Thread: Help with new bandsaw

Chumley

Not want to confuse you with an overload of information a good starting point to answer your question is Setting Up a Bandsaw by Les Swift, Peninsular Woodturning Guild Inc. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~pwguild/i-bndsaw.htm



After that you may wish to try one or more of the sites listed here ~ Bandsaws and Blades information sites

I hope this helps,

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the info - the Les Swift site answered the question about the guides - good pictures are very handy. The other sites I have seen before (and printed off some hints to use). I think I figured out question 3 - the guard should be outside and slides up and down to protect me from the blade when the guard is lowered. The vibration is only in the motor, not the blade, so no real problem there (unless it vibrates the bolts loose). Question 1 and 5 I still need help with - probably need to find someone with a multi-speed saw and chat.

Thanks again,
Cheers,
Chumley

Chumley, from an amateur with only one speed on the bandsaw, I'd say yes to 1., and maybe to 5.

Re 5 I'm extrapolating from my drill press. If it's too hard to get the belt off by hand, I'd be wary of levering it off. Maybe you can hit a happy medium of tension on the belt by loosening it off enough to push it off with your thumb without it slipping in use.

Let us know how you go.

Hi Ern,

Thanks for your input. I think I'm happy with the orientation of the lower guide - seems to fit ok and works. Re the changing of belt speeds - I think I'm just going to leave it on the fastest speed and not change it at all. Most of the posts I've read suggest that the faster speeds are better for timber, and I can always adjust the rate of feed. Plus I know myself - I tend to not mess with things unless I have to. We have a floor-mounted computer-room A/C at work with a single pulley motor to drive the pump - we routinely change the belts with a screwdriver to remove the old and just wind the new one on -- thought this may work on the bandsaw, but it feels kinda different when you own the machine.

All I have to do now is learn how to coil the bands - I have instructions from an earlier post - spent half an hour and got it only once - I need to be able to demo the coiling so I can justify buying a new table saw and a drill press (don't worry about the connection here, there isn't one, just don't tell her).

Cheers,
Chumley

Goodo. Just concerned about stretching/breaking which I just did to two thicknesser drive feed tyres.

Re coiling, there's a torrent on the Video forum showing Stuart doing it. Picture is worth a thousand words ;-} (Can only load with Azureus btw.).

Can't see videos on this dumb ol' compu-duh-r, but this is how I coil bandsaw blades: Wear gloves. Hold the blade in air with the teeth away from you; right hand at 2 o'clock, thumb toward noon; left hand at 10 o'clock, thumb toward 9 o'clock. Rotate both wrists the only way they'll go. Also works on large v-belts.

Regarding the speed change: Prying the belt from the grooves will shorten belt life. My drill press has the motor mounted to two round shafts, sliding fore and aft, position locked by bent bolts acting as grub screws. Loosen the bolts approx 1/4 turn to move the motor and allow belt relocation. Having to loosen four motor bolts for belt relocation sounds like a poor solution. Any possibility of doing the same on the jack shaft instead? On the other hand, speed change on a bandsaw is usually less frequent than on a drill press, so maybe not so bad. Have you spoken with anyone at the supplier about this? Another thought: If other elements allow, consider replacing the motor mount bolts with bent bolts for quicker engagement and disengagement. If just ordinary through bolts with nuts, invert and replace nuts with wing nuts.

Joe

There's a lot to be said for the old "mount it on a hinged plate and let gravity do the tensioning" method. However, it seems to be a rarity on new machines... I wonder why? Did some do-gooder polly decide it was unsafe?

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

There's a lot to be said for the old "mount it on a hinged plate and let gravity do the tensioning" method. However, it seems to be a rarity on new machines... I wonder why? Did some do-gooder polly decide it was unsafe?

Apart the fact that it might not be a practical option for the drill press, one reason could be that electric motor technology has substantially reduced the weight to power ratio over the past 50 years, so modern motors might not have enough weight to ensure sufficient tensioning.

