Lower Bandsaw Wheel Wobble (Grizzly G1012) How do I fix?

[Nick Sorenson]

I have a Grizzly G1012 18" bandsaw that has a good amount of wobble in the lower wheel. It wobbles in and out (facing the wheel's spokes) at the top and it also wobbles up and down if I put the dial indicator on the top of the tire.

Is there a way to fix this? I don't feel play in the bearings but that's just going by feel of course. But I do think the wheel is out of round. Is there a good way to true it?

[Bill White]

Uhhhh...How long has this problem existed?
No bearing slop? Have ya checked the wheel for true circumference? Somethin' don't smell right here. :confused:
Bill

[Nick Sorenson]

Uhhhh...How long has this problem existed?
No bearing slop? Have ya checked the wheel for true circumference? Somethin' don't smell right here. :confused:
Bill

The problem has existed since I bought the saw (used). It cuts ok but I'm shooting for a veneer quality resaw which means shake has got to go. It's subtle but it's enough to bother me.

I see that the wheel is out of circumference. To give an idea... Looking at the bottom wheel top down looks a little like double or triple vision with the wobble. Then of course if I rest a paint stick on the edge of the table and ride the wheel top like a gouge on a lathe and turn the machine on (no blade on) the paint stick will go up and down slightly telling me that it's out of round that way too.

I don't feel any play in the shaft bearing.

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like someone used the wheel as a lifting handle. In case you don't have them:

Manual - http://cdn3.grizzly.com/manuals/g1012_m.pdf
Parts list - http://cdn4.grizzly.com/partslists/g1012_pl.pdf

Can you determine for sure if it is the wheel or the tire?

[Nick Sorenson]

Sounds like someone used the wheel as a lifting handle. In case you don't have them:

Manual - http://cdn3.grizzly.com/manuals/g1012_m.pdf
Parts list - http://cdn4.grizzly.com/partslists/g1012_pl.pdf

Can you determine for sure if it is the wheel or the tire?

It's definitely the wheel. I see metal going from side to side as I watch the wheel spin from above. It almost looks like in the movie Bambi where he rubs the tree that the Owl is in and owl sees about 12 Bambis for a second from the shaking tree he's sitting in. Sorry, just watched Bambi recently with my boys. It's definitely a double vision looking senario watching the wobble of the wheel from above. And it's definitely the wheel (or the spindle pin it rides on). One thing I've heard of is bringing a saw wheel to a bike shop for straightening/truing etc. But I've never tried this.

I wonder how to tell if it is the wheel or the spindle?

[glenn bradley]

I wonder how to tell if it is the wheel or the spindle?

If you have a dial indicator and a magnetic base you could pull the wheel and set the indicator against the shaft. You could possibly place something fixed, as a reference, near the threaded portion where the nut holds the wheel on and watch for motion there. This would save you pulling the wheel but, sooner or later you are probably going to pull the wheel.

I had a 14" way back when that had been "bumped" before I got it. I was too green to even check it out before I took it home. The top wheel was out. It was cast iron so I had to have a machine shop true it and balance it. All told it was still a good deal on the saw though. I would price a new wheel (if it turns out that the shaft is OK) to compare the cost with any other option too.

[Tom Esh]

I wonder how to tell if it is the wheel or the spindle?

If it's like all the other Griz saws I've seen, the shaft (spindle) doesn't rotate. If it were bent, it would cause the wheel to be misaligned with respect to the rest of the saw, but that alone would not cause it to wobble or exhibit eccentric motion at the rim. I'm with Glenn - sounds like the wheel got damaged somehow.

[Michael Panis]

I have a Grizzly G1012 18" bandsaw that has a good amount of wobble in the lower wheel.

I'm not sure if the design is similar, but my Rikon 18" has an adjustment for lower wheel wobble.

http://www.rikontools.com/lowerwheeladjustments.pdf

---Mike

[Tom Esh]

I'm not sure if the design is similar, but my Rikon 18" has an adjustment for lower wheel wobble.

http://www.rikontools.com/lowerwheeladjustments.pdf

---Mike

That manual is addressing a different sort of "wobble". Many / most of the Griz use the same setup. The hub adjustment is to align the bottom wheel - iow set it's rotational plane +/- parallel to the top wheel for lateral tracking stability, but I'd be surprised if it helped in this case.

[glenn bradley]

If it's like all the other Griz saws I've seen, the shaft (spindle) doesn't rotate.

Tom is correct. I'm a dork. Sorry.

[Nick Sorenson]

Tom is correct. I'm a dork. Sorry.


I'll take a good look at that lower wheel when I get a minute. Hopefully I can figure out the problem.