Previously published at LJ on 29th. May,2019 after being inspired by another blog. I eagerly started up a series labelled “Safety in the Shop” with this as the pilot article… unfortunately lack of further inspiration made it the only entry, so I decided to lumber it here as it could be considered as a useful hint.
though you can paint it any colour if you are colour blind as long as it's not invisible ink and manages to annoy the hell out of you when dangling in your sight,
It is attached to the my tension handle of the BS by twine through a hole at the end of the handle and traipsed over the top of the BS, dangling down the operational side. Ensure the hole is drilled in the handle end or you may not get enough leverage at the other end unless you use heavy duty tug boat rope. When tension is off (No-Go), and tension on (Go),
When the dangling chunk of red MDF blocks my view I know the tension on the blade is off…
and when the red doesn't annoy me I know the tension hasn't been released when I haven't used the bandsaw for a couple of days forcing unnecessary pressure on narrow blades. Has saved many 1/4" blades.
You don't need a math's degree to work out the length of the string, however, I do recommend the MDF be measure in millimeters rather than meters… unless you want a good workout not provided by lifting a glass of beer/vino.
If you don't have a bandsaw, I'm sure you could attach this indicator to your cask of vino so you don't loose it among your other tools.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
i just never un tension the blade period ! i have two saws, one is a resaw only and the other has a 1/4 blade and both have never had the blade un tensioned. been doing it for 20 years,no problem yet.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
