Help with Bandsaw Blade Tracking

After getting great advice here on a sub $1000 14-inch band saw I purchased the Rikon 10-326. I have switched to a 3 TPI 3/4" Timber Wolf for re-sawing and am having trouble with tracking. First I had a very difficult time getting the blade to track on the tires. At the moment the blade rides about 1/4" more to the front on the bottom wheel than on the top. It was a pain to get it that close without the blade tracking off the front of the wheel. Secondly when I spin the wheel the blade runs back and forth as it passes through the table. I have not adjusted the lower wheel and hope to avoid doing so. I have never been good at getting machinist type accuracy on tools but think i can do much better than the current situation. Thanks

When you spin just the wheels with no blade to they wobble in and out? If so, you have a problem with the wheels. I adjust my blades so they ride on the center of the upper wheel, which also makes them ride centered or nearly centered on the lower wheel.

John, I have that saw. Don't worry that the blade doesn't track in the same area of both wheels, just adjust it to center on the top wheel.

Not sure what might be causing your other problem.

Hey John, I have a 10-325, which is just about the same except for paint & the guides. When I got it the upper & lower wheels were so far out of coplanarity (is that even a word?) that the blade was not square, front to back, with the table. The woodworking internet is full of discussion as to weather they should be coplanar or not, but that's another discussion that I don't want to get into now.

Anyhow, I set about making them coplanar by adjusting the lower wheel. Trouble with that was that the pulleys on the motor & lower wheel were then no longer coplanar & it shredded the belt in about 1 minute. To get the motor where it needed to be I had to use shims & get longer bolt to hold the motor in place.

At the end of the day, and I do mean a full day, the wheels were coplanar, the pulleys were coplanar, and the saw cuts straight & true with no drift.

Sorry for the huge long story, but I just wanted to let you know that if you start messing with that lower wheel, you're in for a world of frustration. If I'd known then what I know now, the thing would have gone right back to the store.

Try a different band...

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Originally Posted by Kevin Beitz

Try a different band...

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Check the weld to ensure the back of the blade is straight through the weld.

PLEASE don't touch the lower wheel adjustments until you have exhausted every other means and preferably only based on Rikon's advise. Also, don't try to get them coplanar despite what some authors and "experts" would have you believe, perfectly coplanar wheels are not what you want especially on a crowned tire BS. Fortunately, wheels are darn near impossible to get perfectly coplanar (by design) so it is rarely an issue.

When you center the blade on the top wheel where does it track on the bottom wheel?

The wheels on my 326 have never been "coplanar" and it says in the manual that you shouldn't mess with them. I never have and have never had a tracking problem. Nor have I ever had to adjust anything to compensate for drift.

John, did you ever get the stock blade to track correctly?

It may be that you've adjusted the tracking so far off that nothing works. Does the top wheel look drastically tilted one way or the other? If so, turn the tracking knob until it looks pretty much straight up and down. Center the blade and apply just a little tension, then rotate the blade slowly by hand and watch. Try to get it tracking right, then apply more tension.

The weld looks good. When the blade is centered on the top blade it tracks to the front on the bottom wheel. They difference is approximately 1/4" to 5/16."

That's similar to what I see on my saw, except that I run a 1/2" blade on mine, so the tooth edge of the blade isn't so close to the edge.

Yes, your saw will accept a 3/4" blade. IMO, you'll be happier with a 1/2".

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Originally Posted by Van Huskey

PLEASE don't touch the lower wheel adjustments until you have exhausted every other means and preferably only based on Rikon's advise. Also, don't try to get them coplanar despite what some authors and "experts" would have you believe, perfectly coplanar wheels are not what you want especially on a crowned tire BS.

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I wish I'd heard this advice a few years ago. I was a complete bandsaw noob & all gung ho to get it set up just "perfect". Just want to keep others from making that mistake.

I have the Rikon 10-326 as well....I agree that as long as the blade tracks in the center of the upper wheel don't worry about where it tracks on the lower wheel. If you say the blade goes back and forth when it passes through the table maybe that is a blade problem?...I use 3 different blades from time to time on mine and they are all steady going through the table..

I'm having a hard time with the "going back and forth" thing, too. Not sure how that would happen...

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Originally Posted by Nick Decker

I'm having a hard time with the "going back and forth" thing, too. Not sure how that would happen...

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Usually the sign of a bent blade. Check the blade by laying the open blade on a flat surface. It should lay flat, if not it is bent.