I've never been an enthusiast for letting the motor provide the tension, unless the arrangement can be locked in position once tensioned. At critical belt lengths and speeds, a resonant standing wave can set up in the belt and increase vibration problems, so that the motor platform bounces.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Not sure what a jack shaft is, presume its the pulley that sits half way between the motor and the bandwheel (?), if so, its locked into place with one belt going up to the bandwheel and the other going down to the motor. The motor itself (which is bleedin' heavy by the way) is mounted on a series of plates in the base of the stand - and I don't know about resonant waves, but I doubt it could vibrate any more than it does, although it does vibrate smoothly if you know what I mean. The bolts are thru bolts with nuts and heads, so you need two hands to loosen or tighten them - add to this the need to straighten out the motor angle when you tighten it up means I don't want to be doing this on and off. To install it I had to rig up a jig to hold the back of the motor up while pushing down on the other side with my elbow while holding the spanner on the bolt with one hand and doing up the nut with the other. You get the picture. The more I think about it the more certain I am of just leaving the belts as is and using the one speed. I'll ask around at work to see if some friendly tech will drop in for a coffee and give it a look - I always get confused with how tight to do nuts up and which side of the flat washer the split washer goes, etc. Didn't ever matter with my meccano set and the helicopter blades did twirl but this is a bit more complex and expensive.
Cheers,
Chumley

Right, Chumley, the jack shaft is an intermediate shaft; usually used to introduce another speed factor or to realign the drive path. I get the picture about needing about five hands and an extra knee or two to make the connections. With bolt heads on the far side of the adjusting plate, you can "marry" adjacent bolt head pairs with a piece of sheet metal, about 1mm thick, in sort of a dog bone shape, holes for the bolt shanks, and tabs bent over the edges of the heads from the shank side. These function like little spanners, and will keep the bolts from turning while you turn the fastening nuts. I don't quite understand the part about pushing down with the elbow, but maybe the cartoon is applicable. [Split washer should go between the nut and the item attached - no flat washer, as it would defeat the purpose of the split washer.]

Joe

Hi Joe,

You're good value - thanks for the tips - I like the sheet metal helper. One problem I might have is that the bolt holes on the motor are so close to the motor housing that I couldn't feed the bolt thru from that side, so I have the nut on the motor side - can't see that from the back of the base stand as the motor is in the way -- it's hard to explain but is a pain of a setup. I think your idea will still work with the nuts - guess it doesn't matter which one you hold and which you turn.

The deal with the elbow (and I wasn't exaggerating) is that with the motor sitting roughly in place with the four bolts almost done up but still allowing some up and down movement, I needed to straighten the motor as it is lighter on the pulley side than the other (so the heavy side had the wooden frame holding the motor up) - the other end of the motor has the pulley and needed to be pulled down to both straighten the motor so the pulleys align properly and to give a bit of tension on the belt.

If only my son was interested in woodworking instead of computer games!

Cheers,
Chumley

Aha! Got it with the elbow thing. With tension on the pulley, the motor weight throws the pulley out of plumb and twists the belt - NG.

Beg to differ about feasibility of the bolt placement. Timbecon says 3/4 HP motor. That would likely have a NEMA 48 or 56 frame. I agree the bolt holes are "under" the motor, and bolts can't be placed directly. But if you remove the motor, the bolts can be maneuvered into the holes and then rotated to square with the mounting flange. Bind loose parts with sacrificial masking tape, then push the whole thing into alignment with the frame plate for attachment.

The sheet metal thing is usually used as a locking flange on engines and such. Works somewhat like an external version of a castle nut with cotter pin. If the bolts are placed as I suggest, the sheet metal should be more of a "U" shape to straddle the buttress on the motor frame. (Set horizontally vs vertically as in my cartoon.) Then the nuts or wing nuts are operated upon from the back of the frame plate.

Short of adding some sort of side rails or auxiliary hinged plate to keep the motor shaft level, wrestling with it is probably inevitable. But as said earlier, speed change is less frequent with a bandsaw.

Joe

Hi Joe,
Said you were good value - bandsaw is humming and I feel much more comfortable playing with it - now I know what a greenie is, one is on its way!! Woohoo!
Cheers,
Chumley