Ordered the tires a few days ago (Update Pics to follow)......finally. They got here a couple days ago, and I got 'em put on yesterday. I was airing up the Jeep tires at the shop door when the rain started pouring, so I finished that and stayed in the shop to wait for that to slow down and thought what I perfect time to put the tires on. Less than 10 minutes and all I needed was 3 springs clamps to assist holding then on the wheel. No soaking in warm water, no 1.5 hour marathon session. Pretty simple really. Cool blocks are in....roughly. I need to study up on how that lower adjustment is done for the thrust bearing. Oh, and I used a bit of spray graphite on those to get 'em loosened up. Thought I'd need to replace. When I can find the time (or make some), I'll get a blade on and track it, then adjust the guides and bearings.
Put everything together today. Had some fun getting the blade to track, but I think I got that back on track. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me how tight the upper wheel nut should be. Is there a torque value, or just tighten it down? No info in the manual, and online searches are giving me fits. I must be asking the wrong question.
Just saw this thread.... a really good resaw blade is the Laguna Resaw King. It will eat up anything. Leaves a fine finish. I get all my blades now here: https://www.olsonsaw.net I get the pro models. I have tried them all. A bit more expensive but cut cleaner and last longer.
You're welcome. They are not and I have found them to be very good. ...so, what will be your first box?
Are you talking about blade tension setting on the upper wheel or to set the angle of the wheel? I can't remember if the Snodgrass bandsaw tuning video on the Tube has it.
...your first bandsaw box. Blade tension….my saw has a gauge on it. I also go by how it is running in whatever kind of wood I am cutting. I will loosen or tighten as it feel right.
I've seen the Snodgrass vid several times, also The Wood Whisperer, and a bunch of others too. Enlightening. However, neither of you wins the door prize. The nut (besides me) is the one holding on the upper wheel. When I snug it down, the wheel seems too tight, and if I back it off, it feels like it might fall off. Seems like there should be a "just right" tightness, but I can't find it. Nothing in the manual.
Putzing…... keep putzing w/it. ...or...just set it to something and start cutting. See what happens. Set it tighter and see what happens. ….you get the idea. Your experience makes you the gauge.
Yep. Since I can't find the info....so far....I'll continue along my haphazard path putzing as I go. Story of my life.
please post a picture of the upper wheel / nut assembly, it sounds like something is missing or possible not assembled in the right sequence. The top wheel should freely spin with no blade on it. As there are a bunch of systems for wheel tilt( blade tracking) its a little hard to comment further. My own units are an very old DoAll variable speed with 2 ranges and a 17" grizzly 2 speed- The Doall can go so slow that you can almost count the teeth on a coarse blade when running. So yes it is metal capable as well as wood but the highest speed is about what the Grizz is on it lower speed. Grizz low speed more torque nice for running a 1"x 1.33 tpi blade resawing.
I just came in from the shop, but I'll go back out after a quick sammich and take a pic. I took the wheel off yesterday and reversed it, thinking maybe I had it on backwards, but no joy. Almost sounds like the wheel is hitting something when running (it's not), so I'm thinking of changing the bearings.....cheap and easy enough. Would something be loose in the tension adjustment? There's no play when I grab the wheel and do the old push-pull (under tension).
Looking at the exploded view, there's a washer on the shaft behind the wheel, but not between the nut and wheel. Now that I have the tracking dialed in, I'll take off the blade and give the wheel a spin with varying amounts of tightness on the nut.
So, after a couple small (very small) adjustments to the nut tightness, and wheel tilt, it seems to be running much gooder. Quieter, and seems smoother too. I may have to actually cut some wood soon. Still need to square the table and fence to the blade. Since it's on a wheeled base, that may be causing some of the wobble I'm seeing.
In that style I have seen where the shaft is screwed in to far to the tracking adj. block hence when nut is fully tightened binding up the bearing- just a guess another probability is the bearing is a bit to shallow causing same effect. in theory, the nut should be able to be full tightened with out binding anything up. There should not be anything binding on the outer race of the bearing/wheel hub- again in theory the bearing should be a press fit in the wheel if not is there a cap on the back side that retains the bearing in the wheel? if so there should be some shims that stand any flange on the shaft away from the cap or the washer behind is to large in diameter. The nut and anything behind the wheel should only be contacting the inner race of the bearing.
From the exploded views, and pics I've seen, the bearings are press fit and held at proper depth by wire clips inside the wheel bearing housing. After following your suggestion to adjust nut so wheel spins freely, then making a couple small tracking adjustments, it's running much smoother. Someone (maybe factory) has done some wheel balancing by drilling/milling the wheel at about the 4-5 o'clock position (can be seen in the pic). This is all new to me, so although watching vids is great, I'm a hands-on person. After messing with the saw, I rewatched the Snodgrass vid and came away with an even better understanding of things. Had at least a couple of "aha" moments. I'm sure that'll happen some more, and I may have more questions too. Another of those "how far is too far" things, or "how tight is too tight". I can't find any info on those types of measurements. Grab some popcorn.
yep those aha moments can reach out and grab ya at times. I was replacing a love-joy style coupling on a machine loosened one nut a bit too far , next thing I know I have the drive motor in my lap with 6 stretched wire leads. one or more of which is no longer conducting electrical current along its length. I haven't had time to get back to that unit yet. I am sure it will be a "fun project as now I have to take apart about 1/2 of the unit to access the electrical portions I need to get at. Dang thing is hard wired and, of course, the wiring is not long enough rest the drive motor on the floor. Oh well I haven't done any gymnastics ( contortions of the physical self) for awhile any way.
