bottom wheel adjustment (Sherwood

ok, so I think I have no choice but to try and "undo" what the previous owner of my bandsaw may have done when it comes to the blade tracking on the bottom wheel. Bought 3rd or maybe more hand, Sherwood 14" Deluxe TBB14 like https://www.timbecon.com.au/august-sale/all-other-august-specials/14in-deluxe-bandsaw. Today has been the first chance I've had to pull the bandsaw apart to any degree, and confirm what I was dreading, that with a half decent adjustment on the top wheel, the blade runs way off the front of the bottom wheel. The previous owner mentioned in passing that it took him a long time to get the bottom wheel aligned, so either he's caused what I see or his adjustment hasn't stuck !

Today, with the gullet of the teeth tracking approximately in the centre of the top wheel as per Alex Snodgrass' technique, the blade is running so far forward on the bottom wheel that the teeth of the 9mm blade hang off by about 3mm - which I think is unacceptable (but happy to be corrected). One of the main reasons I think it's too far out is the bottom guide is *past* full extension and only just in a position to touch on light pressure on the teeth - which means it will go out of adjustment easily.

Without pulling the whole thing apart, anyone got suggestions on where I should be looking for significant adjustments ? And before I sit and think this through (and probably guess wrong :rolleyes:), anyone want to give me the simple run through on adjustments to the top what that will do to the running line of the blade?

I had the idea that the bottom wheel was fixed in position, and the top wheel is adjusted to control tracking.
But if the wheels are not co-planar that is another issue again.

Regards
Keith

it's not *easily* adjustable. It is however bolted with a triangular arrangement that you could shim the top or bottom of to adjust them further in/out of plane-ness. I'm sure the intent is that nobody screws with it, but yeah well, someone may have :)

If it tracks ok or can be adjusted to do so I wouldn't touch it unless the blade comes off during use. European band saws all run with the teeth off both wheels with no problems.

Hi poundy
A properly set up bandsaw should have the blade running roughly central on both wheels.
When it is tracking like this the blade is perpindicular to the table ( put a square on the table up the back of the blade) and the blade should be vertical. This means that the upper guide also runs perpinduclar to the blade and you dont have keep adjusting the thrust bearing as you raize and lower the upper guide.

May I suggest that you check that your wheels are close to coplainer. Ie put a strait edge vertically on the lower wheel( you may need to use two equal thickness blocks to clear the top of the botton cabinet. Then measure to see if the centre of the top wheel is the same distance from the straight edge as is the lower wheel. Then adjust the tilt of the top wheel to get it aligned with the lower wheel.
When this is done move your straight edge right and left to see if the distance to the top wheel changes.
This will tell you if your two wheels are aligned from left to right ie truly coplanar.
Note that when the sawblade is reinstalled and tracked then the top wheel may not remain completely vertical as along with the camber on the top wheel this is how you get the sawblade to track on your wheels.
If your wheels are out of allingment then there is usually two adjustments you can make. You can put shims behind the top or bottom wheel to bring the centres of the wheel to be in the same plane as the bottom wheel.
If the bottom wheel is tilted vertically or horizontally then there is usually adjustment screws on the lower axle at the rear of the saw to adjust the tilt.

I have a set of instructions that I found on ( I think ) the Laguna website that explains how to make that adjustment.
I will dig it out later tonight and post for you
Cheers
Ron

Hi poundy
Thanks for the like.

Sorry my memory about the Adjustment Document was off. It was not Laguna but came from RIKON bandsaws.
It was posted on the Highland woodworking web site

See http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/l...ment_guide.pdf
Hope this assets in your quest to correct your bandsaw tracking
Ron

thank you - that info will be beneficial for sure even though it's not the machine I have, nor the adjustment layout, the fundamental principles are the same. I'll take a look and see if I can't make progress!

Does your bandsaw have adjustment screws for the shaft of the lower wheel as shown below. If it does you should be able to adjust the wheel to be perfectly vertical which will make your blade run more central. Not all makes have this adjustment as the shaft and bearings are in a housing in the casting with no adjustment possible on some.
It's not an adjustment you would normally need to make as it should be set at the factory, but if the previous owners have had a go at it then maybe it is out. You can adjust the shaft up and down and side to side.

