Taking arms against a sea of generic Taiwanese BS troubles

[Bodgy]

Thought I would share my long struggle with my 1.5 HP, 14" generic bandsaw. This has been an ongoing battle since I first bought it and tried to assemble from a Chinglish manual which was not only gibberish but actually incorrect.

After almost a year, I think I have finally got on top. There follows a description of the issues and how I overcame them.

1. The saw would wander when cutting to a fence. Resolution, shim up the lower guides as close to the table bottom as possible, thus reducing the unsupported part of the blade. Used 10mm piece of Jarrah - Pic 1.

2. The table was not flat, sagged in the middle. Resolution, a piece of Masonite, cut to size and the table shimmed up with masking tape. Note the battens that sit in the mitre slot to hold table firmly in place and flat. Pics 2 & 3.

NB table insert is easily removable to allow usage of the sliding mitre in the original track for crosscuts if required.

3. Useless fence. Bought an after market fence, but fitting was a waking nightmare. Firstly the supplied bolts to fit the front guide would not fit the table, there was insufficient 'meat' to accept these holes and allow the nut. Solution drill smaller, 5mm holes, and tap to accept screws. Chuck bolts. Pic 4

4. The fence would not slide on the guides due to the side of the table not being square to the table top. Solution, lots of shimming under the fence/slider and relocate and raise rear guiding bearing. Pic 5 and 6 (next post)

[Bodgy]

Getting the fence to slide freely was probably the hardest part. Tried to lubricate with wax, then oil but best option was graphite. Pic 6 shows relocated rear guide bearing

5. The grub screw holding the upper thrust bearing assembly sheared off. Despite the suppliers sending a new complete assembly, which didn't fit the BS, this remains a problem. The messy but workable fix was to use a small G clamp. This remains a problem as the casting that holds the assembly is not vertically true, hence when you raise or lower the assembly you must re-adjust all the guides. There is a 5mm discrepancy from lowest to highest settings. No idea how to fix this. May be seen in Pic 6.

6. The adjuster knob to tension the balde was placed far to near to the upper wheel housing, making adjust ment very difficult as one could not get a full turn, more like a 1/4 a go. Solution, a bit of 50mm plastic water pipe, fill end with epoxy filler, grease the knob, push over knob. The shape of the knob moulds into the epoxy giving a far more practical adjuster which may be removed. Pic 7

7. Blade wanders off to the right. Solution, get a new 3 TPI 12mm blade from Henry's. Thanks to Alex S who explained that the blades are stamped out and may well be skewed, hence no amount of tuning will stop them wandering off.

Summary. After fine sanding up all the burred edges of the fence assmbly, Sponsors wax to the table, Silver Glide to the new fence face, truing all up, I now have an acceptable BS for about $530 in total.

I think the moral is that if you are prepared to stuff about, then 'bargain' equipment can be brought up to scratch - more or less.

[TassieKiwi]

Well done mate! I must say though that for another $170, the Jet just cuts. I got a fence with it, which is still in the box as I use 's 'corner of a piece of wood and a clamp' method for ripping. Awesome. also, I changed to a 3/8 Henry bros blade, which makes ripping heaps easier.

[bitingmidge]

Bodgy, ahhh the memories!

I went through the same process, albeit I bought the wretched thing very cheaply. When I finally got it right, I sold it for a handsome profit, and bought my Jet one with the proceeds.

While you will now have a perfectly adequate machine that will work most of the time and not need much fiddling to keep going, Tassie said it; the Jet just cuts.

I'm not bagging your machine, but if anyone contemplating buying a generic reads this thread, I suggest they look at the options seriously!

cheers,

P

[Wongo]

___
JET






:D

[Wongo]

The truth :D

[Waldo]

Thanks to Alex S who explained that the blades are stamped out and may well be skewed, hence no amount of tuning will stop them wandering off.

G'day Bodgy,

What an abosulte PTA! I would've given up long ago and just gone out and bought another b/saw and said to SWMBO that the old one is buggered beyond fixing (I get like that sometimes when I get real frustrated).

Interesting what Alex told you. I just recently fitted a 1/4" 6tpi blade from henry Bros. and I have the exact same problem in that it is skewed and I couldn't work out why. I've tuned as best as I can, but through 1 revolution of the blade it osilates and turns out to the right then back to perpendicular to the table again as it should always be. Mongrel blade :mad: !

I went through 3 deliveries to get the correct blade and 3rd time still got the wrong blade or incorrect length - should've been 2 x 1/4" 10tpi blades x 2375mm, not 2 x 1/4" 6tpi. So now I'm going to wear the blades and get some more.

But back to your dilema there, talk about perseverance. Every time you walked past that b/saw I bet you swore under your breath at it.

