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Thread: Wadkin bzb500

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
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    Default Wadkin bzb500

    We at the Woodcraft Guild of the ACT have a 20" 2Hp wadkin BZB500 (which is actually 508mm I think). A link to the User Manual & Literature is here Wadkin BZB 500 Bandsaw. We use it as a breakdown saw, with a 3/4" 1.3 TPI bi-metal blade. I intend to verify the exact dimensions of the wheels on this specific unit, but the blade had started to vibrate and so a check of the tires has revealed some cracking on the lower tire. At least 4 of the cracks are sufficiently serious that I am making the call that replacement is mandatory, & if I am going to replace one I may as well do both

    At this stage I am planning on ordering some Blue Max tires from their ebay site 20" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" Urethane Band Saw Tires ANY WHEEL 20" +/- 1/2 Dia. Set of 2 | eBay My reasoning is that these tires are a full 1/8" thick tire, whereas the Carter Blue tire available from Gregory's Machinery is 3/32". I figure this is an old machine, so I am going to give it the thickest tire I can. I believe these tires are crowned, and even though this machine came with flat tires, we crowned them manually and it worked fine for years.

    The wheels will be properly cleaned. We have no shortage of very well seasoned former engineers with time on their hands, so I will find someone to give that job to.

    The procedure I intend to follow is shown in a Dave Stanton video How to replace a bandsaw tyre the easy way. Dave stanton woodworking - YouTube

    The reason for this post is to check whether anyone has tried the Blue Max and has some experience I could gain from on the subject.

    thanks in advance

    I am probably going to put new guides on the machine as well, but that will have to wait for the tire replacements, and will most probably be the subject of future posts

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  3. #2
    Join Date
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    I’ve just done an 18” Jet with those blue tyres from the US.
    They sent a twee little tool to use and it was useless.
    I had a mate who’s bloody solid ( ex scuba diver) over to help.
    We did it with the wheels on the saw and used a panelbeaters slapper to slide the tyre on.
    Busy now but will put a photo up later.
    H.
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  4. #3
    Join Date
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    I put Blue Max on my 500 bandsaw about three years ago. They are excellent. Fitted in situ, no adhesive required. The tool supplied was capable of doing the job provided you were very strong in the hands (its just a short bit of dowel with a flat head nail driven in the end grain.) Something longer would be easier to use as it would have better leverage (think screwdriver.) Tyres show no sign of wear and the saw is used almost daily.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
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    as a bit of an update

    The tires arrived so... off with the old tires and on with the new.
    The wheels of the wadkin BZB20 (pre-metric version of the Wadkin BZB500) are aluminium with grooves in the rim and no retaining lip on the rim. We left the tires on the dash of a car till they were nice and warm, and the slipped on easily. I let them cool on the rims, reinstalled the rims,put a blade on and discovered the blade path had move to the right because of the thicker tires. The wadkin guides are on an eccentric at the end of the shaft which controls fore&aft positioning, so they got re-positioned by rotating the shaft.

    I fired up the machine and the tires walked straight off the rim.

    I checked with the supplier and he said the tires need to be glued on, with contact adhesive.

    We got some Sika premium contact adhesive, put a 12mm dowel between the tire and the rim, then rotated the dowel to apply the adhesive to both surfaces. We cleaned up the messy bits as best we could, then re-installed the wheels to let them dry. I gave them 3 days, then we took the wheels off and cleaned off as much exposed excess glue as we could, paying particular attention to make sure we got any bits on the running surface.

    Back on with the wheels and blade, adjust everything up by hand tracking, and give it a test run. Everything seemed to run OK, although there is a very small vibration from the lower wheel. I suspect I may have missed a spot of glue on the rim, causing a very minor imbalance.

    I left everything alone for a couple of days then brought in some logs of Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) between 6" and 10" through and up to 1.2m long. The Wadkin cut through them effortlessly to make half rounds to go out into the turners shed. The new tires seem to have given the machine a little bit more "oompf", probably because the blade is running on a better surface to track it.

    Very pleased so far. I will report back in a month or so.

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