# Bandsaw fettling. (Perform CCBB)



## Vormulac (1 May 2005)

Hi folks,

Just got my first bandsaw all set up and have to say I'm rather taken with it, but I do have a question. It's a Perform CCBB and there appears to be no way to adjust the tracking on the bottom wheel, this unfortunately means the blade is about so far forward it's about half way off the lower wheel! This of course means that the blade is not vertical, it slants backwards towards the 'mid-wheel' position that it has on the adjustable upper wheel.

Does this sound normal?

Also, is there any fettling advice (apart from everyone screaming "Dur-Edge" at me) anyone would give to a bandsaw newbie? What do people use on their cast iron tables for slide and perotection purposes? Don't want to use anything that'll stain wood.

Thanks guys!

Vormulac.


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## DaveL (1 May 2005)

Hi Vormulac,

I have an EB 315 which I think your machine is a clone of. I have not had the blade tracking problem, its not right but I don't know what to adjust.  My blade runs with the teeth just off the front of the tyre on the wheel.

I don't what the instructions that came with your saw are like but when I bought the Perform planer/thicknesser I found that they had a much better manual online than in the box, go hereand check. 8) 

As for the table I use Liberon Lubricating Wax on everything, cast iron, aluminium and wood works a treat. ( I understand thats there is a slope around these parts thats well waxed. 8-[ )


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## Alf (1 May 2005)

DaveL":xnjmouqq said:


> As for the table I use Liberon Lubricating Wax on everything, cast iron, aluminium and wood works a treat. ( I understand thats there is a slope around these parts thats well waxed. 8-[ )


Ditto. Yep, on The Slope too. Pretty effective stuff, no? :twisted: :lol:

Vormulac, any bolts round that bottom wheel assembly that look like you could loosen them and physically move the wheel back a bit? Dunno, but I seem recall that was something I read back when I was bandsaw info intensive. Trouble it's like I am with computer specs; once the purchase is made I immediately forget all the technical stuff.  

Oh, and DURE-EDGE!!!! :wink: 

Cheers, Alf


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## Steve Maskery (1 May 2005)

V
It's normal to have tracking on just the top wheel. But "half off" the bottom doesn't sound right. Have you got the bottom thrust bearing adjusted correctly?
I know I've said this before, but I recommend Mark Duginske's Bandsaw Handbook. Not brilliantly produced, but excellent content.

Cheers
Steve

BTW, anyone see Norm on Friday? He'd bought some 6x6s and decided they were a bit to heavy, so cut them down to 5x5 on his bandsaw with a 3" (yes 3") resaw blade. Now what did I do with mine, I had it a moment ago? Sheesh.


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## llangatwgnedd (1 May 2005)

Perform owner here.

Back off all blade guides top and bottom
tension blade by top hand wheel until its to hard to turn
*Isolated power* to machine and open both cabinet doors
and turn wheel by hand and adjust tracking with top wheel tracking adjuster until both wheels are equal the with the blade teeth

If you still having tracking problems could be the weld on blade not 90 degrees

don't over tighten the side bearings on these machines as the alloy casting breaks on both makes of m/c

Hope this helps


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## Vormulac (2 May 2005)

Hi all,

Thanks for your help and suggestions. I have ordered the bandsaw book, I will check out my local suppliers to see if I can get Liberon wax, I'll have a look at how the lower wheel is mounted and I'll try setting the blade again just in case.

Oh yes, and I think I'll be giving Dure-Edge a call....

Cheers folks!

Vormulac.


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## Vormulac (2 May 2005)

Hello again,

I've just been out to have a look at the saw to check the lower wheel for bolts etc and I saw that the blade on the lower wheel had actually come off the tyre and was running on the metal wheel rim!

I have tried resetting the blade a couple of times this morning with the guides backed right off and with differing tensions and every time after a few turns of the wheel the blade is back on the rim again. The tracking on the upper wheel is rock solid, wherever I set it, there it stays, but there seems no way to get the lower wheel to behave.

I hope this doesn't imply I've bought a turkey, as the thought of dissassembling it again and repacking it is quite horrific!

Vormulac 'Rather downcast on this otherwise glorious Bank Holiday morning'


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## tsg (28 Jun 2012)

A little off topic but it's about the same make of saw. I am currently bidding on a Ccbb perform band saw, the spec seems really good, anyone know what I should be paying?? If I can get a good one I'm willing to go to about 200GBP. I will try and post the link to the ebay item but it might not work. 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 500wt_1413

Any advice???

