Bandsaw Blade drifting from thrust bearing

[HornBen]

Good Morning all,

I have recently being trying to setup up a secondhand Record BS300. So far I have pretty much stripped down the machine apart from removing the main bandwheels.

The tool now seems to be cutting pretty well and I think as straight as I can probably expect giving I have only just started to experiment with tension settings and bearing adjustments.

In saying that I have a couple of questions.

1) The blade seems to be drifting by about 1-2 from front to back i.e. towards and away from the thrust bearing - how can I prevent this?

2) The blade and table are at 90 deg when looking from the front however when looking side on the blade is slightly out of alignment from top to bottom i.e. around 1-2 gap at top of set square when placed on the table. Is the only way to adjust this to shim up the table fittings to the trunnion?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Alexam]

Hi Ben and welcome to the forum,

Check this out it will help you to 'TUNE' your machine whixh we all have to do.

THE BEST 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, but if you want to get the 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. http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/ '.

For checking the tension of your blade - A Flutter test Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8zZuDosSy0

The blade being out of line from front to back is the fact that it is not running correctly over the wheel and moving the blade. Once you set the machine up 'as above' you should not have any more problems.

If you are unaware, the very best blades for your machine are made by Ian Black at Tuffsaw. If you order blades fro him, you will see a dramatic improvement in cutting, as most people will tell you.

Malcolm

 

[CHJ]

Does this happen with more than one blade?

Just make sure the blade is not the problem, misaligned at join or been stretched, before you start chasing a problem with the wheel tyres etc.

 

[HornBen]

Thanks for the replies so far...

I used the Alex Snograss video to adjust the bearings and set up the blade (as much as possible) although I guess there is a certain amount of 'feeling' when it come to adjusting the blade tension etc.

I have only tried it with one blade so far - It's a good point though, I'll try it with another one and see if there is any noticeable difference...

 

[Alexam]

Ben, what size blade and timber were you using? Also, when I first saw the Alex Snodgrass video and tried to replicate it, I needed to watch that video several times and do many adjustments with the guides etc before I managed to get it right.

It does take time and it's important to ensure that you can get the blade running in the right place without any guides being moved in, with the motor running. Only then do you start setting the guides. Then check again with the guides in place. It should work to correct the problem completly, unless, as mentioned above, there is a blade imperfection. Generally it takes me 15 mins to check when I change blades, but took longer when I started.

Malcolm

 

[Steve Maskery]

The good news is that it probably doesn't matter very much if it only 1-2mm as this will disappear as you are actually cutting, from the forward pressure of your cut.

Have a look at the point where the blade is welded. If there is the slightest misalignment of the two cut ends, then that is the source of your problem.

 

[woodpig]

You can do quite a bit with the BS300E.

record-bs300e-upgrades-t54641.html

 

[HornBen]

Thanks for all of the comments so far - much appreciated. I will certainly try some of the recommendations and take it from there.

Any comments on my second question with regards to the table alignment with the back of the blade.

Thanks again..

 

[Glynne]

The other thing that cause front to back drift is if the tyre isn't centred on the wheels. If you slowly turn the wheel by hand (isolate the saw obviously) you should be able to see whether this is the case.
As Steve says, it shouldn't make much difference in practice but I do get a bit of movement on my BS350S.

 

[Alexam]

Thanks for all of the comments so far - much appreciated. I will certainly try some of the recommendations and take it from there.

Any comments on my second question with regards to the table alignment with the back of the blade.

Thanks again..

Your allignment will be correct once the machine has been correctly set up. It's a question of where the blade is on the wheel.

Malcolm

 

[Wuffles]

I had to adjust the top wheel (which if I remember rightly is explicitly mentioned as a "don't do" in the video) because the guy I'd bought my bs300 from had fiddled with it. I can't remember what gave away the fact that it needed moving, was a while ago now, but it may have been how the blade sat on the wheels was the giveaway. If yours is new that's a red herring.

The video posted is what I used to get it tip top.

Best of luck with it, I love mine, sure you will too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk