Thread: Used band saw questions

Hi, and welcome to our Forums. First things first, we are based in Australia and our members are generally southern hemisphere people but we do have some from the USA, UK, Europe and other Northern countries. The only significance of that statement is that we don't have much access to Grizzly gear, but do get some similar Asian sourced gear. Also we have different power systems to you guys. Net result is we don't have a lot of background with your unit, but I'm willing to comment on your questions where things are reasonably common.

Q2. The third guide bearing. There should also be another complete set of guides below the table and that would have a similar third bearing also. As is evident from your photo 4, the two bearings close to the blade control lateral movement of the blade and try to stop it twisting. Would normally be set a few thousands of an inch clear of the blade so they only contact it and rotate if/when the blade starts to deviate laterally. The third bearing serves as a thrust bearing to ensure that feeding material through the saw does not push the blade backwards. This bearing is normally mounted off centre from the blade axis, and just behind the blade. The blade contacts the outer race of the bearing once the blade deflects backwards during material feed and causes the outer race to start rotating.

Bandsaw blades come in a variety of band widths and tooth counts, so the rear (thrust) bearing is normally adjustable front to back to position it just behind the back edge of any blade the saw can cope with. The twin bearings at the side of the blade are also normally adjustable for blade clearance, often by being mounted on eccentric spindle so the gap between the bearings opens and closes as the spindles are rotated to set clearance. They are generally also adjustable front to back so that they are positioned just behind the tooth gullets to give maximum stability and directional control to the tips of the teeth to ensure a stable cut. Al of this applies equally to the upper and lower guides.

Question 3. Accessing the lower wheel nut. I have no idea of the sizes involved as I am not familiar with the saw, but options may include thin wall sockets as used for alloy car wheels, tube spanners or even pressed metal ring spanners like used be be in bicycle tool kits, if you can locate any of these in a suitable size. Final option if you can't get any thing to fit would be to position a small cold chisel near a point on the nut at about 45degrees to the nut face and tap in the direction to release the nut. This will disfigure the nut, but may be the only viable option available.

Hope this helps, can't help with model no, electrical settings etc, but it is not normal practice to adjust thermal switches on a job by job basis, they are normally set to provide a safe cutout for the motor, and remain at that setting, rather than be changed regularly depending on the severity of the load you might apply to the unit. Regular changing tends to suggest that the unit either has a defective motor prone to tripping them, or has been used fairly regularly at loads that have caused them to trip, so they have been advanced to provide more leeway but less protection for the motor.

Thanks for the warm welcome there malb. Seems like I have a lot more work to do on this saw than I realized when I bought it, but it's solid enough so I think everything will turn out ok.

I'd be asking Grizzly those questions.