Bandsaw tooth "unsetter"

[Chuck White]

I can't take credit for it's development, that idea was brought up by another member here on the forum.

I had two rollers that were given to me years ago and then when the idea of an unsetter came up here on the forum, I found a use for the rollers!

The idea is to draw the blade (backwards) between the two rollers, this will push the teeth back to less set and even the set up.

This makes setting the band a lot easier and faster because they are all the same once they have gone through the rollers (unsetter).

My setting time on average now is 2-3 minutes per side as compared to around 10 minutes per side.

So far, I have not had any weird marks across the boards when sawing, so the set is really even.



 



 

I have the two rollers set at .047" apart, and drawing my .045" bands through them, I end up with about .018" set when drawn through twice.

Drawing the band through takes about 15 seconds.

The way I have the mounting plate attached to my bench allows me to swing the unsetter completely out of the way when not in use.

Thanks for the ideas thrown around here on the Forestry Forum.

[kelLOGg]

So, do you over-set then draw the band thru your rollers? Pretty clever. I remember seeing this idea before but I thought it was to correct unintentionally over-set teeth. You have taken it one step further.

[Chuck White]

I usually set my bands to .025 - .030, so when a band gets dull, I make sure there's no pitch build-up on the band and draw the band backwards through the rollers twice.

Once would probably be ok too, but I just run them through twice.

I run them through backwards so as not to damage the tooth points.

I do see what you're thinking, and actually I have thought about just running a band through the rollers, then sharpening and using it as is, just to see if it cuts well, I'd bet it would.

To do so, just set them to somewhere around .025, then run them through the rollers, don't have to be picky about what you're setting them at or anything.

I'm not sure, but I think Peter Drourin originated the idea.

[Ljohnsaw]

So, do you over-set then draw the band thru your rollers? Pretty clever. I remember seeing this idea before but I thought it was to correct unintentionally over-set teeth. You have taken it one step further.

May be on to something there.  What if you had a set of rollers that were lumpy in such a way that they over set the teeth - inside/outside/straight and then run them through the flat rollers to even them up.  You could then just draw the blade through and be done.  Talk about speed setting!

[Chuck White]

After the band is run through the rollers, I put it in the setter and adjust the height screws so the bottom of the gullet is even with the top of the anvil at the back of the setter.

Once the height is set, I adjust the set so that it sets the teeth between .025" and .030", and when I get that to agree on the first 2 or 3 teeth, I just start setting the rest of that side of the band, just one push on the handle then advance 3 teeth, takes me about 2 minutes at most for the rest of the band, then invert and do the other side.