New Axminster AWESBS Bandsaw - Setup Confusion

[MichaelM]

I've just bought one of the above bandsaws. It arrived yesterday and I spent a while in the evening assembling it. Tonight I had a go at setting it up. I've never had a bandsaw before, so forgive me if I'm asking stupid questions, but I'm puzzled by the blade guide bearings.

Following the instructions I set the thrust and blade guide bearings according to the specs. The thrust bearings were to be 1 mm back from the blade and the guide bearings were to be 0.5 mm from the side of the blade and 1.5 mm set back from the teeth. I should really say "set as best I could" because they move all over the place when I nip them up. If this is a critical adjustment, then it's going to be fun with these things.

I've read some articles that mention the bearings touching the blade, and some others whereby they are set about the thickness of a sheet of paper away. Now I'm sure my problem is compounded by the fact that I probably don't have the blade correctly tensioned (it's the one that came with the saw, but I also bought an Axcalibur one too) but all these different opinions are confusing.

As I've said I've never had a bandsaw before, so my opinions may be irrelevant but as far as I can tell, it is a well constructed and substantial machine. I feel though that a better job could be made of those bearings, they really are incredibly fiddly, and the table tilt mechanism is fairly crude. Other than that, I feel I have the money's worth. I just wish I had bought the wheel kit as well.

Does anyone here own one of these saws and what way do you set your tension and bearings? I've read that 1/4 inch deflection with the guide raised fully is about right, but while I am unsure whether or not my bearings are correctly adjusted, I haven't tightened it up any further.

On another note, should I bin the blade that it came with and fit the Axcalibur one now?

Thank's,

Michael

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Micheal,

First, use the bleade you have to practice setting up, then, when you've got the hang of it and need to do more than just practice cuts bin it and fit the new one. The difference will shock you :shock: !!

In my experience the guide bearings are not as important as many people make out. In an ideal world you should set all three pretty much as you describe. Using a fiver around the blade, set the guides and remove the note, hey presto!!! Yeah right!! You've already discovered problem no 1!!! When you raise and lower the guard you'll probably have to reset them as well! D'oh!!

The bearings are only really important for long straight cuts to keep the blade on track but if you keep a sharp blade for this the problem is almost non existant.

I'm sure there will be plenty said about this but basically, set them as best you can and, as long as you feel safe and comfortable with the result, press the green button and see what happens!!!

Hope this helps, good luck,

Richard

 

[MichaelM]

Hello Richard,

So it's basically a "fivers worth of shim" all round? I'm assuming that goes for the under table bearings as well?

That I can do, but it isn't easy with the bearings going their own way as soon as I reach for the allen key! :lol: Is it correct for the blade to run on the thrust bearing when cutting or is this due to my blade being too slack?

I'm having a bit of bother too with the fence in that I had it aligned perfectly with the runner in the table, but a few minutes later it was off by a millimetre or two. I also note the mitre guide is pretty sloppy in the tracks but I suppose that is to be expected and remedied with a better mitre guide.

Thank's again,

Michael

 

[NeilO]

Micheal,
sounds like when setting up your fence you didnt allow for the "Drift" of the blade, which is basically the line of cut the blade actually WANTS to cut , as opposed to the cut you want it to make..
check out www.thewoodwhisperer.com for Marc Spagnuolo (sp?) podcasts
click the tab "all episodes" and watch podcast #13 "setting up a bandsaw" while not being exhaustive it does give you some Idea of what you should be doing, and how to adjust your fence to allow for "Drift"...

set it in your favorites, I think the guy makes his podcasts not only informative but also quite funny.

HTH

 

[jonbikebod]

Michael,
In danger of egg sucking lessons but you have tensioned the blade and tracked it before trying to set the guides?
Jon.

 

[MichaelM]

Neil, that's a very useful website, thanks for the link. It's been added to my favourites for sure.

I see now what you mean by "drift", ...well I saw as much as I could for a dial up connection. It got that far in the video and off it went. There was a lot of great information in it, so I'm going to have visit a friend with broadband to view it properly. It's a pity they didn't provide links to download those videos. They'd be good to have on the pc.

I didn't know about drift before that, but what I had originally been referring to was the fact that my fence, once set at a particular setting, in this case exactly parallel with the runner in the table wasn't consistent. When I moved it and brought it back, it was a little out. I'll have to follow the instructions in the video and once I have everything else set right, then I can see where any other problems may exist.

I am jealous of the bearings he has on his saw, ...so easy to adjust. Not like mine at all. I see Axminster sell an upgrade kit, ...it would have nice if it had already been fitted to the saw but there you go. Maybe an upgrade is required in that area.

