Rigid band saw BS1400 Tune-Up Questions

[Frank Warta]

I know there's various information elsewhere on this site and others about tuning up band saws I've read a lot of it and continue to work my way through more but I had a couple of more specific questions for this band saw.

1) When balancing the wheels how much should I take off at a time, what size bit should I use how deep is safe? I know each situation is a little different but I don't want to take a light pass with an 1/8" bit when I should have used a 1/32" or 1/4". Where do you guys usually start how slow should I go?

2) I've ordered poly tires should I wait for those to arrive before balancing the wheel, should balancing be done without any tire on so it's really just the wheel that's being balanced?

3) The rubber mounts for the motor are making it really hard to keep the pulleys co-planner, even with lighter tension on the belt then I'm really happy with the motor pulley gets pulled in so much that even when I set the motor to skew 3-4 degrees wide I end up 2-3 degrees inside when I put the belt on. Did anyone else experience this how did you deal with it? I've tried adding a link belt which helped but not as much I'd hoped. Should I ignore the instructions and torque the bolts down more, I'm using the inner most mounting holes because of the way the pulleys were set at the factory but I also considered pushing the pulleys as close to the motor and saw as possible to try and use the second set of holes I'm not sure if that will fit though.

As always any help/advice would be great.

Thanks!

[Curt Harms]

I was astounded when I took the top wheel off my Rikon 10-325. It looked like they used about a 5/8" or 3/4" bit and drilled several shallow 'holes'. I've heard of people using wire and/or tire weights instead of removing material. Adding weights would be more easily reversed if you worked on the wrong side or went overboard.

[Lance Norris]

I used a 1/2" bit on my Ridgid wheels. I chose not to drill all the way through the wheel and instead made lots of "dimples" until I got a good balance. The tires dont weigh very much, so I dont think it matters if you have tires on or not. HTH.

[Adam Strong]

I used a 1/2" bit on my Ridgid wheels. I chose not to drill all the way through the wheel and instead made lots of "dimples" until I got a good balance. The tires dont weigh very much, so I dont think it matters if you have tires on or not. HTH.



Use a 1/2" or 3/4" twist bit and make as many shallow dimples as needed. Drilling all the way thru may weaken it structurally (though more than likely not). It is not as precise to balance the wheels as you may think, If you remove too much on the heavy side, you can place a smaller dimple opposite to balance things out.

As for the tires, I would wait to balance until these are installed since these will be on for the life of the saw.

[Myk Rian]

Why not add weight to the opposite side of the heavy? Pipe solder on the spokes works. Just wrap some around them.
I used a couple paper clamps to balance my wheels.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=138062&d=1263256940

[Mike Sandman]

I torqued down the bolts holding the motor and use a link belt and the wheels remain co-planar. The top wheel on my saw was way out of balance and after drilling as many 1/4" hole as I draed, I added weights on the light side, sort of like you'd balance a tire. That has worked well. Polyurethane tires worked well as a replacement for the ones that come on the saw.

[Mike Cruz]

Large bit, 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Make dimples, not holes. Basically, what that means is go only deep enough so that you create a divot, with no straight vertical walls. You may have to drill 3 to 8 of these. I like the drill method because it actually balances the wheel, as opposed to adding weight, which can fall off or shift over time.

[Bill Huber]

I am in the why take it off school.

You can get lead tape form just about any tire store and stick it on.

It kind of like the wheels on your car, they don't drill holes in them.

[Paul Saffold]

Frank, I got fed up with trying to adjust the motor and bought an adjustable motor mount. This is a link to my post. I only paid $8 + shipping for it. Well worth it.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=126069

I bought it at Automation Direct near Atlanta. Service was quick.

Link to the page on their online catalog:
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Overview/Catalog/Motors;jsessionid=5e301837ef753f719baa64264185571a 604b?source=google&keyword=adjustable%20motor%20base&type=search&gclid=CKKi5t2X258CFaAO5QodFV7rHw

Good luck, Paul

[Frank Warta]

Thanks to everyone that replied.

I think I'm gonna try the "add" weight method, it only will take a couple minutes to check the balance of the wheels each time I change the blade and as has been pointed out once you start drilling you can't put it back. I figure in the long term that if I'm not happy I can always just remove the weights I've added and use the drill/dimple method instead.

I also got the motor mount figured out at least well enough for me. I like the movable mount idea better but I've got things aligned for now so I'm happy. If I end up reinforcing the top with plywood as others have done I'll probably see about adding something similar at that point.

[Myk Rian]

it only will take a couple minutes to check the balance of the wheels each time I change the blade
You just need to do it once.