Denis Hoshizaki
09-28-2014, 10:41 PM
I recently purchased a Powermatic 141 bandsaw for a dance. It powered up but squeaked, rattled and appeared to have some modifications done to it but for $200, it seemed like a worthwhile gamble. After cleaning it up, doing some adjustments, changing the belt and blade, it got the thing purring.
One of the modifications done to the saw was that on the lower wheel, someone appears to have drilled and threaded a hole to support a machine bolt in the hub. I've attached a couple of pictures, one with and one without the added bolt. I noticed that the small lock nut on the lower wheel was not tightened down. I got to thinking that perhaps a previous owner did the modification not realizing that the lock screw needed tightening. I removed the bolt during clean up, tightened the lock screw and got things running very nicely. I was amazed how quiet and vibration free this bandsaw performed.
After about five minutes to running the saw I noticed that a vibration started to generate and got progressively worse. After analyzing where it came from, i discovered that it was originating from the lower wheel which became loose. I noticed that the lock screw loosened itself and I retightened it. Starting up the bandsaw again, it was buttery smooth and quiet for about 5 minutes. Again, the wheel had begun to vibrate/wobble and the culprit was the lock screw loosening itself again. I went to the local hardware store and purchased a replacement lock screw hoping that a new one would remedy my problem but to no avail. I also tried some plumbers tape but with no success.
After a couple frustrating hours, I ended up screwing the modified bolt and washer back into the lower wheel hub and have got things working again but after 5 minutes or so of running, a slight vibration does return but does not seem to worsen and the small vibration seems to be almost livable.
I'm reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas to a fix to my problem short of finding a replacement lower wheel or drilling out the lock screw hole and putting in a larger lock screw.
Thank you for your time.
Denis
One of the modifications done to the saw was that on the lower wheel, someone appears to have drilled and threaded a hole to support a machine bolt in the hub. I've attached a couple of pictures, one with and one without the added bolt. I noticed that the small lock nut on the lower wheel was not tightened down. I got to thinking that perhaps a previous owner did the modification not realizing that the lock screw needed tightening. I removed the bolt during clean up, tightened the lock screw and got things running very nicely. I was amazed how quiet and vibration free this bandsaw performed.
After about five minutes to running the saw I noticed that a vibration started to generate and got progressively worse. After analyzing where it came from, i discovered that it was originating from the lower wheel which became loose. I noticed that the lock screw loosened itself and I retightened it. Starting up the bandsaw again, it was buttery smooth and quiet for about 5 minutes. Again, the wheel had begun to vibrate/wobble and the culprit was the lock screw loosening itself again. I went to the local hardware store and purchased a replacement lock screw hoping that a new one would remedy my problem but to no avail. I also tried some plumbers tape but with no success.
After a couple frustrating hours, I ended up screwing the modified bolt and washer back into the lower wheel hub and have got things working again but after 5 minutes or so of running, a slight vibration does return but does not seem to worsen and the small vibration seems to be almost livable.
I'm reaching out to see if anyone has any ideas to a fix to my problem short of finding a replacement lower wheel or drilling out the lock screw hole and putting in a larger lock screw.
Thank you for your time.
Denis