bandsaw blade keeps coming off wheels

[Curt Harms]

I have the same saw, it works great. The blade that came with mine really wasn't too bad. I still have it for less fussy sawing. The advice about aligning the blade with the guides all the way "loose" is good. I think people try to use the guides to make up for improper set-up. That seems unlikely; a smaller bandsaw blade is simply not rigid enough for that to work IMO. I remember a demo when I was first getting into woodworking. The demonstrator set up a 14" bandsaw then with the side blade guides as far from the blade as possible proceeded to do some very nice curves and resawing. His point was that trying to use guides to bull an improperly adjusted bandsaw blade into doing what you want is unlikely to work.

A couple things I've noticed about the 10-325. One is that I can't see how to run a 1/8" blade with the ball bearing guides. I got a Carter stabilizer for narrow blades and it seems to work fine. The second thing I noticed is that the rear thrust bearing wouldn't adjust back far enough to center a 3/4" blade on the wheels. The thrust bearing/lower blade guide hits a big carriage bolt head that is part of the table assembly. My solution was to get a smaller O.D. bearing for the lower thrust bearing. Rikon has a retrofitted carriage bolt with a ground-down head to increase the rearward lower thrust bearing travel. The downside to my solution is that the lower thrust bearing can barely be adjusted forward enough to support 1/4" blade centered on the wheels. That doesn't concern me because the side bearing guides barely engage the smooth portion of the band behind the teeth with a 1/4" blade. I cannot envision a narrower blade working well with roller guides. Hence the Carter stabilizer.

I think you'll be happy with your saw once you get it working properly. I find myself using the bandsaw more and the table saw less for ripping solid stock as I become more comfortable & confident in it. Properly set up I can rip straight enough that one light pass over the jointer does the trick nicely and without the pinching/kickback risks of a table saw. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Curt

[Ben Silverman]

Here is how I recommend you approach saw setup:

For safety sake, be sure to unplug the saw before opening the doors. I was taught to spin the upper wheel backward but most spin in the normal direction. Back off both the upper and lower guides before you adjust the tracking.

Because the amount of tension affects tracking be sure you have the blade centered on the two tires and set the tension properly before you adjust the tracking. Any change in tension will cause a change in tracking and a significant change in tension can cause the blade to track right off a wheel.

As for the amount of tension, I have a MM16 and try for 20,000psi with a Lenox carbide blade and tension gauge. Other Creekers can share their thoughts on the appropriate tension for your particular blade.

Once you have the tension set correctly for you blade, turn the upper wheel by hand slowly and use the tracking adjustment to get the blade to track. The wheels of my saw are co-planer so it is easy to get the blade to track in the center of both the upper and lower wheels. If you saw wheels are not exactly co-planer, you will need to find a compromise setting that keeps the blade stable on both the upper and lower wheels. If you cannot get the blade to track approximately in the center of both wheels, you will probably have to adjust the lower wheel. Hopefully you will not need to do so.

Rotate the upper wheel slowly at first and do not let the blade jump off the wheel. Watch the tracking on both wheels and adjust. Once you have the tracking set so the blade stays in the middle of the tires, you can spin more quickly to confirm the adjustment. If the tracking is stable, lock the tracking adjustment.

Maybe I am paranoid about having a blade jump off a tire, but after I think I have completed the adjustment, I let the saw run under power for a minute, kill the power, and let the saw coast to a stop. I open the covers and confirm the tracking.

After you confirm the tracking, you can adjust the guides to almost but not quite touch the blade. In operation, the blade will deflect and the guides will spin or rub as you feed the work. That’s it. You should be go for sawing. After you set change blades a few times, the sequence will take less time to do than it does to read about. Ben

[Michael O'Sullivan]

the saw tracks great, it's the one thing i can tell. i will look into the links and info you all provided me with, and will get back with you after i have had a while to try some adjusting. it's worse with smaller blades, which oddly enough seem to require more tension than the bigger blades to be useable at all. i've gone from being able to resaw to not even being able to make curved detail cuts in thin stock. mike

I am having a hard time seeing how you can throw the blade if it is tracking properly. If you power up the saw with the guides backed all the way off, does it run properly?