What am I doing wrong!?

[Southside]

How much clearance do you have between the back of the band and the rollers? 

[Don P]

One thing that is hard for me to do when I have the wrenches out is to only adjust one variable at a time between trying it out. If I change several variables and fix the problem, I'm not sure what the problem was.

I'm not a bandmiller but one thought came to mind. If the blade is in cut and the track or head drops even slightly, the tips of the teeth angle upwards in response.

[Stevenjohn21]

How much clearance do you have between the back of the band and the rollers?

Piece of paper thickness away 

[Stevenjohn21]

One thing that is hard for me to do when I have the wrenches out is to only adjust one variable at a time between trying it out. If I change several variables and fix the problem, I'm not sure what the problem was.

I'm not a bandmiller but one thought came to mind. If the blade is in cut and the track or head drops even slightly, the tips of the teeth angle upwards in response.

Yes, that is why I thought the blade adjustments were not needed. I was convinced it was the rail that wasn’t level or square but turns out I was wrong…. Again 

[Southside]

Not sure what your mill calls for but 1/8"-1/4" of clearance is normal for mills with roller guides. This allows for some rearward travel of the band before it hits the flange as having the band in contact with the flange causes issues. 

[btulloh]

A business card thickness for clearance on the blocks and the same for the bearing behind the blade is perfect. Too little clearance on the ceramic blocks can lead to problems especially if you get a little pitch buildup on the blade. 

Yes, roller guides are better than blocks and some people have changed out the blocks for Cooks rollers, but you can saw good lumber with the blocks as it comes from the factory. These mills weren’t designed for rollers. Changing to rollers is possible but it takes a little fab work to make it happen. 

Congrats on getting it worked out. All part of the normal learning process. 

Once a new mill gets a few hours on it, it’ll need to be readjusted as things settle in. Belts will stretch, things move.  Just be aware that a mill is not a set it and forget it thing. Usually the throttle cable will stretch a bit and will need to be adjusted. You can lose rpm’s gradually and not notice it. Don’t want to lose rpm’s. 

[thecfarm]

Glad you figured it out.
Happy sawing!!

[Old Greenhorn]

You may not believe us, but we all knew you would figure it out if you just hung in there. Things like blade tension, lube, speed, (getting the teeth facing in the right direction), hook angles, and all those other little associated things take time to figure out and balance for your setup. Then you get a different log species and it can start all over again.
 Notice how many guys told they that they too put a blade on backwards? Notice that they all thought it was funny when they did it and learned? If you can't laugh at your self, you may just go crazy.  It's all part of the ride on this great sawdust dream.
 Myself, I have developed a lot of odd working habits to try and avoid repeating my bigger mistakes. I never send the head down the log that I don't check the backstops and clamp height. I never (well, almost never) roll a log without first putting or making sure the toe boards are down (still working on this habit). I have some other habits that are so developed that I don't even realize I still do them. All were learned after making a mistake or having an issue 2 or 3 times.
 The first time on the LT50 that the head stopped moving forward in a cut I went crazy trying to figure it out. A 28"x14' log, with the blade halfway down it, just stuck. I could not back up without popping the blade and I sure couldn't go forward. I was just about to shut it down for the day and go get help when I found that a piece of bark had fallen off the log and onto the live chain where it jammed up under the electrical box when it tried to pass over it. Took a little to get it out/break it up and I bet I lost 20 minutes before I was running again. But I admit, I felt pretty good that I figured it out and could cut the rest of the session. Now I look at the chain frequently out of habit when I am opening the logs up.
 It may sound silly, but when I am at the mill I get in a zen-like mode. Nothing in the outside world exists and I ignore all distractions to just focus on the work at hand. It is pleasure time and a time to create 'stuff'. You can also get hurt, so you need to focus on safe and efficient habits.
 You will get there, you already have a good start on the basics and have ticked a few things off on your training jacket.

[RAYAR]

I have new 10 degree blade which I will try tonight (I’ve got a 7 degree on at the moment)
My guides are the ceramic block style except the back one which is a roller.

I would go back and try that 7 degree blade again with the increased tension and see how it does now.

I have a custom built mill with a spring tensioner and was shown where to set (a marking) the blade tension when I bought it. It didn't really take that much effort to cause the blade to roll back against the backing roller. After using it that way for a while, I increased the blade tension some and now it takes a lot of effort for the blade to roll back against the backing roller and I see much less waves in the cuts. My backing rollers now have no signs of the blade rolling back against them, the way it should be. My backing rollers are now black instead of polished steel where the blade would contact them.

[kelLOGg]

I’m a believer in setting band tension by actually measuring like Btulloh said. There’s a lot about it on FF. 

[alecs]

I have the same mill and I use a an automotive feeler gauge to set the clearance of the guides.  I believe it calls for .020 above and below, and 0.040 behind.  I "fake it" by using say the .018 on one side and the .020 on the other side since they are all in a set and really designed to be used one at a time.  But I stick the two of them in together, one on either side of the blade, squeeze everything together, and tighten.  It's important that the weight of the feeler gage set, and the fingers of the operator, do not tweak the angle or spacing of the guide blocks when tightening, so I will tighten everything up and then check it again one side at a time when done.  I have no idea whether this is a proper technique, but when I read the manual and it said to try for those spacings above and below the blade, I remembered I had the feeler gauges and that's what I went for.  I can try to post a picture of this if it's useful.

When I have found wavy cuts, however, it is usually a combination of knots/grain and a dull blade.  Changing the blade usually fixes it.  One other thing - I had a thread a little while back about blade carnage.  The set of 10 woodland mills blades that I bought with the mill seemed to be always falling off.  So I bought some Woodmizer blades and had good luck with the blades not falling off.  But I still had a few of the Woodland blades left.  I tried one of those recently and it seems to cut better than the Woodmizers, at least in the pine logs I was cutting.  And it hasn't fallen off yet, knock on wood.  So while I originally thought it was the blades, it doesn't seem to be.

I agree, adjusting one thing at a time is difficult but necessary.