Elektra Bekum Bandsaw Guide...

[NikNak]

Hi guys, not quite sure where to post this, so thought i'd try here first....


I've got an Elektra Bekum bandsaw BAS316G, secondhand from 'the bay', works fine, but..... the blade guide at the bottom of the height adjuster is err.... how can i put it.... not 'square to the table' (see pics... )




this is a front view





this is a back view







and the 2 side views....


Doesn't seem to matter how much i try to adjust it etc, it just wont come true & square, which is leading me to think that the actual jig may be either bent (dont think so....) or its been cast wrong somehow... :shock:

Can anyone out there give some advice/tip/hint as to how i can 'true-it-up' please..? (hammer)

Other than this... it works fine....



ohh.... one last thing.... anyone got any recommendations for a used/dead blade before i bin it...?





Cheers in advance guys....


Nick

 

[marcros]

Used blade... You have about a lifetimes supply of scratch stock material there!

 

[SurreyHills]

I used to have a BAS315 and it suffered from the same problem, although not as bad as your seems. My solution was to put some shims in to true up the angle the bottom part of the guides met the vertical column at. The whole assembly is just bolted together so you can take it apart quite easily and see if there is anything that could be stopping it from sitting square on the column before resorting to shimming it.
Andy

 

[Flynnwood]

I'm not familiar with the saw, so just looking at your pictures .... could you not use shims to bring it square?

Couple of suggestions below, but I can only go from your pictures. A set of old feeler guages can be useful for making shims (by cutting them up).

Try shimming where the arrows point?

and (maybe) even here, but I can't really tell from your photos:

 

[Eric The Viking]

Take the whole lot apart and clean it thoroughly! It looks wrong, but I can't see exactly how. I had similar problems with mine (SIP), and ended up taking a file to the flats that clamp the guides assembly to the vertical column. It didn't take long to get it close, and paper as a shim brought it pretty much dead-on. I have to say that guide system looks a bit massive - does it take huge blades or sommat?