Chaiwanese bandsaw upgrades - blade guides

[roombacurious]

A while ago I bought a bandsaw off eBay - a Clark 12" three-wheeler (CBS12WV). That was before I'd learnt enough about bandsaws to know better Anyway, the price was under £20 and I needed a benchtop one due to space constraints so I decided to stick with it.

The motor is 500w and though brushed not terribly noisy. It has electronic variable speed control which is a plus. However blade tracking in my saw was terrible, the blade kept twisting, flexing and eventually coming off all the time and the table was concave! :shock: Never seen a table that bad before. However I like messing with my machines and since bandsaws are rather simple I decided to do something about it.

So first I ditched the original table and replaced it with a plywood one. Then the wheels where made co-planar by using bolt washers. But the main upgrade was the blade guides. The original ones were two simple metal wheels (one upper one lower) sitting behind the blade with a sort of groove round their circumference where the blade slotted into when cutting. Cheap, simple and totally ineffective. I therefore got some small bearings and made my own blade guides, similar to what most "real" bandsaws come with (two bearings at the sides, one at the back). Six bearings, a bit of MDF, some nuts and bolts was all that was needed. And what difference it made! Accuracy has improved dramatically, the blade is supported properly and doesn't twist with the wood and the saw is now usable (and useful).

I'm planning to make some further minor changes and replace the MDF backing of the guides with steel as well as make a new fence. Once the upgrade is complete I'll post some pictures if anyone is interested. For now the moral of the story is that you can make a cheap machine perform well if for some reason you're so inclined. :lol:

 

[OPJ]

It's always nice to hear of someone making good use out of someone else's leftovers. :wink:

I can only guess the old table was that bad because they had been using it to lift the machine...? You should never do this with any machine.

From what you say about the old thrust bearings, it's likely they weren't actually designed with a groove cut in to them but that over time, the groove was worked in to them from the actual blade. Whenever I fit a brand new blade, I always make sure to round off the back two corners, so they're less likely to try and dig in. This tip also helps to prevent burn marks when cutting curves. :wink:

I'd be interested to see some photo's of what you've done so far and, of course, I'd like to see how that replacement fence turns out as well.

 

[ivan]

Burgess' model makers bandsaw had a combined guide/thrust wheel thus. I think Carter in the US sell something similar (but ball bearing based) especially for very narrow blades where lateral guides have little to bear on.

 

[roombacurious]

I guess it's not really about having a bandsaw that cuts properly. If this was the issue I would have re-sold the Clarke and bought a proper one straight away! It's more about the satisfaction of starting with a "leftover" machine as you say (which btw is considered bad even new!) and making something useful out of it. Why really bother? Because it's interesting, fun and you learn a few things in the process. Now if the end result can cut as well then even better! :wink:

 

[Rich]

I'd like to see some pics please,
regards

Rich.

 

[roombacurious]

No problem. I'm finishing the steel version of the guides in the next few days and should be able to put up some pictures then.

 

[lawrencezarb]

I have the same bandsaw and would also like to see the pics.

 

[George_N]

I have a Burgess BK1 three wheeler, bought as part of a job lot from a retired woodwork teacher. It has "proper" blade guides (I think) with a bearings behind the blade and adjustable guide blocks at each side. It has a quiet running induction motor, which is good but the table is awful. Even with everything locked down it flaps about (as said above it has probably been lifted by the table) so I would be interested to see your replacement plywod one.

 

[lawrencezarb]

bump..