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Bandsaw Table Installation and Alignment

dusty

chapmanruss wrote I believe I have a basic understanding of the Shopsmith/Magna Bandsaw and the relative position of the upper and lower wheels as depicted in fig.15. I hope other are getting the same basic understanding too. For anyone working on their Bandsaw it is important to know that the cant exists in the upper wheel and if missing needs to be restored for proper operation. For me I am happy to know that the engineers at Magna made a more user friendly Bandsaw than others found on the market.

JPG,

you said

Maybe SOMEDAY we will all understand this animal.(including SS CS).
I think we are getting pretty close and have a least a good working knowledge of how it functions. MAYBE someday SS CS will catch up. Unfortunately they only have what someone has previously written down to reference. Maybe the quote in my post on March 1st from Everett was him getting information that was misunderstood by the CS representative he spoke with.

Upper Wheel angle - From Everett January 15 2016 in a forum post.

I just got off the phone with Shopsmith Customer Service and was told that the 2° Bevel was added in April 1984 to the upper wheel. Prior to that, they said they were flat like the lower wheel. That may answer some of the questions since many of us have Bandsaws from early and later production.
Maybe April 1984 was when someone noted the reference currently used that the Bandsaw's Upper Wheel has a 2° Bevel and assumed it meant that prior to that it was flat. Who knows for sure. Maybe CS should refer questions like these to the Forum so customers can get more accurate information. Sorry CS for bashing you here but you can only give the information you have available to you.

We have wandered a bit into the more technical side but I am wondering has anyone had a problem leaving the table in the factory position as apposed to changing it to have the table at 90° to the blade? I remember John mentioned cutting trunnions and other cuts leaving overcutting the intersection because of the factory angle. I guess it still boils down to what type of cutting you use your Bandsaw for.

Thank you, Russ, for taking us back to the origina ldilemma which was table alignment to the back of the blade. Unfortunately, I kept very poor notes and I now do not know just how far off my tables were. I shimmed with some pretty heavy washers to get it where I want it now.

JPG

I apologize for being a cause of some of the misinformation above. I have attempted to alter the posts where that was occurred. Unfortunately those corrections without explanation may further confuse any one reading this without reading down to this post.

chapmanruss

As Dusty said if anyone carefully reads this thread they will see there has been some incorrect information posted here. I am one of those guilty parties for which I am sorry. I did learn a couple things here. I believe what we ended up with finally was some very good, correct information about the Bandsaw. Maybe this is a good point to summarize those corrections.

So to summarize - the picture I posted shows the Fig. 15, 16, 17 & 18 drawings from the patent application and fig. 15 is the Magna/Shopsmith one. 16, 17 and 18 show other manufacturers wheel positions. The single one linked above is fig. 18 and should be disregarded. The Magna/Shopsmith Bandsaw has always had the upper wheel canted as part of its tracking design. The table is tilted slightly in relationship to the blade as it comes from the factory.

Dusty and JPG did I forget anything that was corrected during this discussion?

dusty

chapmanruss wrote As Dusty said if anyone carefully reads this thread they will see there has been some incorrect information posted here. I am one of those guilty parties for which I am sorry. I did learn a couple things here. I believe what we ended up with finally was some very good, correct information about the Bandsaw. Maybe this is a good point to summarize those corrections.

So to summarize - the picture I posted shows the Fig. 15, 16, 17 & 18 drawings from the patent application and fig. 15 is the Magna/Shopsmith one. 16, 17 and 18 show other manufacturers wheel positions. The single one linked above is fig. 18 and should be disregarded. The Magna/Shopsmith Bandsaw has always had the upper wheel canted as part of its tracking design. The table is tilted slightly in relationship to the blade as it comes from the factory.

Dusty and JPG did I forget anything that was corrected during this discussion?

I can't confirm this. I just know that until a week or so ago my bandsaw tables were tilted with respect to the blade. No more. I reset my tables with the intention of them being 90 degrees (in both directions) to the blade.

When I play the numbers game with my bandsaws in comparison to the patent drawing numbers they do not match but I believe my adjustments and tweaks are the cause of those differences.

JPG

Russ I think you covered it, However I would say the blade is tilted with respect to the table. Table is essentially horizontal. Blade is slightly off vertical front to rear. It should be essentially vertical left to right. Front rear and left right are from the normal operator's viewpoint.

dusty

JPG wrote Russ I think you covered it, However I would say the blade is tilted with respect to the table. Table is essentially horizontal. Blade is slightly off vertical front to rear. It should be essentially vertical left to right. Front rear and left right are from the normal operator's viewpoint.

Adjust table tilt for vertical one way and shim the table for vertical the other way.

jsburger

dusty wrote
JPG wrote Russ I think you covered it, However I would say the blade is tilted with respect to the table. Table is essentially horizontal. Blade is slightly off vertical front to rear. It should be essentially vertical left to right. Front rear and left right are from the normal operator's viewpoint.
Adjust table tilt for vertical one way and shim the table for vertical the other way.

Exactly! Left to right is provided by the 90º stop set screw. I think SS never included instructions for front to back alignment due to the unique blade tracking design because they have never thought is was an issue. In 99% of the cases it is not. The saw works fine that way. As I said before if you are cutting tenons or any cuts that meet on an inside corner it does make a difference. Yes, JPG, the small angle does make a difference.

lew

I feel a little guilty for (re)opening what may be a can of worms.. I get the gist of the thread and understand why the angle can be problematic. Before I go through the exercise of shimming the table, has anyone who has done so experienced any bogging down or other negatives?

Up till now, I haven't had a problem with the angle, but decided a bandsaw box would be a good way to improve my bandsaw skills, not sure if my bandsaw skills are any better, but I got lots of practice sanding.

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