Thread: My bandsaw is full of gremlins.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Just to throw more mud into the water...

...I can't see that the type of thrust bearing with a groove for the blade being much of an improvement.

Firstly, when a blade is placed on the wheel and correctly tensioned, the vertical part(s) of the blade will always fall in a straight line that's tangential to both top & bottom wheels. A grooved type B thrust bearing must be aligned both sideways so the back of the blade falls 'naturally' into the bearing groove & fore-and-aft to set the clearance at the back of the blade.

Then you can align the side guides, but they must be accurately set lest one presses to tightly to the side of the blade and adds a "twist" to the blade as it passes through.

It makes accurate initial setup more critical, without any real benefit. (In my opinion, anyway... my BS will cut veneers with a type A when set properly. Why complicate things?)


To put it simply: poor guide adjustment with either type is "not good" but it's even more "not good" with a grooved bearing.

In essence, I agree. Mine is an 'A' type, and I can also cut nice thin veneer and make accurate cuts for BS boxes etc. It tracks dead straight too, after following Alex Snodgrass' method of running the blade gullets in the centre of the wheel, rather than centring the blade itself.
However, having said that, many people swear by the Carter stabiliser, groove and all.
As you say, though, in theory it seems that accurate setup would be harder, since the natural fall of the blade must align perfectly with the groove in a grooved type B.
N.B. The 'Type A, Type B' was just a quick sketch I did, they're not std. terms.

Originally Posted by Hermit

N.B. The 'Type A, Type B' was just a quick sketch I did, they're not std. terms.

Yeah. But using the sketch as a reference saves sooo much typing.

Originally Posted by Hermit

N.B. The 'Type A, Type B' was just a quick sketch I did, they're not std. terms.

maybe not yet but I can see your quick sketch being reposted and the terminology being adopted at least on this forum. Thats a good thing because as Skew said it saves a lot of typing.

It certainly has made it easier to discuss this issue.

Doug

Originally Posted by doug3030

maybe not yet but I can see your quick sketch being reposted and the terminology being adopted at least on this forum. Thats a good thing because as Skew said it saves a lot of typing.
It certainly has made it easier to discuss this issue.
Doug

It's sort of a hard thing to describe, and personally I was unsure which type we were talking about, so quickly drew up both types. I'm glad it was useful.