Noisy Band Saw Bearings

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:33 pm

I have accumulated a substantial collection of bearings that have been removed because they squealed. While it is true that every time I replaced a bearing it got quieter the relief has been short lived.

There is very little lateral pressure placed on these bearings and the run time is really not extensive.

Why do the bearings get noisy so quickly? Are they really defective when they get noisy? I viewed a video clip, put up by Carter, yesterday that claimed (or reported) that when a bearing gets noisy it is really bad.

Today I decided I was going to do some checking on those defective bearings. I chucked a number of bearing in the drill press, turned the speed up some and began the test. With the bearings spinning (on a bolt) I held the bearing's outer race so that it could not spin with the shaft. The inner race and presumably the bearings are turning with the shaft. No noise and no heat build up. I pulled side ways on the bearings and still no noise.

Is the test invalid or are the bearings really not noisy and possibly not defective.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:06 am

dusty wrote:I have accumulated a substantial collection of bearings that have been removed because they squealed. While it is true that every time I replaced a bearing it got quieter the relief has been short lived.

There is very little lateral pressure placed on these bearings and the run time is really not extensive.

Why do the bearings get noisy so quickly? Are they really defective when they get noisy? I viewed a video clip, put up by Carter, yesterday that claimed (or reported) that when a bearing gets noisy it is really bad.

Today I decided I was going to do some checking on those defective bearings. I chucked a number of bearing in the drill press, turned the speed up some and began the test. With the bearings spinning (on a bolt) I held the bearing's outer race so that it could not spin with the shaft. The inner race and presumably the bearings are turning with the shaft. No noise and no heat build up. I pulled side ways on the bearings and still no noise.

Is the test invalid or are the bearings really not noisy and possibly not defective.

Perhaps the blade scraping the outer race is the source of the noise.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:32 am

Dusty - Do you hone the back of your blades?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 5:49 am

charlese wrote:Dusty - Do you hone the back of your blades?

Yes, I do. I use one of the stones that Shopsmith used to send as a gift with each order.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 5:58 am

JPG40504 wrote:Perhaps the blade scraping the outer race is the source of the noise.

That contact has to create at least some of the noise but it is certainly not the sole source.

The upper and lower wheels spinning without the blade make almost no noise at all. This makes be think that all of the unwanted noise comes from either the guide bearings of the tracking bearing.

One guide bearing spins only while cutting so noise while not cutting does not come from there. This leaves only two sources - the other guide bearing or the tracking bearing.

Sounds easy. Why isn't my bandsaw more quiet.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:55 am

Are you using OEM bearings, or have you modified the guide bearings?

Is your tracking bearing a single bearing, or dual bearing?

Ditto re single/dual for the lower guide bearing.

Does the noise occur with the blade guides retracted away from the blade?

Do you remove the blade guides when replacing a noisy bearing?

Sorry for all the things you have probably already considered, but, I be trying to be all inclusive here.

Have you tried prying the blade away from the bearings while making the noise?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:56 am

JPG40504 wrote:Are you using OEM bearings, or have you modified the guide bearings? OEM

Is your tracking bearing a single bearing, or dual bearing? Dual

Ditto re single/dual for the lower guide bearing. Single

Does the noise occur with the blade guides retracted away from the blade? Somewhat

Do you remove the blade guides when replacing a noisy bearing? NO - assume you mean cool blocks

Sorry for all the things you have probably already considered, but, I be trying to be all inclusive here.

Have you tried prying the blade away from the bearings while making the noise? NO - but if I stop the bearing from rotating the noise diminishes

If you don't have enough information you can always prepare and post a questionnaire.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:22 pm

dusty wrote:If you don't have enough information you can always prepare and post a questionnaire.

Tried waxing the bearings outer race?

When you hone the blade, do you hone the back surface, or just the corners?

I am still thinking the back of the blade is skewing against the outer race surface.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:47 pm

JPG40504 wrote:Tried waxing the bearings outer race?I've tried waxing and oiling. Momentarily, the noise level changes.

When you hone the blade, do you hone the back surface, or just the corners?I hone first the corners and then lightly hone the back. I do that to aid in making other than straight cuts. Has nothing to do with noise.

I am still thinking the back of the blade is skewing against the outer race surface. And if it is, how would you prevent it.

This has been going on for a long time and probably will continue to be something of an issue. Despite the noise, the bandsaw works great.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:19 pm

I thought, while I was routing through all these old bearings, that I'd test to see which ones might be good.

[ATTACH]18508[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18509[/ATTACH]

For some reason this does not work. I have bearings that squeal when installed in the bandsaw but sound fine when spun like this.

I'm stumped.

Shopsmith Forums