Band Saw Tires & Crowning

[John Bailey]

Now that I've got a bigger band saw, and one that's going to need new tires, I thought I'd better ask about tires.

My wheels are 1 1/4" wide. Is there such a thing as "pre-crowned" band saw tires that would fit this band saw - an Oliver 192. If not, how best to put a crown on it, and what tools, or jigs, do you need.

John

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

Can you find out what if any crown the saw orignally delivered with?

My MM-16 doesnt have a crown on the tires. I'm told a lot of Italian-made bandsaws don't.

[Wilbur Pan]

Hi John,

To my knowledge, the precrowned bandsaw tire does not exist. Not that you would want it to -- I bet that there would be no way to account for the variances in how such a bandsaw tire would get mounted, leading to an uneven or wandering crown. Most 14" bandsaw wheels have a crown built into them, which theoretically puts a crown on a flat bandsaw tire as it conforms to the crown on the wheel, but it seems that this works better in theory than in practice.

Over on the OWWM forums, you'll find lots (http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=44950&highlight=crown) of (http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=45139&highlight=crown) threads (http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=42888&highlight=crown) of how people put crowns on their bandsaw tires (http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=37900&highlight=crown). Many take an angle grinder and find some way to mount it to the bandsaw frame at an angle to crown the tire on the bandsaw.

I took a different approach, using my lathe as a disc sander, and tilting the bandsaw wheel to the sanding disc. Here's a picture to give you an idea.

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

I did a crappy job clamping the jig I made to hold the wheel to the lathe, but the crown works well enough.

[Charlie Plesums]

Why do you want a crown? My hobby bandsaw has crowned tires (G0555), but my pro bandsaw has flat tires (MM24). The flat tires allow a wider blade to hang off the front edge of the wheels, and with the high tension used, reduces the flattening of the set to the teeth.

I use my small bandsaw for curve work, but those who put a narrow blade on the big saws often put the back of the blade at the same point that the back of the wide blade rides. The tension is less, and running a narrow blade hangning half off the wheels is not wise, so the small blades in mid wheel make it easy to align the guides.

I have a paper on setting up big bandsaws for resawing - drop me a note if you want a copy.

[M Toupin]

John,
Proper crowing not only puts a proper /\ shape crown it insures the tire is concentric to the shaft which is important for the blade properly riding on the tire. Do the job right the first time and you won't have to do it right a second time. There's lots of ways to crown tires, I've used my lathe with a sanding disk on a face plate and a jig effectively. The jig is tilted about 5deg toward the bed and the sled is held fairly tight to the ways which allows you to gently tap it to advance it into the sanding disk as you rotate the wheel. Once you get one side done, flip it and repeat the process until the crown runs down the center. Here's a pic of one of the wheels from my 14" Walker Turner. There's more than one way to skin this cat. Search tire crowing on OWWM and you'll find many ways to crown your tires.

Mike99426

[Rick Fisher]

I have also wondered about this. I have a Delta Bandsaw with crowned tires and an Italian saw, which is still not running, with flat tires.

I wondered if the new tires being flat was a mistake..

One less thing to worry about.

[John Bailey]

Why do you want a crown? My hobby bandsaw has crowned tires (G0555), but my pro bandsaw has flat tires (MM24). The flat tires allow a wider blade to hang off the front edge of the wheels, and with the high tension used, reduces the flattening of the set to the teeth.

I use my small bandsaw for curve work, but those who put a narrow blade on the big saws often put the back of the blade at the same point that the back of the wide blade rides. The tension is less, and running a narrow blade hangning half off the wheels is not wise, so the small blades in mid wheel make it easy to align the guides.

I have a paper on setting up big bandsaws for resawing - drop me a note if you want a copy.

The band saw is an Oliver 192 with 18" wheels. It's a 1959 and was considered a small saw back then. Usually I'll have a 1/4" blade on it. I rarely do any resawing. It was my understanding I was supposed to crown the tires so that the blades would track better. I'll try without the crown first. Sure would be easier.

John

[Kevin Adams]

John, I would really encourage you to try the saw without messing with the tires. Both of my bandsaws have flat wheels (a small Inca and a large MM) and they work great. I keep a 3/16" or 1/4" blade on the small Inca for scrolling work and there's never been a problem tracking the blade.

If your wheels are flat (and are you sure they are not slightly crowned already?), you will just track the blade with the teeth right on the front edge of the wheel. This also helps protect the tire and makes it last longer (provided you remove the tension if you're not using it for a while). As Wilbur mentions, you may want to post your question over at the OWWM forum as I bet there's lots of others who have this saw or one like it.

Good luck--looks like a fantastic bandsaw!

Kevin