swingers with softwood!?

[Drew b]

Ok I couldn't help it.  Sorry.  But seriously I've been having a problem with my Lucas 827 vertical cut wandering off to the right when cutting Doug Fir (a hard softwood) in an 8" cut.  It can get so bad that the blade just bogs right down.  It may be improper tensioning from the saw doc but I've also been wondering about tooth size.  The Opteco comes with 5.7 mm.  It was recommended by one blade site I contacted to get larger teeth.  Anybody have any thoughts?

[Nate Surveyor]

Put the blade on backwards, and see if it turns the other way...


(JUST KIDDING!) :D :D

There are a host of things.

I recently had trouble with mine. Somehow I had knocked to mill off the track, so that ONE set of wheels was in the WRONG slot on the wheel. It is a Peterson, with 2 slot wheels, so that may not apply, to you.

So, does it run freely, without a log?

Even dull teeth on ONE side can make it do that.

Nate

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

My answer assumes that you have done the tests for vertical cut alignment
already and have a good looking kerf with the right mix of hash marks on
test cuts.  Checking this and doing the required adjustments would be the
first step.

On the other hand, ... out in the real world of production cutting...:

Lately I have gotten into a habit of pulling back on all my vertical cutting
with a "two point" pull.  In other words, I walk backward.  Instead of pulling
just on the designated pullback handle only,  I put my left hand on the blade
pivot handle for some gentle pressure, and with my right hand I grasp the shaft
of the pullback handle.  My right elbow presses against the curvature of the
pullback handle as I pull, so that I don't have to grip the pullback handle so hard
and become fatiqued.  Doing this keeps me tracking much straighter and I can get
very consistent thicknesses on the vertical cuts.

The negative part is that I am walking backwards on these.  It just seems
worth it to get the consistency I want.  When a new customer wanted 175
battens (1X3s) last week, I secretly groused as anyone would, but this technique made
them very consistent.   This all applies to deep cuts even more, such as the 8" deep
you mentioned. 

I decided that the problem you describe was a factor of track looseness,
wheel wear and the fact that the pull handle on the saw is not exactly
pulling in line with the needed force.  This angle problem is particularly
true as you move across a wide log, and the saw is farther to your
right as you traverse the log.  At that point, you are actually pulling on
the saw at a pretty good angle.  The harder you pull the worse the error.
In effect, when the saw is to the right portion of the log, you are unintentionally
pulling the saw diagonally (forcewise, at least).

When the track is solid, and all your wheels are brand new with no slack and slop,
this is less of a problem.  In my case, I want to saw, NOT obsess with perfect
wheel grooves, etc.  So...  I adapted my pull back technique. 

Phil L.

[LeeB]

See your doctor. :D :D

[ErikC]

   I have come to the exact conclusion Phil has. Pulling from a more central point helps sometimes with this. You'll get a wandering cut when a blade has been overheated as well. If you check your adjustments, the track seems parallel, and teeth are sharp change blades. It isn't possible to see by eye that you've over-heated it sometimes. Doug fir can be tough, and I've cooked a couple of blades in them. Ive cut with too little water, had this happen, used more water and it went away. Other times it needs a doctor!  A lot of tension in that species also can cause trouble similar to this, mostly mine comes with a blade that's getting pretty worn down. Side clearance is less, so maybe thats why.


Erik

[bugmeist]

I had a 'similar' problem cutting maple once (with a Lucas 627).  After checking my blades/teeth, adjusting blade, etc I was pulling my hair out.  I stood back for some further head scratching and noticed that my end frames were no longer aligned with each other.  It was a remote set-up and we had had some rain so one side of 1 end frame had sunk slightly.  I reset the end frames and was cutting great for the rest of the job.

bugmeist

[Drew b]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.  Yes the blade is aligned as good as I can make re: cross hatch.  Funny enough, though, when its really bad I get a heavy following blade pattern?! Also, rails are parallel and true.  I put the narrow wheels on both sides  to help eliminate "side tracking," as well I pull from the handle.  A new blade works much better but after about 500 board it seems to get its own mind back (I'm pretty conscietious about sharpening and after several times the teeth "look" square).  I pour the water to it and wonder if part of the problem is no lubrication on the right side of blade.  When its cold out there seems to be a fair bit of vapour coming off.  I've got an idea how to get the water on the right side in the vertical and have it pull out of the way as I swing down to horizontal.  With new teeth the blades are still going back to the Doctor for a little proctological metal bending.
  Anybody with a Lucas notice a funny sound from the pulley bearing in the transmission?

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

After seeing your response, Drew,  I tend to think the side clearance issue may be
a big part, especially when you mentioned that the blade performance drops
quickly like that.  I have six blades and at least two of them have personalities of
their own.  One even loses the same tooth first, no matter what has been tried to
fix that particular problem.

The heat issue considered alone would seem to cause the blade to cup and steer the kerf
to the left, rather than the right, since the cool side of the blade with the water
would be on the left side, would be the tighter side and being the lead-in edge, steering
the cut to the left.  You said you were drifting to the right, so that leads
back to blade tensioning issues.

Well, to settle this you will need to saw the exact same  log again, once the saw
doc has had his way with that blade, won't you?

How you gonna do that?  ;D
                    P.S.  The error which I had seen generated by the handle pull back was to the
                            left.  Of course, it tended to track about the same after the first cut, so
                            the second board and successive boards were okay, if the pull force I
                            put into the return was the same each time.
PHil L.

[ErikC]

  I think the following pattern in your cut is from the blade wandering, pulling the back of the blade in a little. It may not mean an alignment problem in this case. But keep an eye on it... ;)
  It's amazing how much frustration a good saw shop can save isn't it.

Erik