Kity 613 bandsaw

[Barry Burgess]

I have just acquired a Kity 613 on eBay as the seller was unable to fit a new blade to the machine. Thanks to Gill I have a copy of the manual. I will be ordering a new DuraEdge blade as the blade appears to be incorrect. I was wondering what sort of service I should do to the Kity prior to using it??
Thanks for your help
Barry

 

[Gill]

If you don't know what religion the saw is, ask your priest for a general blessing rather than a full service.

Seriously, I hope you get the machine set up quickly and it serves you well. Mine has, for a number of years.

Gill

 

[Mike.C]

Hi Barry,

I do not know what the standard guides and bearings are like on the Kity, but if it has rubbing blocks a good start on most bandsaws is to upgrade these to a guide system that contains a set of bearings at both the sides and rear. I think that Axminster did or do sell a complete set for about £40.

As you know you have already made a good start by going down the Dura Edge road.

Good luck with your new saw.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Chris Knight]

Barry,
I have had one of these for years and they are a good little bandsaw with plenty of power. They have too little depth of cut for my liking but if you search for Tony's mods to a bandsaw with an angle grinder you might be able to improve on the standard!

The ebay seller's reason for sale sounds bizarre- I hope there is nothing dramatically wrong with your machine!

Servicing on mine has basically been confined to removing dust and scraping the tyres occasionally with a small scrap of wood to ensure these are as dust free as possible. I break all the rules and leave mine tensioned most of the time. After 8 or so years it has yet to complain!

Dure Edge are good blades but the best I have found for resawing are Woodslicer blades (ca US$35 each at Highland Hardware) these give me consistently better (resawing) results than any other blade I have used.

 

[Barry Burgess]

Thanks Mike & Chris,
The first problem I found was that the blade had been installed around the back thrust bearing not with the bearing at the back and the drift setting was way off. I removed the blade supplied and am now awaiting the arrival of the DureEdge before spending more time with the setup as I an convinced that the blade supplied with the bandsaw is wrong.
The saw has the rub pads and am checking if I can get bearings to fit to replace the upper rub pads at least. The newer versions of the Kity had them.
The machine has scrubbed up well and I have removed a little rust and generally oiled all of the threaded movements.
Thanks again
Barry

 

[Mike.C]

Hi Barry, if you cannot get the bearings etc, take a look at these http://www.axminster.co.uk/recno/2/prod ... -21256.htm they are very good and IMHO much better than the standard type.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Barry Burgess]

Thanks mike - I will go down this route as the bearing guides for the Kity require the whole top assembly to be changed at a cost of £100 and I will also lose 1/2" of cut height.
Barry

 

[Barry Burgess]

I have been having fun trying to get a 1/2" dureEdge blade stay on the bandsaw. Can ant of you bandsaw experts help - I am running out of ideas?
Thanks
barry

 

[Alf]

Is the top wheel tilting forward causing the blade to slip off or what, Barry?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Barry Burgess]

Is the top wheel tilting forward causing the blade to slip off or what, Barry?

Cheers, Alf

I used a spirit level at first to get the top wheel close - then put tension on the blade and spun it by hand and adjusted the knob until it appeared to be tracking correctly - gave it a final tighten and started the motor - the blade came off a number of times after re adjusting the knob. I might have got it done but got distracted as I ran out of heating oil and all hell broke lose from you know who. I have been scrambling around borrowing heaters. I hope to get back to it tomorrow after the other tasks I have been given
1. assemble 3 Ikea cupboards for SWMBO's friend
2. Get rid of a boot sector virus for my daughter
3. Cook the sunday lunch to try to win brownie points back.

 

[Alf]

Hmm, hard to do this remotely... What state are the wheels in? I'm not familiar with the Kity, but presumably it has rubber tires or some such? Are they in reasonable order? Is the frame of the machine in good nick? Not bent or anything? Perhaps most importantly what's the tensioning spring and so forth looking like? If the blades is tracking okay when you set up perhaps you're losing tension when the wheel's been round a couple of dozen times? It's a bit of a 'mare, I must say; just confirms me in my reluctance to buy secondhand to be honest.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Barry Burgess]

Alf the machine is in good nick. I have tested the both wheel bearings by putting a mark on them and spinning to see if they stop in the same place (worn bearings) They do not. The machine has not been used much and the frame does not have any bang/bump marks or any paint missing.
I found a 1994 posting on an American site saying it was not easy to fit a 1/2" blade to the Kity. I might get a 3/4" blade to test.
Thanks for the help
Barry

 

[Chris Knight]

Barry,

It is a doddle to fit a half inch blade to a Kity and even though the machine can take a three quarter inch one happily, I don't think you will be happy until you can set it up properly.

The trick is to remember that altering the blade tension causes the blade to run on or off the top tyre and this tendency needs to be offset with the top wheel tilt mechanism. BUT, if you think of the blade as a solid oval plate that is tilted, then it is also obvious that the bottom edge will want to move across the lower tyre and this needs to be watched as you balance the two adjustments of tension and tilt.

Also, don't worry about where the teeth are on the tyre. Ideally, according to Kity, they just overhang the edge of the tyres by a small amount but depending on the blade, this can often be an impossible condition to achieve,

 

[devonwoody]

Barry get the oil you mentioned off the machine. It will lead to some more problems down the road when you have sorted your present alignments out.

(The oil and dust in the bearings will harden and bearing will seize up)

 

[Barry Burgess]

Barry,
Also, don't worry about where the teeth are on the tyre. Ideally, according to Kity, they just overhang the edge of the tyres by a small amount but depending on the blade, this can often be an impossible condition to achieve,

This has been my problem trying to get the teeth overlap - I will try not to overlapping them
Thanks

 

[Barry Burgess]

Thanks to all for the help - I have got the Kity working with the 1/2" blade.
Has anybody tried a 1/4" blade??
I am now looking to make a larger table top with fence & mitre system including a circle cutter along the lines of http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10164&filter=24504
or similar to the one in ShopNotes 76.
I also viewed Dave L version and am wondering if there are any other tops out there.
The edges of my table are not square with the top but inclined so I would have to pack the brackets.
Any ideas would be greatly received
Thanks
Barry

 

[devonwoody]

Has anyone ever drilled a cast iron bandsaw table to put bolts through enabling a table extension?

 

[Barry Burgess]

Has anyone ever drilled a cast iron bandsaw table to put bolts through enabling a table extension?

Mine already has holes drilled on two sides

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Has anyone ever drilled a cast iron bandsaw table to put bolts through enabling a table extension?

Yes it drills very easily, I didn't put any bolts through it, I tapped a thread which again is very easy in cast iron.