Bandsaw set up pix ?

[Tonyhaz]

I've been setting it up, but the blade waves a bit, or twists, what ever the word is ha ha.
Also the the belt looked liked it was on wrong, went over the roller wheel and not under, see pix.
Be grateful if you guys can look at pix and tell me if it looks ok, and what might be causing the blade to wiggle wave.
I took a video but not sure if I can post it.

 

[transatlantic]

Looks ok to me.

Perhaps your wheels aren't aligned? which according to Alex Snodgrass should be OUT of coplaner (not coplaner). Although don't touch that yet as it's not something you want to mess around with as it's a pain to get right. Best wait to see if anyone more knowledgable has any other suggestions first.

Might want to also check the blade weld. If it's a bind bent/bumpy it could cause things to go off.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The blade looks to be in the right sort of position on the bottom wheel but a little towardes the back of the top one. Also, the blade looks like it is contacting the rear thrust bearing, it should not. Move the guides out of the way, use the tracking adjuster to bring the blade to the centre of the upper tyre, revolving it by hand to check and then bring the guides back. the rear thrust guide should show a gap of about 1/2 mm betwen it and the blade. And pay no attention to Alex Snodgrass, I know some here are fans, but none who are experienced bandsaw users, who know most of his lectures are just nonsense, sales gimmics and tricks to impress the naive!

Dont forget to unplug the saw!

Mike.

 

[woodbrains]

hello,

BTW the belt tensioner should be running on the back of the Vee belt, I dont know which picture you are running the saw on currently, there seems to be one of each! you have the speed set slow, too, it might be worth setting the belt on the wider diameter pullley at the motor end to speed it up for wood cutting.

Mike.

 

[user 19915]

don't know if you have seen this video before but here we are any way good luck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

 

[Ttrees]

You should mention the saw you've got.
Have you had the saw from new?

You might try a few different blades, I suspect a narrower blade might not have this problem.
I would not be going too mad if I had only one blade.
Have you got a crown on either wheel ?
Is the saw dust pattern from the blade in the same location on both tires ?
Any damage ?
I would a straight edge against the wheels and see if they are coplanar.
Then I might look at adjustment of the wheel hub ...remember where your wheel was previously... measure it!
This way is always the least destructive .
Tom

 

[ColeyS1]

Could be just a kinky blade. May have got kinked fitting it to the saw, or perhaps it may have snatched/twisted when sawing something. Try a different blade first before you do anything too dramatic.
Coley

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[sunnybob]

From those pictures, you have all the bearings touching the blade which is wrong.
For wood cutting you need the higher speed so the belt should be on the smallest motor spindle pulley and the largest wheel pulley.
The jockey wheel should then be adjusted to tighten the belt narrower, so that more of the belt is on the pulley. set it so that with your finger and thumb you can move the belt about a half inch either way (up AND down) from rest.

Move all of the bearings away from the blade.
Loosen the blade a bit, just enough that it will stay on when running.
Run the machine and tighten the blade while watching it from the front. The blade will flutter (side to side vibration). Keep tightening slowly untill the flutter stops and the blade looks as though its stopped moving.
lock the blade adjustment.
If at this stage the blade gives a regular kick in either direction, its bent and needs replacing.

Then move the side bearings in untill they are only a cigarette papers thickness away from the blade, but they must be further back than your pics. 3 or 4 mm at least behind the gullet of the teeth on your size of blade

Make sure the machine is turned off at the wall for this next one. Push the blade backwards with your thumb untill the gullet of the teeth are at the bearing edges but NOT between them. Set the rear bearings to this distance. The only purpose of the rear bearings is to stop the teeth being squeezed by the side bearings. If that happens, youve just blunted the blade. replace it.

A quick tip for future reference when fitting a new blade, if the one you have cuts well, make a mark on the side of the machine showing where the front edge of the blade is. With the next blade, adjust the rear nut untill the new blades teeth are at that mark, then go through the above set up.

 

[Mr T]

I agree with Woodbrains anout the thrust bearing, I also think the side bearings could be set a biit closer. I usually have them a gnats nadger away from the blade. I think they used to say a pound note's thickness.

Chris

 

[woodbrains]

For wood cutting you need the higher speed so the belt should be on the smallest motor spindle pulley and the largest wheel pulley.
.

Hello,

It is the other way around, sunnybob. Large pulley on the motor small pulley on the lower wheel, gives higher speed.

I would set the side guides just behind the gullets though. 3 or 4 mm is too much. The blade can only move backwards by the 1/2mm the rear thrust bearing is set away from the blades back, so no need for the side guides to be set any further behind the gullets than this. We want to give the blade enough guidance to not twist at the tooth line. Mr T is right about the pound note gap between the side guides and the blade.

Mike.

 

[sunnybob]

You got me on the pulleys, i must be getting dyslexic in my old age.
But I have superb results with setting the bearings as i describe.
Theres always more than one way to skin a cat (or is that also a non PC saying nowadays?)

 

[Tonyhaz]

Thanks guys for the info, the machine is Axminster AWHBS350N, bought it two weeks ago from eBay.
Total novice, and have only seen the snodgrass video, when I got it and turned it on to test it, it struggled to cut, it was set up terrible, but once I did snodgrass settings it was better but not great. It's only 4 years old, but don't think it was used much,
Hi mike,
I'm running it as the 2nd from last picture with drive belt right of the roller thing, also to speed it up, do I just mov the belt to the next grove by motor ?
Sorry if it sounds stupid questions but I'm totally a novice trying to learn, I know how to do tracking on top wheel, but there's no know on the bottom wheel ( apart from me)

 

[Tonyhaz]

Here's a few more pictures of my machine, you say it's set on slow speed, do I have to move both ends or just the motor end ?

