Blue Max bandsaw tires?

[Alex Zeller]

I have a new Grizzly G0514X2 bandsaw and it has some vibrations when running at the higher speed. After playing with it some I decided to remove the bandsaw tires and run the blade that came with it. I didn't adjust the guides and didn't cut anything with it. The result (I can post the videos later) is that I can balance a nickle on it's edge without the urethane tires on the wheels (probably could balance a dime) with the tires on there's no way. The vibrations are far too bad to even come close.

I'll call up Grizzly and get some spare tires but I was wondering about Blue Max or Sulphur Grove Tool brand. Both say they are made in the USA. I did a search but I didn't see anyone who has been using them for some time. When you buy Grizzly you know you are buying Chinese or Taiwanese made parts. Not that it's a bad thing but for $50ish if I can replace them with a product that will be superior why not?

[Allan Speers]

Blue Max are fantastic. Nice & thick, and they repel debris MUCH better than those black things Grizzly uses.

Buy them on Ebay, from the guy in NJ that makes them. That's the best price, plus he can do custom sizing if you need.

[Geoff Crimmins]

Blue Max are fantastic. Nice & thick, and they repel debris MUCH better than those black things Grizzly uses.

Buy them on Ebay, from the guy in NJ that makes them. That's the best price, plus he can do custom sizing if you need.

I agree. I have Blue Max on my 10" and 14" bandsaws and they work great. I've also had good luck with rubber tires from Woodworkers Tool Works.

[Tom M King]

I bought the Sulphur Grove ones for my old 14" Delta, for no better reason than they were the first ones that came up in a search. They work fine, and no vibration issues.

[Chapel Eastland]

Thanks for the heads-up on the Blue Max tires. Just ordered a set for my Grizzly 513X2BF. Not having any trouble with the originals, but since the Blue Max come with a lifetime warranty it won't hurt to have a spare set. May take off the originals and keep them as spares.

[Karl Card]

I just bought a set of blue max and am very pleased. Fairly easy to put on with tool that came with them. My blade stays in place much better than it did with oem tires.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Another positive review for Blue Max. I bought a set of 3 from the above mentioned guy on eBay for a BVI Tote Saw that I inherited and completely refurbished. Blue Max was the only tire in that size that I found. Worked great and very easy to put on with the accompanying tool. The tires cost more than the saw is worth, but I gave it to my godson for Christmas and he uses it all the time for building miniatures.

[Bill Space]

...After playing with it some I decided to remove the bandsaw tires and run the blade that came with it. I didn't adjust the guides and didn't cut anything with it. The result (I can post the videos later) is that I can balance a nickle on it's edge without the urethane tires on the wheels (probably could balance a dime) with the tires on there's no way...

Interesting. So you ran a blade you did not care about directly on the metal wheels? That’s thinking outside the box! :)

I have a question. I believe your bandsaw uses a crowned tire. Are the wheels flat, or do they have a crown built into them that a flat tire conforms to? Some tires have a crown molded into them, so when installed on a flat wheel they are ready to go. If your wheels are flat and the tires you order are flat, you will need to crown the tires after installation on the wheels.

I believe this is the first time I have heard mention of running a bandsaw blade metal on metal for the purpose of determining if an out of balance issue is being caused by the tires. Most of the time it seems that the approach is to attempt to improve the balance of the tire-wheel combination. Hopefully balancing and/or crowning will not be needed after you install the new tires.

Bill

[Alex Zeller]

When I got the saw I didn't check the wheels to make sure they were coplaner as I just wanted to put it through it's paces to make sure everything worked. I had some free time so I thought I would take a closer look. I still haven't checked the wheels because there's a thick piece of sheet metal in the way so you can't use a straight edge. I'll have to get some blocks to use with the straight edge. But I removed the tires so I could put a dial gauge on the crown of the wheel. The bottom one was under .002"and the top one was .001". The tires seamed balances well.

I read about some people having issues with vibrations and on the higher speed setting it wasn't as smooth as I was hoping for. So I figured I would go through the steps to see if I could pinpoint possible problems causing vibration. I started off with just the motor and pulley. Then just driving the lower wheel. Then the lower wheel with a link belt, no difference in vibration but the rubber belt did seam like it was vibrating. Once the blade was on that when the vibration showed up. Both wheels seamed to be balanced very wheel.

I figured the blade that came with the saw is probably only useful for setting up the saw and wouldn't stay sharp very long. With the crown wheels the teeth of the blade didn't touch the steel with the tire removed.

This isn't my video (they seam to be uploading very slowly) but it's about how mine vibrates with the stock 3/4" 6 tpi blade at the faster setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5yiuaCeUxM

[Alex Zeller]

Here's the same blade and same speed without the urethane tires. I didn't get the saw starting up but this is running then slowing down after I turned it off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GclOcwhkrmw&feature=youtu.be

[Brian Eaton]

I’m intrigued by the thought of running a blade on the saw with no tires as well! I posted the other day about some trouble shooting I’ve been doing with my new bandsaw and I never would have thought about running the saw without the tires. I take it the saw maybe left some marks in the wheel from the teeth set but nothing to worry about?