Jon, don't worry about that, I've never had a bandsaw before, so eggsucking lessons aren't likely! I know very little about them, and realised with these couple of posts that I have a lot to learn. It's better to get the thing right, it avoids frustration in the long run and since I've read a few threads here from people who own and rate my particular saw pretty well, then the onus is on me to set it up correctly. Feel free to fire away!

The blade is pretty tight, but how tight is right? A quarter inch deflection with the guard raised 6 inches from the table is something I've read and seen on the video, but I am using 1/2" blades so I'm guessing that theory has to be adjusted to suit what you happen to be using. Mine is roughly at that tension at the minute, which is as it arrived.

As far as tracking goes, the blade runs centre on the top wheel, but it runs closer to the front on the bottom. I'm guessing that my top wheel may need shimmed out a hair. Either that or the rubbish blade might be the problem.

I need to start from scratch, I think. That video showed me a lot before it stopped. I'll check that both my wheels are running in the same plane, then fit my new blade. I'll fiddle with the bearings once more and see what happens then.

As an aside, has anybody with one of these saws noticed that they are trade rated on the website, yet it says light trade on the saw itself? I don't know how much significance to attach to this but when I stretch a little to purchase a better quality item, I kind of expect to get it.

Thank's all,

Michael

 

[NeilO]

Micheal,
firstly the videos/podcasts are available for download, hover your mouse pointer over the top right corner of the viewing screen you should get an option to download (may even fit on a flash drive, if your downloading from a friends `puter)

the fence isnt an exact science, you will find most, if not all fences can vary by minute amounts when moved especially on the cheaper end/midrange of the market... persevere with the one you have before spending more money, it may just need a little fettling

what kind of bearings does your saw have?? blocks or bearings?

blade tension , if the blade guide is 6-8 inches above the table and you can , with moderate force deflect the blade (centre point 3-4 inches above table) by 1/4 inch , you cant be far wrong, tension guides IMO are a waste of time except getting you in the ballpark area

tracking, you should have an adjustment knob/screw at the back of the top wheel cabinet to adjust the tilt of the wheel to fine tune the tracking, adjust to suit and lock it

and finally if you put in your location ( your preference) you may have someone fairly local to your that could give you a quick run down of the bits and pieces about setting up you bandsaw properly (were spread pretty far and wide here some may say like dogsh*t :lol: )

HTH

 

[MichaelM]

Thank's again Neil! I'm out in the country in County Down. That explains the lack of broadband to download those videos myself! I'll be having a go at that tomorrow night. Definitely worth having a few of those for reference.

The fence is actually a bit better than I expected, but I like perfection. I'm a little fussy! :lol: Maybe like you say, a little fettling will make a difference. To be honest, I haven't tackled that area in earnest yet as the other issues seemed to be initially more important.

I have bearings on my saw, and I just found out that one of the reasons they were so fiddly to adjust was that two of the bearing bolts had damaged threads. That did not help at all. I found that if I take the table off, life is a lot easier, but I need a couple of replacement bolts to make a job of it.

Blade tension seems to be within tolerances, according to my index finger anyway! :lol:

The tracking has thrown up an issue. I fitted the good blade tonight after removing the table, opening the doors and using two blocks of wood with my 4ft level to see if the wheels were running in the same plane. The problem is that when the blade is slack, both wheels match up perfectly, but once tensioned, the bottom wheel is sitting approximately 2mm in at the top, and the blade runs closer to the front on it while the other is dead centre. Is this normal? I'm thinking not, but it's hard to see how to remedy it after looking at the exploded diagram of my saw. I was going to remove the top wheel and see if it could be set it further back on its axle. That was a non starter however, as it was very tight on the shaft and seemed to be a bigger problem waiting to happen. Sod's Law and all that...

Any ideas on that one?

All the best,

Michael

 

[NeilO]

Michael,
sorry for the slow reply, been busy on the shop refit/throwout...

anyways, tracking wise your top cabinet should have a knob in the centre of the back panel, this is your tracking adjustment, using this should help you get the coplanar between the two wheels, try this with the blade tensioned as this IS how it will be in use, can see the point in trying to get coplanar wheels THEN puttting them under tension??make sense...good

bearing wise I would phone Axminster and tell them you want it sorted, be it a couple of bolts or a full bearing assembly, either way the QA Dept should be picking stuff up like this...

so keep at it and you`ll get there, and will be as happy as a pig in mud, and you`ll forget all the hassle once you cutting perfectly straight veeners

HTH

 

[OPJ]

With regards to tracking any blade, I've always found that as long as the blade is tracked centrally on the top wheel, that's all that really matters. The blade on my SIP saw also sits slightly closer to the front edge of the lower wheel, but it's not going to jump off or anything and the blade appears to run and cut fine - that's the important thing!