Attachment 440634

here's a few shots of the saw.

There's the top wheel alignment - as you can see, it's reasonably centred as per Snodgrass.
Attachment 440643
The bottom wheel, you can see how proud the teeth are from the wheel
Attachment 440644
The rear of the machine - the axle is the large central one.
Attachment 440645
So no, there's no adjustment knob or simple to manipulate adjuster. There is the triangle - which I could shim the top bolt on to adjust the tilt, or shim all of them to adjust the plane (roughly). I'll go make up a measuring stick to see how the alignment between the two is.

actually no, the bolts on the back aren't able to be shimmed. The bottom assy has 3x hard-to-get-at big screw looking things on a cast plate, that looks to be how any adjustment would happen. First image is the top most adjustment (easier to get at) and the second is the right side one - impossible to get a tool onto as-is, would have to take the wheel and pulley assy off I think !
Attachment 440650Attachment 440649

I pulled the blade off (hadn't done that before) and re-seated everything, readjusted where I could, and concluded that yes, there wasn't anything obvious I was missing or was misadjusted from when I picked it up, the blade really wants to track the way I originally showed on the top and bottom wheels, and is certainly not perpendicular to the table.

Now to ponder next moves (on the weekend).

Poundy
your next step really should be to determine what is the actual problem. Is the bottom wheel tilted from vertical or horizontal or is it just toofar back with respect to the top wheel?
As a first step I would just measure the distance of the bottom wheel from the cabinet back at 12, 3 ,6 & 9 oclock. This will give a rough indication of whether the wheel is vertical and horizontally aligned. If it appears ok it is possible that the lower wheel is just too far back. Maybe the previous owner removed a spacer/ shim from behind the wheel.
Good luck
Ron

Have you tried another band? Are you using the band that came with the saw?

I can see wear marks on the lower wheel which indicates that it has a band tracking in the middle of it.

from what i know of the n-1 owner, they had the saw for only months and it had very little use - so the wear marks are likely n-2 owner or beyond, ie pre "adjustment" :)

Edit: yes I have another band that I'll try on it to see if it's noticeably different - both are as included when I bought the unit, so nothing "new". They are a 9mm and 6mm IIRC

I have the same model as yours Poundy. The band on the lower wheel was positioning itself towards the outside of the wheel but nowhere as bad as yours. Looking at the picture of your wheel it looks as if your wheel is leaning well in at the top. I am not sure you need to make the adjustment from the wheel side because I was able to the wheel to a more vertical position by adjusting the nuts only on the motor side. I made a straight edge similar to what ronboult talks about, then loosened the lower axle bolt a little and proceeds to make adjustments with the other three bolts until the wheel was much better lined up with the top wheel. Tighten everything back up and give it a try. In my case the band moved back more to the centre while the band on the top wheel remained in the centre. Dunno, maybe I was just lucky but everything works beautifully with no drift what so ever. This link to Michael Fortune from Fine Woodworking is pretty good and worth a look and might help you with a few things.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2018...&mid=447244386

Good luck.

ok, so I missed any time to play until tonight. Which might have been good - it gave me a bit of time to sleep on the problem (or more correctly, insomnia allowed me to attack the problem).

What I figured through was how the bolts held the wheel frame at the correct angle - they are tightened against the body from the rear, and that locks them in place, but when loose they can be screwed in and out of the triangular frame holding the wheel, allowing it to alter the plane of the wheel, once you adjust it you tighten it back and you can't adjust anything again.

So without measuring alignment too much, I decided I'd just crack on - spanner on the nut followed by screw driver in the slot, and hey presto, a much better adjusted bandsaw! I suspect there is a little left/right bias still as I can feel a difference in the clearance between the body and the triangular frame, but right now the teeth are well back from the leading edge of the wheel, and the blade has a much straighter alignment to the table (not that I've fitted it quite yet), and all the alignment to the guides seems more central and sensible.

Thanks all for your help folks. Now to go make some sawdust