Flat tires on a bansaw making me paranoid. [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

View Full Version : Flat tires on a bansaw making me paranoid.

Rick Fisher

11-09-2008, 3:23 AM

M Toupin

11-09-2008, 4:24 AM

Any suggestions?

Crown the tires..

Simple physics; there's a reason belt sanders and anything running a flat belt have crowned drums, or tires in this case.

Mike

Curt Harms

11-09-2008, 10:06 AM

The large bandsaws i.e. Northfield, Tannewitz do indeed have flat tires by design. I've never worked with them but I think it has to do with wide blades (as in 1 1/4"+) not being happy with crowned tires. Hope someone else with BIG bandsaw experience will chip in.

Curt

Jim Becker

11-09-2008, 10:12 AM

Rick, most of the Euro band saws have flat tires. For blades over about 3/8", they track with the teeth off the edge of the wheel. Narrower blades do require tracking totally on the wheel, but many of use don't bother with narrower blades on the larger machines. I've never had less than a 3/8" blade on my MM16 to-date...and I bought it in 2003 if I'm remembering correctly. Most of the time, I run a 1/2" blade for utility...with the teeth tracked just off the edge.

Ken Fitzgerald

11-09-2008, 10:15 AM

Rick,

My MM-16 has flat tires. I adjust the blade so the teeth and gullet are just hanging off the front edge of the tire. I spin it several cycles by hand and adjust the tracking. Often it is just a matter of 15-20º turning of the adjustment. After adjusting and locking down the adjustment, I spin it for a few more cycles. I close the top door. Then I hit the start button and shut it off after just a 3 seconds or so. I open the top door and check to see if it's still tracking properly. I then close the top door and stepping to the side, I turn it back on and let it run for 30-60 seconds. Stopping it, I open the door and check the tracking one more time. At this point, after closing the door on the top wheel, I step to the side, turn it on and let it run for about a minute.

A lot of bandsaws especially European manufactured b/s have flat wheels and are designed to function that way.

Phil Thien

11-09-2008, 10:45 AM

Agree with what has been said about Euro saws. But I suppose I should add that my Inca had rubber all the way to the edge of the wheel (no metal rim). If you have a metal rim and the tire is proud of the rim, you'd be okay tracking at the edge of the wheel. But if the tire is lower than the rim, it wouldn't work.

Jim Becker

11-09-2008, 11:16 AM

Excellent point, Phil.

Steve Rozmiarek

11-09-2008, 12:13 PM

I installed the blade on my restored saw tonight. It isnt tracking well at all.

The tires are flat, which is not uncommon on this type of saw and while I can fiddle with the tracking, I cant really tell if the blade will stay on or not?

Spinning the wheels by hand, its very fussy to get the blade to stay in one spot?

I am worried that when I put power to it, the blade will come off after a few minutes and I will have damage.

Any suggestions?

What is your saw, Rick?

My old 36" Oliver has very little crown on the tires, and it works fine. I think the wide blade is the key. These big old saws are a little different to setup than your ordinary 14" Delta clone though. Mine is pretty touchy to the set of the tracking, but when you get it right, it all just works. I typically use a 1" blade.

William Addison

11-09-2008, 1:53 PM

If you want the tires crowned it's not difficult. I once crowned the tires on a Walker Turner 14 inch BS as follows. I put a bolt throught the center hole and tightened a nut from the other side so it wouldn't spin, I then chucked the wheel in a large metal working lathe and crowned the tire with sandpaper. If you don't have access to a lathe, any good machine shop should charge very little to do it.

Glenn Shotwell

11-09-2008, 5:40 PM

You really should state what band saw your talking about here. It could be the wheels might not be coplanar.

Rick Fisher

11-09-2008, 6:43 PM

Its a 24" SCMI. The blade is a new 3/4". The Tires are 1 1/2" wide.

I will check the wheels again for coplaner. I think its just fussy.

I will take Ken's advice and give it short bursts. I had no idea that the blade was supposed to hang off the edge of the tires. The tires cannot be crowned, they are new, but way too thin.

I think its more in my head. It doesnt make sense that the blade will stay on. :)

I spent last night installing and setting up the guides. I have to build a table insert today and felt that putting the blade in would help me center the table.

I have put a lot of work into making this a nice saw and perhaps am paranoid. I will just do my best with it. If its supposed to be that way, it should work.

Roger Oldre (REO)

11-15-2008, 11:51 AM

on narrower saws the tracking is done with the guides and wheels. on many saws large and small the teeth ride on the tire. I Just sold a 48" that I had for 30 years running production runs and never had replace the tires. since the teeth don't slip on the tire it will last MANY years without wearing out.
Be sure to check that the adjustable wheel to start is co planer with the fixxed. this has been mentioned before but attention has to be taken for the wheels in both axis. Top to bottom and side to side across the wheels. I have seen many saws that were hard to track because the top wheel was skewed to the bottom. when the coloumb was fitted at assembly it was not true.It sounds like you were trying to check tracking without guides witch is fine for the initial hand run in, but before you fire it up or "jog" it with power set it up to track against the guide bearing. When you can let it run for an extended time you can adjust the pressure on the bearing till it just kisses it when idling like a training wheel. if you are doing a lot of blind cuts you may want to increase the track against the guide bearing to prevent throwing the blade when you back out of a cut. The "big" wide blade 3" and up resaws actualy have crown rolled into the blade and run without a guide on the rear of the blade this is not the case with narrower band saws.