First bandsaw set up advice

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WillMiller

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Nantlle, Gwynedd
Hello All
I have just got my first bandsaw, a 20 year old RSBS 14. I have downloaded the manual and set it up as best I can but am not happy with the results and am not sure how to proceed. My questions are:
i) the blade is not vertical, which seems important, and I am unsure how to correct this
ii) the upper wheel seems to run very close to the cabinet, is this normal?
iii) I am unsure whether the tyres are in an acceptable condition

Any advice would be gratefully received or if I have bought a lemon that would be good to know before I start spending on it.

Thanks
Will
 

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Don't have a lot of experience with bandsaws, bought mine new a year or so ago & it's not been used a huge amount so not a lot of real maintenance. I am however an engineer by trade so know a little about machinery in general.
The blade issue & the top wheel look to go hand in hand, from the pictures the wheel looks to be to far forward on it's shaft which would also put the blade at that sort of angle.
If you look at the top wheel can you see a collar on the shaft behind it that the wheel should maybe be sitting against? looks like the top wheel may have moved forward off the shaft. Tyres don't look great but I don't know what is acceptable sorry.
I would be checking for any movement in the wheels to see if the bearings needed replacing.

Just a thought, is there anyway to adjust the position of the top wheel which may be used for alignment? Maybe its just set to far forward.
 
I wouldn't worry about the tyres they last forever.
The blade doesn't look far off vertical I wouldn't worry about that either.
Yes the wheel does look close to the cabinet. It could be an old blade having to be tracked back and hence tilting bottom of wheel forward. Try a new blade? Try adjusting tracking - without the blade guides in place?
 
Without sending you on a quest, might be worth seeing how a different blade might run on it.

Could well be fettled to perfection to suit a certain blade, as the heavier the tension applied
the more it could favour lining up.
Not saying to put some oversized blade on the machine which could break it...
regardless what the manufacturer says about that, it's 95% unlikely that any claim about max blade size is honest.

If not the case...
How does the bottom wheel run without a blade installed?
Any vibration, if so bottom wheel is likely not in line with the pulley .
You could check for yaw and coplanar issues after that, mainly the former, to get an easier reading.
I take it that the top wheel is non adjustable in this way. (yaw)

.............................

You could possibly check for belt tension at this stage, if wheel isn't in line with pulley
and you happened to tighten or install a new belt which might not stretch anywhere near the old one, being out of line might toast your motor bearing in about 20 seconds!

I wouldn't be looking into having a tight or new belt without checking this ever again.


Once those things are checked under blade tension, and if good, then it's your table that needs adjustment.

Looks like there is a groove in the tire also, and the whole section of the front seems worn low,
so that could be dressed.
I wouldn't expect it to run well like that, not saying it couldn't, but could well be likely that the saw is
adjusted to suit that issue, possibly with a certain blade.

Must have been a very wide set on the blades, or something else odd to cause that wear.

Depending if you like blisters in between your fingers, and/or spending for gloves, you might prefer to get new tires.
Being a cheapskate, I'd prefer to dress em.
Here's two videos which might be of interest on the subject




Good luck with the machine

Tom
 
Ive the 10" of that saw and at the same point the wheel is at least 12mm from the frame.

Put a straight edge across the open doorway and see if the wheel is tilted backwards.
 
I’m with Spectric, Mr Snodgrass is the oracle when it comes to setting up a bandsaw
 

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