blade breaking

[Mark Higginbotham]

using flying dutchman blade and porter cable saw tried more tension and then less tension

[spirithorse]

I think more tension is a much better approach than less tension to insure there is no flex in the blade as it
changes direction of travel.
You can double check how tight you are tightening the blade clamps to make sure they are not slipping and
possibly put a small amount of duct tape on both ends of the blade before you insert it into the blade clamps
to be sure the blade is not slipping. With a small blade like that, I am taking an educated guess that the blade is
actually slipping in the blade clamps.

You may also want to try starting the saw at about half the max speed of your saw to see if slowing it down helps
just to check what happens. I know you probably don't want to cut your project at a slow speed like that but, it will
give you a good diagnostic test to see if that helps.

Please keep us posted if you find a remedy. Your experience may help others with similar problems later on.

God Bless! Spirithorse

[crupiea]

There is a certain level at which the blade simply is overmatched with the wood. 

Pick a blade that is going to cut through the wood size and type you are attempting to cut.  if the blade is too small, it will easily break, too big, it will seem like a buzz saw.

Simple way to figure this is to put a blade in and lower the speed to as slow as the saw will go.  Now push the wood up to the blade so you can feel it actually cutting as you would if you had a very small hand saw and were sawing slowly and smoothly.  You will quickly understand that if you force the wood the blade will probably break.  Increase the speed some and it should cut smoothly.  

Of course, if the blade is too small to start with, you will see it bending and stuff and wont be able to follow a line. 

[LarryEA]

When does it break???? 

[tomsteve]

dont force the workpiece and let the blade do the work. if the blade is bending when cutting, theres too much feed pressure

[Sycamore67]

It wood be helpful to know exactly which blade as their are a lot of different FD blade types and sizes.  Second, what wood are you cutting and how thick.  Of course, a picture would be helpful.