New RS30 PRO Bandsaw Blade Sharpener & Setter

I just bought this sharpening equipment, and thought I'd go ahead and start a thread with my impressions and experience as we get it dialed in.

Woodland Mills RS30 PRO sharpener and tooth setter.

Grinder and setter each shipped in it's own box......if anybody cares about that.




Good packing job with no damage or missing parts.


Pretty good instruction manual....




CBN grinding wheel.

Grinder comes with four different profile cams for common blade suppliers.

 

Made in Sweden.....for what that's worth.....




Runs on 12v DC, I have a 120vac to 12vdc converter so I don't have to fool with a battery.
Tis my opinion that 12vdc is silly..... 99% of people are going to set this thing up in a shop with ac power coming outta the walls.





Mod number one..... stand's too short.....fixed.

 

Yeah, pass the popcorn.....I'm hungry....lol

 

The setter.....





Lotsa pics....




Deluxe redneck workbench....




The setter doesn't come with any kind of stand or supports for the blade, so I figured I'd get some UHMW plastic and fab up some nice smooth guides around the back.

 

I’m sure I’ll never need/use one of these but I’m passionate about my edge tools always being scary sharp. Almost obsessive about it. So I appreciate you sharing this experience.
W/ a converter, the 12v deal is a non-issue. And IF you ever wanted to take it somewhere, for whatever reason, you’re a vehicle away from powering it up.

 

Lots of good help on the farm....

 

First cuts with a resharpened blade..

Fairly smooth, and no wandering whatsoever.
I was able to push the cut at least as fast as I can with a brand new blade.
I didn't reset the teeth before these test cuts, so the bit of scratching I got was likely from that.

 

I like sharp things too.

It's true what you say about the 12 volt-ness of it, but I still don't care for the idea.

 

Okay, mod #2.....

(Poor pics cause it's getting dark)


The profile cam for the woodmizer blades needed some filing.
Pic #1 shows an inconsistent /stupid gullet profile.......pic #4 is the offending bump, (the woodmizer cam bump was even more pronounced)

A few times of talking it off and filing it to a more smooth arc resulted in pic #5....not a real big deal, but definitely necessary to get a good smooth profile.

The cams appear to be stainless steel, and to have been CNC plasma cut with no grinding, so a bit of touch up required....imo.

In the end it's following the woodmizer factory profile quite well.

I think all the cams will need a bit of fine tuning.

 

Looks like a capable tool. You may find people seeking you out to sharpen their blades. I just heard today that Woodmizer is getting rid of their blade sharpening program.

 

Yes that's what I'm hearing about the resharp program also.

I'm thinking after we get it all figured out and running smoothly, I'd be happy to sharpen for other sawyers.

 

Where did you hear that about Wood Mizer?

 

This guy I follow on YouTube:

 

I wonder if the CBN wheel you have would fit my Cooks Cat Claw Grinder , I would like to switch to a CBN from the "rock" as they call it .
The only thing I question is the profile of the wheel. That profile is important as to how it grinds the tooth.
I have the Woodland Mills setter as well as the one from Cooks. I have yet to use the Woodland setter but the one from Cooks works great.

 

I wonder that also......
It's 5.75" x 1/4" x 5/8" bore.

This setter works, but the cooks type setters are a far superior design in my experience.
Decades ago I used that type of setter, and it was a less fatiguing repeat muscle action as opposed to this squeeze type tool.

If money hadn't been an issue, Ida bought the cooks equipment because of it's straight forward & robust design.... though a no-dress cbn wheel is great.

 

resharpening band blades is not a money maker unless you have a total automatic setter for commercial scale. way to much time spent resetting. lastime i looked around pricing for sharpening was around $10/loop for the most popular lengths- for me not a good option in my shop. Was a time eons ago that we did that. Heck we used to make bandsaw blades from raw spring steel straping back in the day, just not a viable option any more due to materials and labor costs and all other overhead costs. I get calls about blade sharpening apx once or more a month. It's kinda like 7.25" skill saw blades carbide tipped, big box store 3 pak 24 tooth 1.99 - toss em when dull. This from a commercial view point. There are other areas on a band blade that have to be addressed when doing this commercially as well besides just grinding and setting.

 

I can set a blade much faster than the grinder can do it's part.
Probably could run two of these grinders, and still set the blades faster than they can be sharpened.
With practice, a person should be able to hand set a blade in 5-10 minutes, and the grinder is working by itself that whole time.

I figure if I can make $25 or better per hour at home with little overhead costs I'm doing okay.
Not going to get rich, but it helps to pay the bills.

 

I’ll have to look and see what my wheel actually is
I do have a CBN wheels for sharpening chains, and they are great

 

Now all you need is a welder and a few boxes of stock.