[Alex Zeller]

Interesting. So you ran a blade you did not care about directly on the metal wheels? That’s thinking outside the box! :)

I have a question. I believe your bandsaw uses a crowned tire. Are the wheels flat, or do they have a crown built into them that a flat tire conforms to? Some tires have a crown molded into them, so when installed on a flat wheel they are ready to go. If your wheels are flat and the tires you order are flat, you will need to crown the tires after installation on the wheels.

I believe this is the first time I have heard mention of running a bandsaw blade metal on metal for the purpose of determining if an out of balance issue is being caused by the tires. Most of the time it seems that the approach is to attempt to improve the balance of the tire-wheel combination. Hopefully balancing and/or crowning will not be needed after you install the new tires.

Bill

The wheels are crowned and the orange urethane tires are flat. They look to be about 1/8" thick but I didn't measure it. I wouldn't attempt to cut wood with the tires removed but because the wheels are crowned the teeth didn't ride on the steel. I only ran it twice, once to see what would happen then a second time to take a video, for about 30 seconds.

[Joseph Quattro]

I have the Sulpher Grove tires on my Jet, but will keep blue max in mind next go round

[Larry Edgerton]

Just a heads up for anyone with a Delta 20". The Blue max are not anywhere as thick as the originals and your blades will not tension up properly. Bottom out the adjuster and they are still not tight enough by far. They should not even be sold for that saw.

[Allan Speers]

Just a heads up for anyone with a Delta 20". The Blue max are not anywhere as thick as the originals and your blades will not tension up properly. Bottom out the adjuster and they are still not tight enough by far. They should not even be sold for that saw.

You should tell this to the guy at Bandsaw tire Warehouse. He cares about his product, and can make custom sizes. Probably needs to update his database.

[Alex Zeller]

The Blue Max bandsaw tires shwed up today. They are slightly narrower than the stock ones and seam slightly smaller in diameter. Being smaller in diameter they went on a little harder but not that bad. I put on my 1" resaw blade and once I adjusted the blade so it tracked correctly any vibration is gone.

Some of the reviews for the G0514X2 talk about vibration and struggling with Grizzly to solve it. I suspect that if I tried hard enough I could have gotten a good set from Grizzly. I could even see if I wasn't sure it was the tires that I would get frustrated if the second set of tires didn't fix the problem. I suppose I shouldn't have had to spend $50 on new tires but they have a lifetime warranty and are made in the USA (at least something on the saw is). Since I used a 10% off coupon I'm still ahead.

I spent a few minutes resawing some 9" sugar maple that I had. It was the pith section from making bowl blanks to turn on the lathe. The saw doesn't even slow down. I was able to saw several 1/16" blanks with the saw. I really need to get a good feather board to keep the wood against the fence. Even without it I was still able to make some real nice veneers that varied by maybe 1/64".

[Ryan Lloyd]

Just a heads up for anyone with a Delta 20". The Blue max are not anywhere as thick as the originals and your blades will not tension up properly. Bottom out the adjuster and they are still not tight enough by far. They should not even be sold for that saw.

Good point, Larry.

I had the same experience regarding the Carter "Ultra Blue" (different from "Blue Max") tires on my Delta 14-inch band saw. The Carter tires were considerably thinner than stock, and as a result the top wheel would start rubbing the upper rear cover before it would adequately tension my blades. These same blades ran fine when the tires were replaced with a set from Sulphur Grove. I imagine I could also have ordered blades that were 1/2" shorter to make the Carter tires work, but for me it was more cost effective to replace the Carter tires with a thicker offering.

As a result, I am now cautious about purchasing thin tires. Your mileage may vary.

Good luck.

Regards,
Ryan

[Bob Ballard]

Sulphur Grove does carry tires for the 20" Delta that has the center rib and are the same thickness as the OEM tire.I have a set and really like them.

[Geodino Carpio]

I have a 14" Rikon and, although my stock rubber tires were still ok, decided to upgrade into polyurethane ones which I kept reading about. First, got one-inch wide Suphur Grove orange ones. While fitting them, realized my wheel's track is slightly smaller than an inch wide so I tried to just pound the tires in to fit. They ended up with horrible crowning that my cuts had severe drift. I then trimmed the with a sharp cutter, but was terrible at it so I ended up with ugly jagged edges.

I then got a pair of blue Carter tires because they were sized at 7/8" wide. Though no trimming was required, it wasn't long before the tires became loose. Was surprised by this since I believed Carter products were top notch (I have two sets of roller guides from them which work great). Not sure if it is because I live in the tropics and my workshop is warm and humid all year round.

I now have a new pair of orange tires but they seem to have bumps (uneven thickness).

Thanks to this forum, I read about Blue Max so am now waiting for delivery. Unfortunately, I am halfway around the world from the US and COVID has slowed down shipments drastically, so it will arrive between Feb28 and April 6.

Fingers crossed.