Kitty 613 bandsaw blade length confusion

[raescruff]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie to the forum, and this my first post and what has prompted me to stop spectating and start participating!
I bought a second hand Kitty 613 bandsaw a good while ago and have finally got it set up and working. It came with a couple of blades that weren't in best nick and the first thing I did was a bit of research and purchase a couple of new ones according to machine specification (90.5 inches or 2300mm). I've just come to put one on and would you know, it doesn't fit! First I thought I'd been sent the wrong size, but measured and it is 2300mm. So I checked against the one that had come off it, which seems to fit well and is smaller at 88 inches or approx 2240mm.
I'm wondering how this might be! Wheels look original and bands in pretty good condition. Is there an adjustment or something else I'm missing that would account for this? Any advice or suggestions appreciated. Thanks very much

 

[Noel]

Have you fully wound off the tension adjustment? This will bring the top wheel down. Also ensure the blade is not caught anywhere, especially at the back of the frame.
Hope not educating your grandmother etc : )

 

[Sachakins]

I have a Kitty, and definitely 90.5" blades fitted.
If you measure your top and bottom wheel diameters, post your sizes, I'll compare to mind, just incase the wheels have been changed or altered.

 

[Sideways]

Still stuck on my wall from when I had one ...

 

[raescruff]

I have a Kitty, and definitely 90.5" blades fitted.
If you measure your top and bottom wheel diameters, post your sizes, I'll compare to mind, just incase the wheels have been changed or altered.

Thanks, I've just measured and inspected again. The bottom wheel is 31.4cm diameter including about a 2-3mm tyre. The top wheel is also 31.4cm diameter but includes only the thinnest of rubber tyres, less than 1mm. Pictures here

 

[raescruff]

Have you fully wound off the tension adjustment? This will bring the top wheel down. Also ensure the blade is not caught anywhere, especially at the back of the frame.
Hope not educating your grandmother etc : )

Thanks, yes I think we're all good on this front!

 

[Sideways]

Thanks, I've just measured and inspected again. The bottom wheel is 31.4cm diameter including about a 2-3mm tyre. The top wheel is also 31.4cm diameter but includes only the thinnest of rubber tyres, less than 1mm. Pictures here

Look carefully. I think you'll see the tyres are actually the same and close to the original thickness which I remember as about 5mm.
Kity glue the tyres on first and spray paint them afterwards. You just have undisturbed hammer paint on the sides of the white rubber tyres. The wheel you think is the worst is potentially the less worn

Looking at the position of the top wheel against the slots of the sliding mechanism, you have tons of travel left for tensioning the blade. At least a couple of inches worth in the overall blade length. There are rub marks on the paint of the chassis from washers and those suggest that the upper wheel has spent some time an inch higher up than it is in your photo.

My guess is the saw was used (lightly) with an original 90.5" blade. At some point this was replaced with the present one which is actually much shorter than it should be, but the saw has enough adjustment to accommodate it.
Put a proper 2300mm blade on it and just tighten it up.
If it is reluctant, remove the tension screw and give it a good clean in case of any build up of sawdust and grease, or rust. Put back and try again. Altering the tracking also affects tension so you need to tweak those as a pair, keeping the teeth of the blade just overhanging the front of the tyres. The Kity has flat tyres and must NOT be tracked the same way as a saw with the more common crowned wheels. Read the manual and do what it tells you

Tracking a 613 has been covered in previous threads if you search the forum. I would expect it to be happiest with a blade 12 to 16mm wide. Plenty of body to sit on the tyre while the part of the teeth with their sideways set are just off the front. Not too wide a blade as it's only a small saw and can't apply the tension needed.

 

[Sachakins]

Hi,
My wheel diameters are 31.4 for both. So 90.5 will fit.

One problem you may have is that the top tensioner is partially seized, so not allowing the full vertical travel.

I had this problem on mine.
So I slackened off the assembly, sprayed it with WD40 and left overnight. Then disassembled the the adjuster, cleaned up with some emery paper, used a dry grease and reassembled. This gave me back the full travel of the adjuster and works a treat now.

When I first looked at it, it was moving, and looked OK, bit didn't have the full travel.

It's all fine now and a great bandsaw to use.

Best of luck.

 

[Sachakins]

This is inside mine, look how far up the slots for top wheel are. Yours looks low, so try moving adjuster up with no blade on, should travel to top of slots.

This is my bottom wheel below

 

[raescruff]

Amazing guys, and @Sideways and @Sachakins thanks so much, I haven't had a chance to get stuck in to it and probably won't for a few days, but I'm feeling very reassured! I remember trying to get the top wheel to move further up without the blade, but wouldn't budge, so could well be seized... Will share update as soon as I can

 

[raescruff]

Well, after quite a lengthy hiatus due to injury I'd like to check in with you all to say thanks again. Problem solved, but was a little more involved than I had imagined. It turned out that the top wheel could not be persuaded to move up any further at all because the arm was being physically stopped by bottom of one of the tensioner adjustment bolts... So I took off 15mm and we are in business! So pleased and also recovering slowly! Thanks again to you!

 

[Sachakins]

Hope recuperation is going well.

 

[imageel]

I've owned a Kity 613 since new some 30y ago and there does seem to be lots of minor changes/mods that took place during their run in production.
Glad you've got yours sorted, I've found it to be quite a capable and versatile machine once setup correctly.
I'd recommend speaking with Ian at TuffSaws if you need any replacement or speciality blades for these machines, I've used, worn and broken many during it's lifetime and their replacements are very good!