Shopsmith Band Saw Bearing Noise

[dusty]

The tracking and backup bearings are notorious for being intermittently noisy. These bearings are not running at high speed and they are not heavily loaded. Why do they so frequently get noisy?

A thread running right now got me to thinking about this AGAIN.

All of these bearings are mounted using shouldered bolts and the bearings slide on with little or no resistance. This implies to me that the inner race is free to spin on the shoulder bolt but should it?

Is it possible that the noise is not the result of bearing failure but rather the noise created by the inner race spinning of the bolt.

[RFGuy]

Thanks Dusty. I'd like to understand this as well. I don't have a lot of experience with different brand bandsaws (mostly just Shopsmith) but it does seem like quite a few bandsaws out there (various brands) are noisy when running but not cutting. IF there are some small changes/adjustments or even bearing replacements that could quiet the Shopsmith bandsaw I would love to hear about them on this thread.

Somewhat related to this, I saw a video from Matthias recently where he did some investigation into reducing bandsaw chatter while cutting. He found that the set on the teeth as well as their design can make quite a difference in how noisy and rough the cut can be.

[dusty]

Thanks Dusty. I'd like to understand this as well. I don't have a lot of experience with different brand bandsaws (mostly just Shopsmith) but it does seem like quite a few bandsaws out there are noisy even when idle and not cutting. IF there are some small changes/adjustments or even bearing replacements that could quiet the Shopsmith bandsaw I would love to hear about them on this thread.

Somewhat related to this, I saw a video from Matthias recently where he did some investigation into reducing bandsaw chatter while cutting. He found that the set on the teeth as well as their design can make quite a difference in how noisy and rough the cut can be.

Yes...but two different problems. The Shopsmith band saw (at least my two) make the same intermittent noises even when I am not cutting. Sometimes I can just turn them on and they make the typical noise that I attribute to the bearings.

[RFGuy]

Yes...but two different problems. The Shopsmith band saw (at least my two) make the same intermittent noises even when I am not cutting. Sometimes I can just turn them on and they make the typical noise that I attribute to the bearings.

Yes, you are right. Sorry, I was re-editing my post to make it clearer when you responded to it. The Matthias video is specifically the cutting case and you brought up the non-cutting case. I am interested in both, but what I was trying to say is I wonder if the type of blade is a contributing factor for the noise in the non-cutting case? Particularly if you are running cool block guides, perhaps the type of tooth set/design makes a difference in the noise as well?

[edma194]

All of these bearings are mounted using shouldered bolts and the bearings slide on with little or no resistance. This implies to me that the inner race is free to spin on the shoulder bolt but should it?

Can the bolt be tightened down on the inner race to keep it from moving?

[dusty]

Yes...but two different problems. The Shopsmith band saw (at least my two) make the same intermittent noises even when I am not cutting. Sometimes I can just turn them on and they make the typical noise that I attribute to the bearings.

Yes, you are right. Sorry, I was re-editing my post to make it clearer when you responded to it. The Matthias video is specifically the cutting case and you brought up the non-cutting case. I am interested in both, but what I was trying to say is I wonder if the type of blade is a contributing factor for the noise in the non-cutting case? Particularly if you are running cool block guides, perhaps the type of tooth set/design makes a difference in the noise as well?

I have cool blocks on both of the band saws but I believe I have eliminated them as the cause of this particular noise by backing them away from the blade.

Yes, the type of blade is still a possibility. I have not noticed a relationship between noise and blade type but that is definitely not conclusive. I don't change blades all that often. One bandsaw is set to resaw and the other has a small blade. The blades are all from Shopsmith.

[dusty]

All of these bearings are mounted using shouldered bolts and the bearings slide on with little or no resistance. This implies to me that the inner race is free to spin on the shoulder bolt but should it?

Can the bolt be tightened down on the inner race to keep it from moving?

Maybe. washer with a small OD might do that trick. I don't know because I have not tried it.

[chapmanruss]

Dusty,

You may have the answer to some of the noise. If the least resistance is the bearing's inner sleeve turning on the shaft instead of the bearings themselves having the inner sleeve fixed and the outer sleeve turning that could account for some noise. That would have the bearing acting as a solid roller on the shaft. I think the idea of a small OD washer to "lock" the bearings inner sleeve on the shaft bolt could work. Of course you would not want to do that on an early Magna Bandsaw with the original rollers. Although listed as rubber covered Tracking Bearing and Upper and Lower Backup Bearings the original ones were plastic that may have bronze inserts. That is what came on my 1956 Bandsaw and I have seen it on other early Bandsaws. The good news is they can be changed over to the current bearings. The original Bandsaw Manual says to put one or two drops of 3 in 1 oil on the shafts of those bearings every 15 hours of use.

[chapmanruss]

Dusty, I think this was just a ploy to see if I would take apart any of my Bandsaws to check this out.

On my 1998 Bandsaw I removed the Tracking Bearing assembly and the inner bearing sleeve is "locked" to the bolt shaft. On the upper and lower Guide Bearings it looks to be the same as far as I can tell with them in place.

[dusty]

That may be the way it turns out and we won't know for sure until tomorrow. I am going to have to disassemble to see. Shopsmith sells the bearings with new shoulder bolts and maybe I put it all back together wrong.

We shall see what we shall see.