Bandsaw Video

[Alexam]

This is one I had not seen before but is really excellent for those new to bandsaws. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-aHHxEKw6g
Hope it helps some of you, but I did comment on the page as follows,

'That is an excellent video, One of the best I have seen as it gives far more detail that new owners will need. I have the same machine and it is superb. I have also used the 1/8" blade with the Carter Stabilizer which is ideal for the smaller blades. Well done guys. Malcolm (UK) INteresting to see just before you took off the 1/2" blade, the tension meter was well above the norm. Also, if anyone does remove the top wheel ( I never have in 4 years) remember to mark the position, otherwise the balancing weights will not be correct, if put back on in another position which is important. I would suggest the wheels are not removed.'


Malcolm

 

[MrTeroo]

Sean Bean's let himself go...

 

[CHJ]

Also, if anyone does remove the top wheel ( I never have in 4 years) remember to mark the position, otherwise the balancing weights will not be correct, if put back on in another position which is important. I would suggest the wheels are not removed.


Malcolm

How on earth are you going to fit a Balanced Wheel on a simple round axle in the wrong orientation?

 

[Alexam]

............................. How on earth are you going to fit a Balanced Wheel on a simple round axle in the wrong orientation?

Hi Chas,
My thoughts were that if the weights on the wheel were at the bottom of the wheel when it is removed, but when the wheel is replaced, those weights were in a different position, then it would not be correctly balanced. Until this video, I had no idea that there were weights on the wheel, but not sure if the weights were added to balance on the machine, or off? Any ideas ?
Malcolm

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It wouldn't matter - it either balances or it doesn't.

 

[Droogs]

When you balance a wheel, it's not done to make the top and bottom wheels match. It is done to the individual wheel off the mache before it is installed. It is done so that if you had the wheel on a freely rotating shaft/axle and let it go, regardless of if you have spun the wheel or put it to a mark or not, when you release the wheel it will not move or slowly rotate until the heaviest part settles at the bottom. This is done to ensure that when in use no wobble or vibration are introduced by the wheel to the shaft or the attached machine/vehicle etc.

 

[Alexam]

Thanks. I appreciate its not done to match the wheels. I thought that if a wheel were balanced on the machine, then moving it to another position on the spindle, may cause a problem with imbalance of that wheel. If not, then it does not matter if it's moved to another position. Just thought it best to ensure that it's put back in the same position to avoid a possible imbalance.
Malcolm

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If I have tyres put on the car they balance the wheels before they're put back on the car.

 

[Alexam]

My bandsaw doesn't take car tyres!

 

[Alexam]

Yeah, thought as mutch.
Malcolm

 

[AJB Temple]

Alex, the point about a balanced wheel is that it does not matter at all where you put it on the spindle or axle: that can neither change nor upset the balance.

 

[transatlantic]

That reminds me, must pick up some tea bags

 

[bigbob1]

Thanks for the link Malcolm

 

[Chris152]

Yep, thanks for sharing this. I'd read that the tension guide was pretty inaccurate, just a rough guide, but didn't realise how far off it could be - he seems to have it set to 1" on the guide for a 3/8" blade?

 

[Alexam]

It looked well above the 1" blade mark to me.
Malcolm

 

[Bodgers]

Makes a change from the Snodgrass video! We've seen quite a lot of that

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

One piece of different advice from what I've always employed that came out of that was the positioning of the side guides versus the gullets. The RP engineer didn't seem too fussy about positioning the guides anywhere close to the bottom of the gullets. He basically states they can be positioned almost anywhere as long as they're well away from putting the set of the teeth at risk. That's counter to all the advice I've ever read (including ironically, a DVD that shipped with my BS400 put out by Record Power themselves presented by Alan Holtham!!) which all say the same thing which is to position the side guides a hair behind the top dead centre of the gullet. Now, obviously that positioning also satisfies the "it wont interfere with the teeth set" advice but it's clearly going to provide greater support to the blade if side pressure is placed on it because more of the blade is covered. In the video discussed here, he places the guides quite a bit further back than that, well back from the gullet centres in fact. So, yes it will satisfy the set issue but it seems to me it would be less efficient as a buffer to side pressure on the blade. So that bit of advice a) conflicts with their earlier taped advice b) conflicts with the advice in the manual and c) conflicts with every single other source I've ever read on this part of the setup procedure. For those reasons, I'm going to stick with placing the guides a hair behind the centre of the gullets. Another reason is I've been doing this for years and never yet lost the set of my blades. So I'm a little confused as to why that advice was given as it doesn't make sense to me.

Edit: Having just reviewed it again, the piece I'm referring to begins at about 9:50 and it's very clear to see that he leaves the side bearings adjustment only about half way up the blade, miles from directly behind the gullets.

 

[transatlantic]

I really dislike the crappy bearings on my BS300, and in this video you can see just how bad they are too. He mentions that you want the bearing a cigarette paper thin distance away from the blade, yet as he rotates it, there is 3-4mm of play

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I agree, the bearings aren't fabulous, but my personal experience with the 400 is that doesn't make a jot of difference to the performance of the cut. This is important because I'm reporting actual observable experience with this exact model and that might help people when reading this thread in the future. In fact, I've been reflecting on the Record engineers choice of placing the bearings way back from the gullets and I have to conclude, it's probable that putting them a hair away isn't really going to make that much difference. One has to assume the record technical chap knows his onions so just to experiment to monitor the results I'm going to switch to moving my guides back a bit. If it doesn't have any impact on the cut then doing it his way is a heck of a lot less fiddly to setup!

Be careful we're not talking at cross purposes here....his cigarette paper setup rule is different to what I'm discussing here which is about how close the side guides are set in relation to the lowest point in the arc of the gullets. The cigarette paper rule is about how close in to touching the side of the blade the guides are set. It's the left to right adjustment. My original point is the front to back adjustment from the point of view of a person standing in front of the bandsaw in "normal" position.

 

[transatlantic]

My point is that the bearings are there to stop the blade wandering too far. But as they have so much play, the blade is able to wander 3-4mm either side. With other bearings that wouldn't happen.