Old Bandsaw needs new tires - urethane or rubber?

[Dan Karachio]

Hello,

This is my first post. I'm just a home shop guy with a basement shop.

I have an old 1950's 12" Walker Turner "Light Heavyweight" bandsaw. Let me tell you, there is nothing light about it if you are the one lifting it. Not a speck of rust and it runs great. However, the tires have grooves from the 1/4" blade that has probably been on there for years and as expected it is difficult to get blade to track. I toyed with the idea of trying to sand out the groove, but I think I am kidding myself, so I want to replace the tires. So, my question is, urethane or rubber? Though urethane sounds easier to install, can they be crowned as easily? Are there any other issues with tire material and an old saw like this?

Thanks,

Dan

[Wilbur Pan]

It is possible to put a crown on a urethane tire. You just have to be careful, since there's less room for error, due to the urethane tire being thin. The extra thickness of a rubber tire makes the crowning operation easier.

I have a Walker-Turner 16" bandsaw that I put urethane tires on and crowned. FWIW, when I have to change the tires next it's going to be a tossup between urethane and rubber tires, looking at ease of installation (urethane) vs. ease of crowning (rubber).

[Ron Dunn]

My bandsaw has flat tyres, so urethane was a no-brainer for me. I'll never go back to rubber after the urethane experience.

Sorry, but I can't comment on the crowning issue.

[Tim Sgrazzutti]

You probably want to remove the old tires before making this decision. I have a 40's vintage Power King 912 (same as an Atlas Press 912) 12" bandsaw that needed tires. I originally thought I'd have to go with rubber tires and crown them, but when I removed the old ones, I discovered that the wheels had the crown in them, so flat urethane tires worked just fine. Check and you may be pleasantly surprised.

[Lee Schierer]

Call Suffolk MachinerySuffolk Machinery (http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/), tehy will be able to help you. They not only sell saw blades, but sell tires and really know their stuff regarding bandsaws. Urethane tires are the way to go.

[Dan Karachio]

Thanks everyone. I simply assumed an old bandsaw would not have a crowned wheel, but what do I know! so I will check it out and call Suffolk. Thanks!

[Robin Cruz]

i bought some from Rockler, they are orange. They work fine as far as I can tell. Had to heat them in boiling water so they were stretchy enough to bend over the wheels.

[Wilbur Pan]

I simply assumed an old bandsaw would not have a crowned wheel

I do know that the older Walker-Turner 14" and 16" bandsaws had flat (non-crowned) wheels. My guess is that the 12" models were the same.

[Dan Karachio]

So, any tips on crowning urethane vs. rubber tires? Maybe there is no significant difference, but it seems that it is more pliable and therefor not as easy to sand down. I'll ask the people at Suffolk, but thought I would ask here too.

[Wilbur Pan]

The main difference is that you get orange tire dust all over everything instead of black tire dust. ;)

Seriously, you just have to me more careful because the urethane tire is thinner. Otherwise, there's no difference.

For crowning my bandsaw tires, I converted a faceplate into a sanding disk for my lathe and made a jig to hold the wheel at an angle. Here's a pic:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2476894833_dea2f566c5.jpg

It's hard to see in this picture, but I have some wedges underneath the 4x4 that the bandsaw wheel is mounted on to tilt it at a slight angle.

There are many other ways to do crown a tire. One person made a jig to clamp an angle grinder to the frame of his bandsaw and crowned the tire while the wheel was still mounted to the bandsaw.

The OWWM forums (www.owwm.org) has many good posts on crowning bandsaw tires.