Thanks in advance


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## MIGNAL (28 Jun 2012)

I've had that Perform saw for around 10 years. I think I paid around £230 from Axminster, delivered. I've seen one go for around £120 on Ebay. 
The upper guide blocks are not the easiest to adjust. I used wood dowel guides in place of the cheap bearings, certainly an improvement. Eventually I changed the whole assembly.
It is possible to alter the position of the lower wheel. There are 3 locking Nuts and 3 adjusting bolts that are accessed from the inside of the machine. I certainly set up my machine to run coplanar.


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## Sportique (28 Jun 2012)

I may be talking cr*p here but from a purely geometrical point of view - if there is "in /out" adjustment on the upper wheel and separate "tlit" adjustment on the upper wheel then it could be possible to adjust the upper wheel to such a position by having it too far in or out and then compensated by tilting to give the result described by OP.

HTH !!!

Dave


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## Eric The Viking (28 Jun 2012)

From those pictures on eBay, it doesn't look like the bottom axle is adjustable :-(

You *might* get some joy by having a careful look at the tension adjuster frame for the upper wheel. Mine is a rectangular frame that's pulled up and down by the tension adjuster thread, and then the wheel mounting is pivoted on the top edge of that, so that the tracking knob's thread tilts it. You might be able to "adjust" it with shims or washers, or some judicious filing. You might also be able to move the bottom axle out to the front slightly with a thin washer or shim inside the casing, but that won't help if the axle isn't straight to start with.

1. I defer to Steve M. on this!
2. To get the effect you describe, blade running right at the front, the bottom axle would be tilted down (to the front of the wheel), so that the blade would climb the crown to the front where, if I understand your description it's falling off the tyre and running on the rim (from which it can't be coaxed back onto the tyre with the tracking adjustment, presumably because there is a step).
3. Something else that might cause it would be having a blade that's slightly too long for the machine, so that it's under-tensioned all the time. If it has a simple tension indicator, like mine, it's really measuring blade length and only tension indirectly (it assumes the blade is a certain length to start with, and shows deviation from that as 'tension'). Thus you might think it's properly tensioned when it's way too loose. You'd still need a built-in tilt like 2 above. 
4. If (2) is right, the tilt should decrease with tension, so tensioning the thing well (& running a heavier and/or slightly shorter blade) will help.
5. If the casing is actually bent, you could stiffen it by welding a bit of plate on the back and bolting the axle through both - that wouldn't need enormous precision to do, bashing the casing back into shape first, of course.

I think the very first thing you *must* do is to take the blade and table off, and try some measurements with a straightedge, to see if the wheels align or not. I'd have thought slight downward tilt of the bottom wheel is acceptable, as it will pull straight under load, but not much.

I may have all that quite wrong - trying to build a mental picture is hard!

E.


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## MIGNAL (29 Jun 2012)

Bottom wheel/axle of my Perform Bandsaw, it IS adjustable! Two of the three adjustable bolts can be clearly seen. These are the bolts that I used to get the wheels coplanar. The locking Nuts are located on the outside of the machine next to the motor.


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## Eric The Viking (29 Jun 2012)

Well that's good news!

In which case it's the usual setup process I guess. 

I could see the locking nuts but assumed they were to do with a belt tensioner. Once the wheels are set up it ought to run OK. The too-big blade might still be possible, but it's far more likely simply to be out of alignment for some reason. 

I assume, Mignal, that yours is fine, so it must be possible.

E.


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## tsg (29 Jun 2012)

Unfortunately this thread started 7 years ago, my fault for bringing it back to the present. I stumbled across it while researching the perform bandsaw that I saw on ebay. I have looked at others that have been sold and they have gone for between 150 and 190 GBP so my winning bid of 156GBP would appear about right. Hopefully picking it up tomorrow. Thanks, Paul


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## Vormulac (29 Jun 2012)

For a plethora of reasons I still have this bandsaw with the original blade still on it, I have a collection of Dura-Edge blades that I bought at the time that are still in their packets. Hopefully I'll have enough space in the workshop before long to have another good look at the bandsaw and see what I can see. I'm going to get Steve's DVDs as well andI understand bandsaw setup is one of the topics.


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## SeanG (29 Jun 2012)

Ahh, old thread, I was confused about Steve not mentioning his Bandsaw DVD (which is excellent).

IMHO the two best things that improve a Bandsaw are the blade and Steve's DVDs, the Lonnie Bird Bandsaw book is good too. Oh, thats three - dang it!


