14” Bandsaw – Blade guides 1

Continued with the blade guides.

From the last session this is where I left things.

Made a slot in the sliding guide block for the 3/8” lock rod.

Preparing to drill and tap the guide arm, I have both Metric and Imperial tap & die sets.

Marked and drilled a pilot hole.

It’s common for me to tap into timber for bolts, screws and threaded rod. I always drill and tap a test hole as the right size is important to maximise the thread depth, to large and the peak of the thread will be missing, to small will likely result in altogether stripping the thread.

Tap & die stuff takes time so it pays to prepare – as above.

With good thread depth in the 3/8” tapped hole the rod bites nicely, finish with a mudguard washer and 3/8” wing nut. Taking a break now and when I come back will put another bit of timber on top to sandwich the sliding guide block.