Thread: Bandsaw Blade Issue

Are you sure there's no adjustment on the top wheel? Even my Ryobi el-cheapo that I only use for the 1/8" blade has an adjustment.

Tracking adjustment is on all the bandsaws I have seen.:confused:

Echo Woodborer and Termite -- there must be some adjustment. BUT ...

Originally Posted by Steve Zipperman

....... Logically, I would expect the teeth side of the blade to be higher than the flat side, so the blade should move towards the rear, rather than the front of the bottom wheel when it is turned. This is not the logical result.

Any belt drive system (and a bandsaw is just a belt drive afterall) tracks to the larger diameter. This is why the wheels are crowned, to keep the blade centered. (Are your wheels crowned?) So if the wheels are, as you say, "the teeth side ... higher [larger diameter?] than the flat side" then the blade will move toward the teeth (towards the FRONT).

Qw

The upper wheel has a track adjustment, but the bottom wheel does not. The top adjustment has no effect on the blade coming off of the bottom wheel. If I tweek the upper adjustment, the wheels are no longer parallel and the blade keeps coming off the front of the wheel, regardless of where the top wheel is adjusted. Thanks.
Steve

Originally Posted by Steve Zipperman

The upper wheel has a track adjustment, but the bottom wheel does not. The top adjustment has no effect on the blade coming off of the bottom wheel. If I tweek the upper adjustment, the wheels are no longer parallel and the blade keeps coming off the front of the wheel, regardless of where the top wheel is adjusted. Thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve,

I don't mean to sound condecending. However, it is the tilting of the upper wheel and it's adjustment that controls the tracking of the blade on both wheels. It is also quite common for many blades to sit closer to the front of the wheel than the center.

However, if you still feel that this is not the issue. Then I suggest that you throughly check your wheel alignment with a straight edge that can cover both the top and bottom edges of the rim of both your upper and lower wheels and see if they can be bought into alignment. If it's not possible to get them to align then you will need probably add or remove a shim to the top wheel to obtain alignment. I suggest that you buy or borrow Mark Duginske's Bandsaw Handbook and have a read. It will give you a good idea on what next to check if this doesn't work.

I understand that the upper adjustment is supposed to move the blade on both wheels. What is happening is that the blade keeps popping off the front of the bottom wheel, regardless of the setting on the upper wheel. I went out and purchased another blade, thinking that the one that came with the saw may be the problem. Still happens with the new blade.

The top and bottom wheels are within 1/2 mm from being parallel to one another, the top of the bottom wheel being tilted slightly inward. It's really close, but not exactly parallel. If I shim them, they will not be parallel, unless the shim is 1/2 mm at the top, and 0 at the bottom. I don't have the book you suggested, and really don't want to spend the time and money to track it down. Hoping to get a reasonable answer from someone with experience in this area. Thank you for the input.
Steve Z.:confused:

I am still unable to explain why the blade rides directly in the middle of both wheels when I turn it backwards. When I turn the blade in the direction of the cut, the blade moves to the front of the bottom wheel, and comes off. This is very disconcerting when the blade pops off under full tension! Thanks again.
Steve Z.

OK desperation time.
1. forget turning the wheels backwards, thats telling us nothing.

2. when you do turn the wheels by hand turn the bottom wheel, this is the driving wheel.

3. you mentioned full tension, by this I read that you've got the tension wound up as tight as it will go? If so then back it off untill you get a fairly good "ting" when you pluck the blade with your thumbnail.

4. now because I think the problem is tracking we'll start with that. The blade is coming off the front of the wheels? ok, turn the top wheel tracking adjustment so that the top of the top wheel goes in the direction that the blade is coming off, and when you've done that a bit start turning the bottom wheel by hand until the blade is about where you want it.

5. start the unit and fine tune the tracking adjustment. Watch your fingers.

This is maddening. I'm usually really good at figuring out physical things, but this is driving me crazy!

Since the top of the bottom wheel is slightly tilted inwards, the two wheels are not actually coplanar. SOOOO, if the bottom wheel is shimmed out slightly, and the top wheel is tilted to be in the same plane as the bottom wheel, they will be coplanar, but the plane will be slightly tilted to the rear of the blade. I think the blade would track better in this configuration, because both wheels would be in the same plane. It seemed like the top of the bottom wheel was only 1/2 mm to 1 mm away from my straight edge, but that must be sufficient to make the blade come off of the bottom wheel.

This is very interesting to me, since when I started this exercise, it didn't make any sense to me that if the two wheels are supposed to be in the same plane, why would there be a tilt function on the top wheel to adjust the position of the blade. If you tilt it, you are automatically taking the two wheels out of the same plane! Seemed like a weird way to adjust the tracking of the blade, since you are building in twist when the tilt function is used. If I'm right, shimming the bottom wheel would bring it out, at the same angle as it currently is (the top tilted inward). This would allow the same tilt on the top wheel to bring the two wheels into the same plane. I am guessing that if the two wheels are truly in the same plane, the tracking problem will take care of itself. What do you think?

Thanks.

Steve Z.

Try what I suggested first, it could save you some work. 1/2 to 1mm out of co planar wont make that much difference, but you will be suprised at what even 1/2 turn of tracking adjustment can do, as most of us bandsaw owners know.
Trust me, if it dont work then swear at me.

Can I just sweqar at you Termite

Originally Posted by Muddy

Can I just sweqar at you Termite

Why not.....everybody else does.

I have tried every possible combination. This saw looks like a good one, but it is a piece of crap. I am going to take it back tomorrow, even though I have spent more than two days messing with it. Just made a shim, installed it and BANG, the blade came off the front of the lower wheel again. I give up.

I have tried every combination of torque and tilt of the top wheel, with and without a shim. Fortunately, I never got it powered up. Even so, I consider myself lucky - to still have all of my appendages. That blade really pops off. It just slides on the tire. I can see it going, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Now, I've got to figure out how to get this piece of crap back to the store. I'm not going to be able to spend another day to break it down. I'm really disgusted at this point. Thought I had it fixed before it tried to kill me again. Thanks for your input, but nothing seems to work.

Steve

Called Hitachi Customer Service yesterday. They indicated that the saw was defective, but would do nothing for me other than that. I returned the saw to Lowes yesterday. Hitachi apparently only puts their name on the bandsaw. It is manufactured in China, and they ship directly to Lowes in a container. Hitachi did not have even one saw to replace mine with, and they gave me nothing for the inconvenience - three days of hell trying to get their piece of crap to work. I think I'm going to purchase a Grizzly, if I can get the money together. Lots of good comments on the internet about them, but they are a bit pricey for me. Thanks for your comments.
Steve Z.