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## tsg (11 Jul 2012)

Right, I have set up the saw according to the original manual and then again from advice on youtube. It's not bad but not quite as good as I was expecting, the blade seems to wander a lot when using the fence. Everything seems to be set up square, so I'm at a loss or am I expecting too much? The next thing is a new blade, any recommendations as to make / supplier etc? I am aiming to get a couple of sizes. Again, your advice is always welcome or in this case very much needed! 
Thanks in advance Paul


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## Eric The Viking (11 Jul 2012)

Have you set up the tracking on top and bottom wheels as well as you can, and have you adjusted the fence to correct for drift? See Steve's DVDs and/or published videos (YouTube and Vimeo if memory serves) for how to do this. 

Blades: Ian at Tuff Saws seems to have the best around (wait for the echoes - I'm not alone in thinking this!).

Regards,

E.


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## JakeS (12 Jul 2012)

Eric The Viking":3v19804v said:


> Blades: Ian at Tuff Saws seems to have the best around (wait for the echoes - I'm not alone in thinking this!).



I suspect that if Ian ever wants to retire early, he only has to announce his imminent early retirement and he'll have the funds to do so from all the desperate lifetime-supply-of-bandsaw-blades orders he'd get from existing customers.


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## Eric The Viking (12 Jul 2012)

JakeS":2blxtjuz said:


> I suspect that if Ian ever wants to retire early, he only has to announce his imminent early retirement and he'll have the funds to do so from all the desperate lifetime-supply-of-bandsaw-blades orders he'd get from existing customers.



   

I forgot to mention: 

Blade issues: Check the sharpness is consistent (both sides equally sharp), and that the weld is clean and straight. 

I wrecked a blade recently hitting some buried metal. It survived, but wouldn't cut straight as one side was slightly more blunted than the other. I had a second one that I couldn't get to track (not one of Ian's!), and discovered a very bent weld, pulling it out of true. 

Finally, I think the tension "meters" on small saws are somewhat optimistic. you may need a bit more tension than it appears. If you get a decent musical note when you twang the non-cutting side of the loop, you're in the right ballpark, but it's well worth experimenting.

Cheers,

E. (not an expert by any means!)


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## tsg (12 Jul 2012)

Thanks for the advice, I will sort out new blades. I notice that Tuff Saws do a number of different types, any idea what type I should go for. Sorry for all the questions but this is my first bandsaw and as you can tell I am a complete novice.


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## 9fingers (12 Jul 2012)

Email Ian with details of what sort of things you want to do and he will advise on blade type.

He really is a top bloke!

Bob


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## jumps (13 Jul 2012)

tsg":395aavhw said:


> I notice that Tuff Saws do a number of different types, any idea what type I should go for.



no - but that's because I don't know what you are aiming to do with it!

discuss it with Ian as suggested but don't go for a compromise; they really don't work on bandsaws


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## shipbadger (14 Jul 2012)

I'd echo the comment about Ian at Tuff Saws. After cutting large quantities of laminate flooring with the blade that came with my bandsaw it was blunt and useless. Phoned Ian who was busy but said he'd phone back. True to his word he phoned back later and I explained what I wanted to do on the saw. Not only did he recomend a blade but gave me the pros and cons of the alternatives. I ended up spending more (M42 blade) than perhaps if I'd chosen a blade for myself but am very pleased with the result.

Tony Comber


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## tsg (7 Sep 2012)

I know it's been a couple of months since I asked the questions but I have finally got it sorted. Thanks to everyone that has given me advice, I have bought Steve's DVDs and yesterday took possession of 2 new blades from Tuff Saws.

Just in case anyone looks at this thread in the future, I set up my saw in accordance with the manual, then again with information I found on the internet, and again once I had got Steve Maskery's DVDs.

It still wasn't cutting properly so I ordered new blades from Tuff Saws (on advice from this forum) which arrived yesterday. It took me about an hour to set the saw up again with the new blade but the result is excellent. I thought I had bought a dud, but with the new blade it cuts perfectly straight against the fence, which means I can resaw boards and do about whatever I want. A NEW BLADE IS THE WAY TO GO.

Thanks again for the advice

Paul


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## Eric The Viking (8 Sep 2012)

I'm glad it's fixed, Paul, but I suspect, if you hadn't done the other stuff too, your new blade might still be frustrating you, albeit cutting very well (being Tuff Saws' 'n'all).

But enjoy, anyway!

Cheers, E.


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