Blade tension

[Noobsawyer]

Wondering what all you wood-mizer owners run your blade tension at ? When we first got our mill the tech at wood-mizer said to run it at 2500 but later when we had the mill at wood-mizer for service there was a guy from the Indiana office that told us anywhere up to max was good, the higher the better. Wondering if that would wear out the wheel belts fast and cause any other problems ?
Any input would be helpful.
Thanks, Pat

[Dave Shepard]

I run max, which is 3,000 psi, I think. I was told to do this by WM when they delivered the mill. They said it was for all band combinations, and that testing over the years they discovered that the higher psi wasn't an issue for the mills, although too low was. My mill is happier at max than at the recommended psi on the gauge.

[drobertson]

I run all blades past the recommended tension, by just a little,   david

[Chuck White]

I've seen several WM mills in operation at some of the local events!

I've noticed that the gage is pegged to the max and the WM tech says that it's recommended.

I still can't help but think that with the tension maxed out that it would be excess tension on the wheel bearings and the blade wheel belts.

I don't remember what the psi was, but I always run mine on the line where the yellow meets the orange on the gage!

[GAB]

Pat:
I was told By W-M personnel to go by the sticker on the mill when I got it.  Two years ago another W-M employee told me it is best to run with the blades in the 25 to 27,000 psi blade tension range.
So I took out my text books and found two formulas that helped me. 
One was: Elongation = (Load x Length) / (Area* x the Modulus of elasticity for the blade steel)
* for the area I multiplied the blade thickness by the length between the gullet root and the back of the blade. (ie the narrowest width)
Then I fired up the sawmill and tightened the band to 3000 psi with the blade engaged.
Once it had stabilized I shut off the mill and using my vernier set at 6.00" I C clamped it to the blade and released the pressure.  The vernier backed off .006" which I called the elongation and called the length 5.94".  For the modulus of elasticity I used 30,000,000 or 30 times 10 to the 6th power.  I've tried to get an accurate E or Modulus of elasticity from W-M for the blade and got a number short at least 2 digits.
175,000 is not a good number for E.  (Apparently I was not clear as to what I desired) From this I was able to calculate the Load.
Then take the load and divide it by the area and you get the psi that the blade is seeing.
With .045" thick x 1.25" blades if E is close to 30,000,000 then I am close to 25,000 psi. 
My feeling is that if you are using a thicker and/or wider blade to get to the 25 to 27,000 psi range you would need a higher gauge reading, and this would probably reduce the bearing life.
Concerning Dave's comment I agree that at the higher pressure it saws better.  Gerald

[Magicman]

I run mine within ¼" of the max peg in the gauge.  It seems to like it there.

[Peter Drouin]

Max it :D

[Nomad]

     25-27k.  Saws happy there.

[petefrom bearswamp]

tried max tension a couple of years ago with .055 blades.
heard a loud bang and tension went way down.
the belt on the idler was crushed and the blade was on the metal.
i now use the lowest tension that still makes me a good board.
figure this is less wear and tear on things and works for me

[YellowHammer]

I run mine within ¼" of the max peg in the gauge.  It seems to like it there.

YH