I have a Laguna LT16HD bandsaw (ACM) that was made in 2001 with a 3hp Italian Motor.
I bought it with light use from the original owner maybe 7 years ago. This weekend I had issues I just can’t figure out. I’m pretty confident I can properly setup the bandsaw for tension, blade tracking, guides, fence etc etc. but either way I did it the same as I always have done.
I was ripping a bunch of 8/4 soft maple that I just finished milling flat and square. After a couple cuts the blade started to track like a snake swimming through the water. I stopped the machine and readjusted everything. I started cutting again and after a few cuts it started doing it again. With a bunch of work ahead of me I decided to change to a brand new blade, even though I was pretty sure this one was sharp. Put the exact same blade on, but new, and went back at it.
First few cuts were great then it started again towards the end of the cut. Out of ideas I just cut the next board and it was fine. A few would be nice and straight then it would start up again. It would only happen towards the end of the rip. Some boards were 18” and others were 27”. I adjusted feed rates, pressures, everything. Never had this happen before and I was out of ideas as to what to even try.
So I kept going and had the saw running for almost and hour cutting. If it started serpentining again I just pushed through as it wouldn’t matter much for final project. Added info is that once it started to serpentine it just would get progressively worse until out of the cut.
Well after about an hour of cutting I shut it off to rejoint a few boards. When I went to start it again it was very slow then died. I looked behind the saw the capacitor failed bad. It is the original 20 year old capacitor.
I have a friend coming over to give me a hand with the capacitor, he knows motors.
So any ideas as to what was going on?
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