Best bandsaw speed & pulley size?

[Allan Speers]

OK, so you guys convinced me to not sell my 1940's Craftsman 12" bandsaw. I'm going to keep it as a small companion to my 21" Grizzly.

I will be replacing, at a minimum, the cheap aluminum wheel pulley, but I'm wondering if I should also replace the motor pulley at the same time. This also means I have to decide on a final blade speed.
This is far from critical, AND I KNOW I'M PROBABLY OVERTHINKING IT, :o but I could use some opinions.

I would only be using this saw with a 1/8" - 1/4" blade, for cutting curves & such. Only for wood.
The motor is a 1 HP R-I.

So:
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The stock configuration is a 1725 motor, a 2" motor pulley, and a 5" wheel pulley, giving 2167 fpm.

1 - Blade Speed: That's seems a little low to me. At the same time, lower speed is safer, and would mean less heat on the tires. Knowing my intended use for this saw, would you opt for a faster, or keep it around at 2100?


2: The motor pulley: It's cast iron, but only 2". It seems to me that this would put a of of stress on the belt. I'm thinking of going with a 3.25" motor pulley, but that means a bigger wheel pulley (there is plenty of room) also even more expense. This would give less strain on the belt, and maybe a little more "flywheel effect" due to the larger wheel pulley, but would these "improvements" really make any difference? A dollar is a dollar, so ....

FWIW, I'll be using a regular notched v-belt as I see no advantage to a link belt here, (quite the opposite) but I'm still a little concerned.
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So, any thoughts or recommendations?

[Rod Sheridan]

Allan I would leave it at the original speed.

Yes it's slow however it's a small diameter wheel, and you'll be using fine blades so your feed rate will be low anyway..........Rod.

[Steve Peterson]

I bought an 18" bandsaw on CL that had been modified to single phase with a 3450 rpm motor giving it a blade speed of around 4500 fpm. It seemed way to fast for me, so I put in a 1725 rpm motor to cut the speed in half.

My little 9" bandsaw seems like it has a much slower blade speed and it runs just fine. It is only used for minor cuts in thin stock. Any serious cuts get done on the larger saw.

Use a link belt if you are worried about the strain on the belt with the small motor pulley.

Steve

[Allan Speers]

Thanks, guys.

Kind of what I figured. Good to have confirmation.

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One thing, Steve: (In case someone else reads this) I was looking at the PowerTwist link belts (I decided against them for several reasons) and they are not supposed to be used on anything smaller than 3" diameter.

[John K Jordan]

A note from Highland Woodworking:
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodworking-tips-1205may/askthestaff.html

They recommend 3000 FPM.

JKJ

[David Kumm]

Depends on the saw. Small light duty saws were not built for higher speed than what they were designed for. Wheels aren't always balanced well enough and frame isn't stout enough to take too much of an increase in speed. Dave

[Erik Loza]

Any of your European bandsaws will be in the 4,000-5,000fpm range.

Erik