Bandsaw tune up... Upper blade guide bearing post questions

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:27 am

fitzhugh wrote:
I'm kicking myself for not thinking of your approach to setting the crazy slotted jam nutted adjustment screws on the upper guide assembly mount: you adjusted it first in the middle of the vertical range, THEN worked it on the top and bottom. That simple step is why you took only 15 minutes or so, when I took a couple hours trying to get it set. That sounds crazy but one of the aforementioned knowledgeable types that commented on your thread mentioned taking "literally hours" on it as well. Names withheld to protect the innocent.

Even now with this slick pointer available to me, I cannot get mine aligned in fifteen minutes. I am resigned to doing the best I can do and then live with the results.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:02 am

FWIW 1/4 turn is the initial rough adjustment.

As it gets closer, smaller tweaks are needed.

fitzhugh · Post by **fitzhugh** » Thu May 29, 2014 5:39 pm

I've drilled and tapped the upper guide post bracket and added the nylon bolt. I had to flatten the sides of the slide post too because it was uneven but now it is much much easier to tune. The po had rather mangled the slide post already with a file. Long gouges from filing aluminum with a gunned up file. Can't tell what he was trying to fix.

I've also filled down the past at the base of the post that holds the guide blocks and bearings to increase the resaw capacity.

One question: I think the home on post was drilled too low. There is a big space at the bottom of the post (see photo). Do your saws have a space there? Anyone willing to measure where the hole is drilled in the sliding post and the past that holds the guide blocks? I'd like to see which was drilled wrong. If the post, I'll replace it. That will make it safer to file off a bit more for resaw clearance. As it is I'm afraid to make it wobbly. Do I need the capacity? Not now, I'm just having fun running the saw up.

[ATTACH]25210[/ATTACH]
Thanks!
Fitzhugh

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu May 29, 2014 6:23 pm

Off hand it looks excessive. Has the PO been filing here as well? What is the 'height' of the part just above the gap?

Question is, how does the clamp rod/handle fit?

fitzhugh · Post by **fitzhugh** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 3:22 pm

I looked and yeah, it looks like it was filed down. What is odd is how worn the whole post is, especially on the surfaces that are hidden by the part that the bearing and guide blocks attach to. The whole thing has rather random filing marks but looks like it was worn smooth over time after that. Who knows - it had a few decades to get this way. I'll replace it if needed at some point but for now it is working with the extra clearance and the nylon bolt added.

Thanks for all the help.