Cheaper bandsaws tend to drift in the cut more, but any bandsaw can suffer from it. You can watch the line it is cutting along, and adjust to it, or you can try to resolve the problem. There are a few issues.
If you need to push the material through the cut too hard, then it tends to twist the blade. This will cause the cut to go at a angle. Why might you be pushing?
- A dull blade
- Thicker material than normal to cut
- Impatience
Another factor is the blade tension. A bandsaw has a spring that you tighten to keep the blade under tension. Your saw will probably have instructions for how tight to make the blade. This spring can loose its ability to properly tension the blade after some time, allowing the blade to twist in the cut. Replacing the spring can thus help you to bring your saw back to optimum cutting performance. A sign that it is time to do this is if your saw tends to drift when it did not do so in the past on a similar cut, with a good blade installed.
Next, check the blade guides. If your blade guides are damaged, then they may be allowing the blade to drift off line. Most saws have a set of lower and upper guides. Some are small rolling bearings (on more expensive saws) but on a tabletop saw these are probably metal, held in place with a set screw.
The blade can actually wear the guides away from friction. The metal guides can often be reversed before they need to be replaced, but they are inexpensive to replace. You can usually find a non-metallic (slippery) replacement for those guides, which runs a bit cooler. This is good because less heat means your blade will run more cooly, so live longer before it dulls.
Finally, check the tires. Your saw has rubber (or plastic/polyurethane) tires that the blade runs on. There will be either two or three such tires. After a few years time, these tires dry out. The saw will then start to behave poorly. Those tires can be pulled from the wheels and replaced.
If it's a really old house, that might actually work to your benefit as old houses usually are not well sealed when compared to new homes which are practically air tight.
There's a couple components to what you are trying to accomplish:
- Air circulation - A ceiling fan will probably do the trick for a single room. If the house is conditioned via forced air, another option might be setting the furnace fan to be always on instead of only on when heating/cooling. This will help keep the air circulating throughout the house (and through the furnaces filter).
- Humidity - If its really bad, a dehumidifier will likely be required.
- Fresh air - In all likelihood, you are probably getting a decent amount of fresh air through the cracks in the walls and elsewhere already (seeing as it's an old house). If you are not, the simplest solution is to open a window ocasionally. If this is not an option (ie: winter) then the furnace fan trick I mentioned in (1) migtht help too.
Some other options are:
- Some household plants might also help with the air quality - talk to your local garden center to see if they have any ideas
- Air ioniser (or negative ion generator) - I can't backup any claims made by these devices, but some people claim they work well.
- Install a small HEPA filter
Best Answer
My grandfather was a carpenter and when he retired he moved most of his tools into his basement. This included a drill press, bandsaw, and a very heavy full size table saw. It is definitely doable.
Drill presses and bandsaws don't generally create as much dust as sanders and routers. You can probably remove most of the dust they'd create with a well placed shop-vac. The bandsaw should have a dust collection outlet that you can hook the shop-vac up to. The drill press probably doesn't. You can also invest in a dust collection system to collect the dust and clean the air in the basement.
Depending on your particular basement, there are other things to watch out for.
Make sure you have a sufficient electric supply. You don't want to overload a circuit that was originally meant to power only a few light bulbs.
Make sure that you have room to move around tools, and to get out of the way if something goes wrong. Make sure there's room for your work too - raw materials and finished pieces. think about your ceiling height too, and imagine carrying and positioning an eight foot or longer board. You may have trouble getting full sheets of plywood down basement steps. You may have trouble getting finished furniture up those steps. I wouldn't recommend building a boat in a basement.
If your basement has moisture problems, that can lead to premature rust as well as moisture issues with wood working.