The Bandsaw Myth, Take 2

[marty fretheim]

Thanks Bill, I read that shortly after posting above.

Marty

[Kevin Beitz]

They don't always need to be... I have vintage band saw that's over 100 years old. The difference between the upper and lower wheel is over one inch offset. There is no easy way to fix this The castings was made wrong. But it has been working great so I'm not messing with what works. I'm very happy with the saw.

[Van Huskey]

How does all this come into play on non-crowned wheels?

Marty

Think of the tire on flat tired saws as half of a crowned tire with the crown being the back edge of the tire. Then think of the band riding on the front half of the crowns so it is trying to climb up to the crowns and off the back of the wheels, the band's finite length keeps it from being able to get there so it is stable as it rides the front of the "crown" and can't be pushed back due to the limits of the band. Keep in mind the wheels will have a slight angle with the front lips closer and the back lips farther away. So you are in essence making a crown effect with the angle of the wheels.

The advantage is more complete support of the blade by the tire. A blade riding on the crown under tension will cause the center to be stretch more than the outside edges so the blade looks like this (--- , the dashes are the centerline of the crown. Theoretical metal fatigue yada yada. This is why you see flat wheels on resaws.

[Darcy Warner]

They don't always need to be... I have vintage band saw that's over 100 years old. The difference between the upper and lower wheel is over one inch offset. There is no easy way to fix this The castings was made wrong. But it has been working great so I'm not messing with what works. I'm very happy with the saw.

I doubt the castings were wrong. Kind of hard to make a new wrong pattern (by hard I mean why would they do that?)

[Mel Fulks]

Years ago I worked one year in a pattern shop. We had to alter quite a number of patterns and even alter match plates.
None were our fault . Just mechanical changes or metal shrinkage adjustments.

[johnny means]

I doubt the castings were wrong. Kind of hard to make a new wrong pattern (by hard I mean why would they do that?)

Well, intuition tells us that a 1" offset must be a mistake. ��

[Darcy Warner]

Well, intuition tells us that a 1" offset must be a mistake. ��

Or something is put together wrong.

I have yet to see a BS from 1880 to 1990s that didn't have any adjustments

[Erik Loza]

I tried to dial in the tracking on my dad's old 14" el-cheapo bandsaw and just about pulled all my hair out. Out of all the hundreds of MM's I have set up, I have literally never spent more than 30 seconds tracking a blade and certainly never had to check co-planarity of the wheels. This is why you spend the big bucks, folks.

Erik

[Bill Space]

Eric,

I believe the MM bandsaws have flat tires and run the blades with the teeth overhanging the front of the tires.

From your experience obviously the MM saws are set up nearly perfectly at the factory.

I am curious how you found the blade tracking to be on the many saws that you set up. Did the blade generally track identical on both wheels? OR was there some differences in tracking on the top and bottom wheels?

When setting up the saws did you put the blade where you wanted it on the top wheel and not worry much about where it was tracking on the bottom wheel?

As one who has become interested in bandsaw set up recently, I greatly appreciate yours and everyone's insight!

Bill

[Rod Sheridan]

I tried to dial in the tracking on my dad's old 14" el-cheapo bandsaw and just about pulled all my hair out. Out of all the hundreds of MM's I have set up, I have literally never spent more than 30 seconds tracking a blade and certainly never had to check co-planarity of the wheels. This is why you spend the big bucks, folks.

Erik

That's my experience as well with tracking, put the blade on, tension and adjust tracking, and away you go.

My brother had a 14" clone band saw, suitable for use as an anchor only. I got him a deal on an N4400 Hammer and now he actually uses the band saw for sawing instead of being a nice height coffee mug holder..........Rod.

[lowell holmes]

One more . . . . ..........

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/a.../tune-bandsaw/