[Lignum]

Bodgy, give your wheels and pulleys a good balancing. Take an hour or two, but well worth it. They are the biggest cause of vibration and if you do it you BS will run soooooo much smoother:D

[Stuart]

I solved my cheap generic POS taiwanese BS problems quite easily. 24 hours in my workshop and I magically transformed it into a Deluxe 14" Jet.

I'm starting to come around to Lignum's school of thought (if I may take the liberty) - For the items that you never plan on upgrading (putting that qualifier in there so I can still recommend Triton where it is suitable), buy it once, buy it right, #### the cost.

[bitingmidge]

Lignum,

Great advice. I did that too on my cheapy. Imagine my surprise when I turned on my Jet for the first time and could balance a coin on edge on the table while it was running!

Took the wind out of my sails that did.

P
:D :D :D

[Lignum]

I'm starting to come around to Lignum's school of thought (if I may take the liberty)

:D you may:D But my thoughts starting up, forget the "brand names" but buy all the cheap things that you will "just" get by on to make the basics, tune it up to the max wich is a great learning curve in its self, then as you will have soon worked out what is and what isnt needed and in order of importance (and finance avail) get the best you can possibly afford, one machine at a time.

My ex-POS generic 14" bandsaw ($400 ten years ago) is still running so smooth its still a long way of the upgrage list. So Bodgys moral "if you are prepared to stuff about, then 'bargain' equipment can be brought up to scratch" is so spot on, plus its a great way with a few cans to spend a lazy Sunday arvo "stuffin about":D

[Lignum]

Imagine my surprise when I turned on my Jet for the first time and could balance a coin on edge on the table while it was running!

Took the wind out of my sails that did.

P
:D :D :D

Midge, absolutly, the Jet is a cracker of a little bandsaw, very very smoooooth. If you get the chance have a look at the Powermatic 14":D thats what i want:D


Also the bases on the cheapies dont help. I have an old "heat bank" brick wraped up and tied under the motor mount, very heavy, and its made a huge difference to stabalising it and stopping it from getting bogged down when ripping heavy (as i have an Italian 2hp motor in it:D )

[Grunt]

Took the wind out of my sails that did.

P

I thought that was your flatulence problem.

[Bodgy]

Thanks for your responses, gentlemen.

In reply:

When I bought the BS, I did a little research and as I recall, all the equivalent quality units were far more than a couple of hundred $ more. Prices must have changed. My next saw will be a 17", I'm waiting for a new shed first.

Yes, I did develop a close, personal relationship with the BS. I saw it somewhat as the castaways would have viewed Caliban.

Lignum, following your earlier posts, I did try to balance the wheels, however they would spin down at a totally random stop position each time. Either they are in perfect balance or the bearings are rooted - no prizes. Incidentally, forget aligned & co-planar. Completely impossible on this saw without replacing bearings etc.

Finally I had a serious go at the upper guide housing and fitted the replacement, substantially modified.

[Lignum]

Bodgy, i took my wheels off and inserted a firm fitting rod and slipped two new bearings over each end and then secured them on a block. The wheels spun beautifully and made ballancing a breaze. Sounds like a lot of mucking around but well worth it.

[Stuart]

Incidentally, forget aligned & co-planar. Completely impossible on this saw without replacing bearings etc.

If you can get the wheels off, can't you use spacers to get the wheels coplanar?

You might have some success playing around with the upper wheel to get them aligned- most get pretty loose when you release all the tension, so some sort of wedging behind the tensioner might help push the wheel into closer alignment. Best of luck :)

[Bodgy]

Stuart

Can't pad out the top wheel to bring into line as there is insufficient 'meat' on the thread. If I did so I would only get maybe 3 turns of the nut engaged on the thread.

As you would understand, a rampant wheel, spinning at God knows how many RPM zooming around the shed like a banshee yo yo on Acid doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm.

[DanP]

Measure the difference and have that amount shaved off the hub of the appropriate wheel by a turner.

[Bodgy]

Hey Dan, thanks. Never thought of that.

The turner would need a bloody big swing tho? 14" . Maybe get it milled?

Anyhow, what sort of business could do this? IE where to look in the Yellow Perils?

[DanP]

Any decent machine shop should have a lathe that has 7"+ of swing. will be vastly more accurate and less fiddly to set up than a mill = cheaper to you.

Dan

[Stuart]

When I was working for a truck engineering firm years ago, their basic mill could have handled this without a problem- I'm sure there are 100s of small engineering shops around that could handle this job.

Alternatively, and still following Dan's concept, it might be possible to have a metal lathe do the job, although the size of the wheel might cause a problem here.

Bugger - Dan bet me to it!