't had a worry til now. Rather be safe than have my heart skip a few beats the next time I use the saw.
Thanks again for the heads up.
Marc
 
Now of course you are signalling out a particular blade and when it was bought, but just a futher warning this same occurance can happen in a tablesaw blade. The thinner the blade the more stress. I am sure they will stand behind this blade. They are a good company.
 
Do you release the tension when you are finished using the bandsaw?

I don't know if the tension would make the blade crack at almost every tooth or not. Seems to me there was possibly a problem in the making of this blade.

Keep the group posted as to the outcome from your inquiry to Laguna.

Thanks for posting this as the information does indeed poise questions for us to consider. :smile:
 
bitshird said:
George it looks like heat fracture form when they brazed the teeth on and didn't anneal the blade properly.
Click to expand...

Another contributing factor. The gullet shape has a sharp corner at each tooth. The stresses of bending around the wheels (presumed to be a 14" from the length of the blade) will concentrate in those corners and the cracks will form and propagate from there.

Pete
 
Curly said:
bitshird said:
George it looks like heat fracture form when they brazed the teeth on and didn't anneal the blade properly.
Click to expand...

Another contributing factor. The gullet shape has a sharp corner at each tooth. The stresses of bending around the wheels (presumed to be a 14" from the length of the blade) will concentrate in those corners and the cracks will form and propagate from there.

Pete
Click to expand...

Should be a radius. Much stronger.
 
Folks, please check this well, I will try to contact all that were involved in the group buy by PM and email. This is not something to play around with, if you are in doubt at all of your blade....STOP USING IT IMMEDIATELY.....

Thank you George for finding this and letting us know about it.
 
Curly said:
bitshird said:
George it looks like heat fracture form when they brazed the teeth on and didn't anneal the blade properly.
Click to expand...

Another contributing factor. The gullet shape has a sharp corner at each tooth. The stresses of bending around the wheels (presumed to be a 14" from the length of the blade) will concentrate in those corners and the cracks will form and propagate from there.

Pete
Click to expand...

That was my first thought from the pictures. All the cracks are right at that corner. Bad design possibly.
 
George, Very glad you saw this before it broke. That in no way shape or form is correct. Not every tooth. And certainly not when the crack starts at the same location on every tooth. Hopefully Laguna will do something to help cover this since those blades are not exactly cheap. I want to get one but the group buys have never seemed to land at a good time for me. I also know to pay better attention to how the gullet is ground as well. Live and learn. My bet is there is a problem in the tempering of the metal as well. Bad things do happen, there are bad production runs and that sort of thing. The only thing I can think of that you might have done was ever getting the blade hot while cutting something. Thing is i don't see anywhere on that blade that looks like it got hot except where the brazing was done for the carbide tooth.
 
My blade never cracked and I bought it at that same time but not in the group. It did however break in just one spot, and the blade bound up in the housing taking some bends in the metal which made the blade unslavageable. I did not get enough cutting action out of the blade before it snapped in half to justify the extra cost. I also am running a Laguna band saw...happy with the saw, but not happy with the blade life.the timberwolf regular ole bandsaw blades last many times longer than that resaw king blade did, and I do release the tension after use.
 
That is an odd design. Why not a radius? What benefit did they get out of that shape?

And look at the gullet above #3 in that pic. It's not the same shape as the others. The one above 23 is similar but less pronounced.
 
BTW: Breaking blades is why I never run my saw without the doors closed and the arm lowered as far as possible. THat stuff is SCARY when it breaks. I've had two snap on me over the years and both times I had to go change my shorts.
 
Good to know it wasn't only my Laguna carbide tip blade that broke. I didn't do the group buy, but when the blades where offered here on the IAP in a posting I bought 2 and they are not cheap. My first Luguna blade lasted me a few years which I bought with my Mini Max bandsaw. These last two I purchased the first did not last long at all before it broke. Was going to call Laguna about it but never got around to it. Should have the way it sounds.

Keith "mrburls"
 
I just ran all 4 of my Laguna Carbide blades through a magnifier and have found no evidence of a problem with any of them. This may be a one of a kind problem but I would check your blades to be safe.
One thing that I noticed though was I have 2 different profiles on my blades.
 

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There have been similar reports of fractures in the Laguna Resaw King blades over at Sawmill Creek. I beleive, although I cannot confirm for sure, that they may have been bought during one of Laguna's clearance sales last year on the older Resaw King blades.

I can't find the thread on SMC, but there was one report that after sending the blade back to Laguna, they replaced it with one of the newer models.

HTH
Andy
 
DurocShark said:
BTW: Breaking blades is why I never run my saw without the doors closed and the arm lowered as far as possible. THat stuff is SCARY when it breaks. I've had two snap on me over the years and both times I had to go change my shorts.
Click to expand...
ditto.

I just had one break last night .... it sure gets your attention !!!!!

I have managed to re-train my brain to not have a 'knee jerk' reaction when something like that happens, but slowly back away ....
 
I had a Laguna carbide tooth break on a 16" bandsaw during a resaw operation.
Totally unrelated to the group buy and absolutely no fault of Laguna -- I'd gotten a lot of good use out of the blade prior.
When it goes, it will scare the stuffing outta you! :eek:
 
Just FYI and to put some closure to this thread, a Laguna rep just called me. I guided him to my website where the photos reside. He no sooner pulled up my page when he immediately said........"Yep, No problem, there is a manufacturing defect causing this and I will send out a replacement blade today".

I ordered two blades in the group buy and one was never used yet so we agreed that I would mount and start using the other blade and will keep a close eye for cracks. If any cracks develope they will immediately replace that blade as well.

I'm happy with the outcome.
 
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