Really appreciate your replys, not many people willing to help a novice, glad I found this forum

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

You move the belt both ends. In other words, move the belt on the motor end from the smaller to the larger pulley and at the lower wheel end, from the larger to the smaller pulley.

I don't like the Snodgrass video though I know some here like it. I think (know actually) that it makes no practical sense.
To set up your bandsaw, move the blade guides away from the blade so there is no contact and raise the upper guide/guard to the top. Tension the blade, then get the blade to run at the centre of both top and bottom wheels using the tracking adjuster. Rotate the wheels as you do this to see when the blade is running centred. Back off the rear thrust bearings on the assembly and move the guide assy forward until the side bearings are just a tad behind the blades tooth gullets. Adjust the side guides towards the blade until they are a banknote thickness away and tighten. Now move the thrust bearing forwards until it is about 1/2mm shy of touching the back of the blade. Tighten and repeat with the lower guides. Rotate the wheels to make sure nothing is rubbing any of the bearings; readjust slightly if necessary. You are good to go.

Don't forget to pull the plug when doing these adjustments. BTW tensioning the blade is best done by feel. I don't know if your saw has a tension gauge, but they tend to be unreliable, use to get you close. Then adjust the tension knob until the blade has a sidways deflection with moderate finger pressure of about 3 mm. When cutting with the saw, lower the tip of the upper blade guides to about 10 mm above the surface of the work, so there is no more blade exposed than necessary.

Hope this is all clear and good luck.

Mike.

 

[Ttrees]

Have you got any other blades ?
Tracking is done by turning the knob slightly on the back of the upper wheel shaft,
With the tension off
This changes the angle of the wheel, and will alter the lower wheel to some small extent aswell.
I would back off ALL guides until you get your twisting blade problem sorted.
Tracking is to be done first.
I (hinted) mentioned a narrower blade might give you more of a clue if somethings not right.
this will get you in the ball park of an optimum setting.
I would get a straight edge and lay it on both wheels to see if that might give another clue.
Like whats mentioned in the wood whisperer video.

That blade could have hit a nail or staple...that's all it takes to make a blade wobble
Do you hear any rubbing or strange sound from the tires at all?
I would not do anything much till I could confirm it with a new blade.
And I would be careful about putting too wide of a blade on it as it could bend your frame and throw
everything out of whack along with damaging your tension adjustment.
Good luck
Tom

 

[Tonyhaz]

Mike & Tom,
Thank you for your advice, I shall order some blades and see how they go,
Getting back you to drive belt, is mine correct now ?

 

[woodbrains]

Getting back you to drive belt, is mine correct now ?

Hello,

It looks from the latest pictures that you still have the saw on the lower speed 600m min-1. It will certainly work but likely will run better at the higher speed 720 m min-1. The tension wheel is correct now.

Mike.

 

[Tonyhaz]

Great stuff, thank you mike, I will move both tomorrow

 

[Alexam]

I hope this will help you.
GET THE BEST TUNING FROM A BANDSAW 'Alex Snodgrass of Carter Industries has an excellent video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU on a tune up method that works well.
Tuning is only that and nothing else. If you really want to get the very best use of your bandsaw on an ongoing basis, then the Steve Maskery DVD's will show you far more and they are a real investment that you should own. http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/ '.
CHECKING BLADE TENSION - Flutter test Video's -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chyo9chuwJs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8zZuDosSy0

BUY BEST BLADES FROM ..... http://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/
TUNE WITH SOUND ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPyc2iDQnOA&vl ( UNPROVEN )

Whenever you have put a blade on a bandsaw, ask yourself the following questions:-
....... are you managing to get the blade running freely and central on the top wheel ( without guides or rear bearing near the blade ) with the gullet of the teeth in the centre of the top wheel ? The exception would be with wider blades, as 1/2" and wider may not sit 'centred' on the top wheel). That's the first priority before closing in guides and thrust bearings. The blade will not be in the centre of the lower wheel as the manufacturer allows the top wheel to be adjusted and tilt to allow tuning.

Is the blade running vertical 90° to the table alignment, front and back as well as side to side?
Once the guides and bearings have been brought to the correct position, (not touching when the blade runs freely) is the blade remaining where it should be when run under power and switched on and off checking several times ?

Are you sure that the tension is correct, or as near as it can be. Each blade could be different, even if it is the same depth, so needs to be checked whenever changing blades.

If all these things are correct, then you should get a true cut unless you are trying to cut the wood too fast and it's filling the teeth with sawdust and pushing the blade out of line and see if teeth are damaged in any way.
Finally, if you have used the blade before, make sure the teeth are clean, as sawdust will stick in the teeth gullet. Cleaning with a wire brush will result in a far better cut before starting a new job, but certainly on a regular basis.

Malcolm

 

[twodoctors]

One thing I learned (the hard way) about tensioning the blade is how to tell if there's too much tension. My blade didn't snap, but I spent an hour trying to align the blade in the correct part of the wheel only for it to jump from one end to the other. Turns out that I had too much tension because as soon as I release some, it tracks with ease when I turn the tracking knob.

An hour of my life I will never get back... :-D

Adrian