Fox F28-186 Bandsaw Help Please

[Katchin]

Hi,

I have been setting up my new bandsaw and it appears to be off-centre, i'm sure that i'm doing something wrong, but the instructions that came with it are terrible. After putting it all together, I noticed that the blade rubs against the centre plastic round on one side, and I cannot see how to centre it properly. I can move the guides, but not far enough to make a difference it seems, its as though the whole blade is 50mm offline, or the table is in the wrong place.
After setting up the saw I swapped the blade for one from tuffsaws, and had to change the angle of the top wheel slightly by using the adjuster at the back, which was fine, so the blade is centred on the wheel at the top ok. The upper guide assembly seems to be able to move somewhat, which makes the upper guides virtually useless as the whole assembly moves. The lower guide assembly seems to be too far over.

I did notice at the back of the lower wheel that there are four bolts, am I to move the whole lower wheel over a bit maybe?

here are a couple of photo's:-

 

[jumps]

I'm no expert, and don't even have that model, but a couple of points jump out from your post -

the guides aren't there to adjust the blade position - they are there to keep it in position. I may have misread what you were suggesting but just in case I thougt I would mention it.

so the starting point to your situation is all guide well clear, including the thrust bearing behind the blade (just in case), plastic bit out, blade positioned as required by manufacturer (centre or tooth over edge etc), tension and top wheel angle adjusted to run and stay running in position on both wheels.

at this point I would now check the angle (90 degrees eactly) and recheck the installation of the table itself.

if everything looks good, set the guides and thrust bearing and move to dynamic testing (ie does it cut straight, drift, setting up the fence etc)

if everything but the position of the blade in the plastic cut out looks good I would either (1) make a new cut out in wood with the blade cutout where the blade wants to run or (2) modify the existing plastic one. Until I was happy that the dynamic testing was OK I wouldn't damage the plastic one in case I was going to send it all back.

hope this helps

 

[Katchin]

The new picture i have posted here says it all really, it must be the guide assembly. Surely that is very wrong?

I have somewhat realligned it, the blade is no longer touching the plastic insert in the bench, but the upper guide assembly still looks very wrong, and moves a lot. Also there is no real power to the blade, if I add tension to it at all, then it wont spin, the drive wheel just spins. The rubber band from the drive wheel, to the main lower wheel is rather loose.

 

[NetBlindPaul]

Katchin,
Something definitely "looks" wrong there.
I would suggest removing the table, and backing all the guides well off the blade.
What ever you do do not adjust the bottom wheel please not at this stage!
That is serious messing around (read 4 letter word beginning with Sh & ending in t!)
Do this and let us know please?

 

[MIGNAL]

I don't know that machine but the upper column seems as though it has not been tightened. There is usually a large wing type knob (on yours it appears to be round) that allows the column to rise and fall. Adjacent to that knob is (usually) 4 bolts. If that is the case they must surely be loose.
The lack of power to the wheel is a separate issue, no doubt related to the drive belt.

 

[Katchin]

Ok, I haven't adjusted the bottom wheel, so that's all good.
I think I have found the problem, or one of them. In the included picture you can see two screws, above and below the raising knob for the upper guide assembly, the upper one is just turning in its hole, and not tightening anything, this is letting the whole assembly wobble. Hopefully this is easily fixable with a new bit from the supplier.
As to the fairly loose drive belt, not sure.

 

[Eric The Viking]

At risk of repeating an oft-mentioned item, I'd strongly recommend you get Steve Maslkery's bandsaw DVDs from here. He deals with setup, and explains how to get it tracking properly.

I got them when I got my bandsaw, and they were enormously useful.

Regarding the blade offset you show, A couple of considerations:

Firstly, it's entirely possible that the top wheel is not in the right place with respect to the bottom one. On my SIP (which is now running beautifully, incidentally), the tension adjuster mechanism (the big frame that holds the top wheel in place inside the cover) was fitted too far towards the support pillar. I had to enlarge the bolt holes with a rats-tail file before it would move over sufficiently. Now the blade is properly square to the table, and tracking well, but it still runs with a very slight-but-annoying front to back tilt. This is because the frame was made out of true(!) so that the top and bottom wheel cases aren't coplanar. It's not a big issue in practice though.

Secondly, with Chinese-style bandsaws, as you increase the tension, the whole frame bends slightly, so that the right hand side bends downwards (the open ends of the frame get closer together). This has the effect of moving the line of the blade to the right (seen from the front). It's just possible you don't have enough working tension on the blade, although I'll admit it would take quite a lot more tension for that to make a difference!

Mine does move left-right noticeably, as I change the tension, and this moves the guides around too (especially the top ones). When I re-tension from a small blade to a larger one, the guides have to be moved quit a lot (several mm.). So it's not the same fixed position for every blade.

Get Steve's videos -- you won't regret it! Once you've digested the advice, a lot of the geometry will be more apparent. It's possible something's amiss, but you won't know unless you set it up following a good procedure.

HTH,

E. (not a battle-hardend pro-bandsaw user, just an amateur).