Heavy duty band-saw springs?

[John Miliunas]

This is going to be a bit tough without naming names, but I'm not about to start slamming OEM's about something I know little about, so bear with me. :cool:

After changing to a 1/2" blade on my BS, I attempted to get the tension back up to where it should be. I'm not using the stock rod which came with the BS, but an aftermarket one. Well, before I got it up to proper tension, I started hearing this "click/snap" as I turned. It would NOT bring up the wheel any further. I dismantled it and found that the rod's threads had stripped. OK, I found my old OEM rod and was back in action. I still felt that the other rod shouldn't have stripped out and called the manufacturer's toll-free number.

One of the first things he asked was, whether or not I had a particular, 3rd party tensioning spring on the unit. (No, I don't.) He explained that those things are murder on these relatively "light duty" band-saws. Mine is the 14" Jet w/riser. Besides the possibility of screwing up the threads on the adjuster, those springs are supposedly Hell on the wheel bearings, as well. In thinking about it, I guess I can see where he may be right.

The big question being: Anyone using one of these HD springs, find issues with stuff like the wheel bearings or similar? I've often thought that I may "need" one of those springs to help improve performance, but he scared me into thinking this may not be the best idea. Any user insight? (Also, if you HAVE to know the vendors in question, you can PM me. :cool:

[Bob Wilkerson]

Can't say that I have seen any problem with the spring I installed. I'm just using the stock rod on my '46 Delta 14" band saw and have never had a problem in the year that it has been installed. If the threads on the aftermarket stripped I'd say that they might have a problem as these springs have been used by many people. If it was a common problem I'd expect that we would have seen it reported in the past.


Bob - happy with his Iturra spring...... :p

[Jim Becker]

Talk to Iturra Design at 888-722-7078. They specialize in this kind of thing.

But I also have the Jet with riser and have no problem tensioning any of the Timberwolfs I run from 1/8" all the way up to 2/3". The one modification I made was to replace the tiny adjustment knob with something easier to "handle", as it were...

<img border="0" src="http://sawsndust.com/images/jet-bs/tensionwheel.jpg">

[Bart Leetch]

I think it's more like the rod design is at fault, maybe the metal is to soft.

For my G1019 when I made my own crank handle & wanted to get it above the body of the saw I examined a piece of all-thread next to the original adjustment rod & found the thread to be the same & it has worked fine.

Sometimes you don't need to spend a more money than you would going to the local hardware store.

[Steven Wilson]

I ran a Louis Itura spring on my Jet with no problems. Of course I detension the blade when I'm not using the saw. Anyhow, the LI springs aren't all that "heavy duty". They are a vast improvement over the springs Jet initially installed, the newer Jet 14" bandsaws have a much better spring installed and Louis, IIRC, doesn't recommend replacing the spring unless the spring has worn out. In any case (OEM or LI spring) your unlikely to get 25000 psi on a Jet 14" more likely 15000 psi is about the maximum. If you use a Timberwolf blade (even a 3/4") you'll only need to go at most 12000 psi and that is well within the capability of the Jet 14".