I tension my blades a little differently to the aforementioned method; instead of looking for deflection, I ignore the given scale and pluck the blade itself, listening for a high note (not too high, just something that sounds right).

Blade tension doesn't really become 'critical' until you come to deep-rip larger stock, I'd say.

I've not tried using the Axcalibur blade before, but I always seem to experience excellent service from Dragon Saws.

 

[MichaelM]

Thank's lads!

"Michael,
sorry for the slow reply, been busy on the shop refit/throwout... "

No apology necessary at all Neil. I'm just grateful that experienced members go to all the trouble of giving advice to bandsaw etc virgins like myself. Until all you fellas got stuck in, the only certainty I was aware of was to keep my fingers away from the blade. :lol:

I had no problem adjusting the angle of the upper wheel while untensioned to get them coplanar, but since my upper wheel is fixed with a circlip front and back, there's no room, as far as I can see, to add a washer to the front to shim it back enough to match the lower wheel when tensioned. However, I noticed that the lower wheel was fitted to a cradle anchored to the frame with three bolts. I undid the rear nut on the top one while the blade was under tension yet the bolt did not come loose. I wondered was it threaded into the frame as well, thereby providing a means of adjustment, and guess what, it is! After a little fiddling, both my wheels are now exactly coplanar while tensioned, but I still have to adjust my top wheel in a little at the bottom to get the blade to sit centrally on it. The blade is now sitting closer to the rear of the lower wheel so maybe with a little fine tuning of the upper wheel, I can get them both something similar, ...somewhere near enough centre each if that would be acceptable practice.

Is it ok that the upper wheel has to be adjusted off a little to fine tune the blade seating, or should it be expected to remain in the coplanar position?

Sorry for all the questions, but I think I am getting close now!

"With regards to tracking any blade, I've always found that as long as the blade is tracked centrally on the top wheel, that's all that really matters. The blade on my SIP saw also sits slightly closer to the front edge of the lower wheel, but it's not going to jump off or anything"

Olly, that's pretty much what mine was like. It was perfectly centred at the top wheel, but the bottom wheel itself was sitting in about two millimetres at the top, which I suppose meant it was moving out a little at the bottom once I tensioned the blade. The teeth were still well on the tyre if you know what I mean. Maybe I'm being too particular with it.

In fairness to Axminster, and I should have posted this bit earlier, they were on the ball straightaway once notified of the problem. New bolts are on their way to me as I speak. I even asked them to clarify the issue regarding my saw being labelled a "Light Trade" model instead of "Trade". They told me that the new batch just in had the incorrect classification printed on the ID label and that was all. I was happy to hear that, and I'll be more than happy to buy from them again in the future. They've a couple of other things I have my eye on, and this is the first very minor issue I had with them. They are very fast, not to mention courteous and that's a big plus in my book, not to mention they don't charge extra like some, to send items over to me. I've even placed orders at times that didn't quite meet their minimum for free delivery, and they sent it out for nothing anyway. They really are a good outfit and the first place I look when I need something.

Finally, with regard to the Wood Whisperer videos, I was unable to download them. It seems that he is selling them on DVD so that probably explains why there isn't a download link. Maybe I was supposed to view them in RealPlayer etc as one kind person said but since I hadn't a clue how to get that to work, I tried a different approach. I used a program called Camtasia, which is screen recording software, to home in on the embedded video player. I then pressed record, and played the video. I'll not be needing to buy the DVDs now, ...it turned out great! There are free programs that allow you to record the entire screen, but I found that since you really only want the video itself, not to mention the fact that the quality isn't as good on some I have tried, I much preferred the result I got with Camtasia. If anybody wants to do the same thing, pm me and I'll point you in the right direction.

Buying a new piece of workshop equipment and getting it just right is a learning process for sure, but I am sincerely grateful for all your kind help in getting me started.

All the best,

Michael

 

[LarryS.]

michael,

i downloaded ten wood whisperer podcasts last night (via itunes) so they are still available free (including the one on setting up a bandsaw which I just watched)


paul

 

[MichaelM]

Hello Paul, following a pm from another member yesterday, I downloaded RealPlayer this evening. Now on my dial up speed, it took forever, but I have to agree that it too can download the videos. I gave up on it last night and looked for a certain way of getting the video in the short time I had, but it looks like its official, ...I did it the hard way! :lol:

Next time I'm using my mates pc, I'll be using some one of those two players to make life easy for myself that's for sure. I think I'll download iTunes in the meantime to have a look.

Thank's for letting me know.

All the best,

Michael