Bandsaw shaft diameter?

[freedomlives]

I assume you have neither the hubs or the coupler.

Only way that comes to mind, is to loosen the bench tubes and twist the leg(and headrest) about a vertical axis to obtain better alignment.

I have the hubs on the SPTs. When I looked into it two years ago, I read on here one person recommending the Lovejoy couplers. So I just went with that. The other SPT is the jointer, which I haven't used yet. I did finally tackle giving it new bearings and cleaning off rust, though I still need to get the knives sharpened.

By the way, coating a hot cast iron surface with beeswax (easy to do in the hot summer sun) and then wiping it down with orange oil seems to make a nice surface. I happened on this by chance while working with the jointer. Perhaps floorwax would still be better, I just need to remember to get some when I'm in town.

I twisted (probably even bringing to a straighter orientantion than they were) the bench tubes. But what really helped was lowering the large set screw that the way tubes rest on.

Now I'm going through lubricating the bandsaw. I turned it on, and after 2 minutes of running and a few test cuts, it started making really horrible sounds. I'm trying to figure out how to " Remove the upper wheel by taking off the blade and releasing the wheel retainer snap ring with a screwdriver.". I assume a snap ring means those rings in the shape of a 'C' that can be pried off the shaft, but mine doesn't have one of those, and the pulley doesn't want to come off.

[JPG]

In addition to the 'c-clip' there should be a fiber washer. then the wheel should simply pull off.

FWIW the bandsaw is notoriously noisey. Blade guide bearings are a likely culprit.

That huge set screw will tilt the head rest casting, but at the same time is twisting the way tubes relative to the bench tubes. That causes the headstock and table carriage to rotate as they are slid from end to end.

[dusty]

I just measured the input shaft diameter on my 1984-vintage bandsaw. Calipers said 0.624", and micrometers said 0.6246". Just what you'd expect. It sounds to me like some oversize shafts must have gotten out the door at some point. In my experience, the upper tolerance limit for a precision shaft is usually the nominal diameter. Maybe a candidate for a defective-part warranty replacement?

I couldn't recall which SPT's used 1/2"-bore couplers, and so just checked the SS site. The coupler page says those would be the jointer, jigsaw, and scroll saw.

Hey Dusty, another candidate of SS making a mistake. It happens regardless of your experience.

I am uncertain as to which "mistake" you might be referring to. The Bandsaw is not one of them. After using hesat and force fitting other coupler in place of the hubs, I would hardly consider Shopsmith to be to blame. Not based on what we have heard so far. To the best of my knowledge, the bandsaw has always had a 5/8" shaft. The only 1/2" shaft I have in my shop is on the jointer. I do not have a Shopsmith powered scroll saw nor do I have a jigsaw so I do not know about them. My scroll saw has "no" hub.

[freedomlives]

got it now. Never seen the sort of clip on there-- sort of like a keyring.

The needle bearing looks like it was oiled, not greased. Perhaps previous owner just dribbled 3-in-1 oil there as well.

If one replaces the blade guide bearings with suitable sized ball-bearings, does it help the noise much?

thanks for the help!

[jsburger]

I just measured the input shaft diameter on my 1984-vintage bandsaw. Calipers said 0.624", and micrometers said 0.6246". Just what you'd expect. It sounds to me like some oversize shafts must have gotten out the door at some point. In my experience, the upper tolerance limit for a precision shaft is usually the nominal diameter. Maybe a candidate for a defective-part warranty replacement?

I couldn't recall which SPT's used 1/2"-bore couplers, and so just checked the SS site. The coupler page says those would be the jointer, jigsaw, and scroll saw.

Hey Dusty, another candidate of SS making a mistake. It happens regardless of your experience.

I am uncertain as to which "mistake" you might be referring to. The Bandsaw is not one of them. After using hesat and force fitting other coupler in place of the hubs, I would hardly consider Shopsmith to be to blame. Not based on what we have heard so far. To the best of my knowledge, the bandsaw has always had a 5/8" shaft. The only 1/2" shaft I have in my shop is on the jointer. I do not have a Shopsmith powered scroll saw nor do I have a jigsaw so I do not know about them. My scroll saw has "no" hub.

Of course the SS band saw is not a mistake. It is a wonderful machine and I use mine all the time. Please read the entire thread. We are talking about the shaft diameter. I believe the OP and Buckeys shaft measurements are different. If that is the case then SS sold SOME band saws with an incorrect drive shaft diameter.

[JPG]

got it now. Never seen the sort of clip on there-- sort of like a keyring.

The needle bearing looks like it was oiled, not greased. Perhaps previous owner just dribbled 3-in-1 oil there as well.

If one replaces the blade guide bearings with suitable sized ball-bearings, does it help the noise much?

thanks for the help!

Opinions vary, but generally the noise is at least partially caused by the back of the blade skewing/slipping against the bearings outer race. Blade to bearing alignment is more likely a culprit than the bearings themselves. The base casting and the plastic cover may be an effective 'sounding board' also.

The blade guides themselves can make noise if the blade is rubbing against them.

At a minimum I recommend the rear guide bearing upgrade(two bearings replace the original single bearing).

[freedomlives]

Of course the SS band saw is not a mistake. It is a wonderful machine and I use mine all the time. Please read the entire thread. We are talking about the shaft diameter. I believe the OP and Buckeys shaft measurements are different. If that is the case then SS sold SOME band saws with an incorrect drive shaft diameter.

I certainly wasn't trying to blame Shopsmith! The only thing I can say with 100% certainty is they my bandsaw has a shaft that is larger than the headstock. The original drive coupling that came with it fits the bandsaw shaft perfectly and on the headstock shaft has a slight bit of play (that wouldn't make a difference when the set screw is tightened). I don't have a precision micrometer, so I can't say 100% that the shaft is over 5/8". I only can go on what my vernier caliper says, but while it is a nice instrument, it is also a couple of decades old. And, not being the original owner, I can't say what sort of abuse might have occurred to the shaft either before.

Given that when I heated the Lovejoy coupling 5 minutes on the stove it slid on, it is quite possible that both the bandsaw shaft and Lovejoy coupling ID are dead-on 5/8". The headstock shaft is perhaps just a tad under 5/8.

I have to do a bit of lubricating/restoring on the thing, but I don't see anything bad at all about the bandsaw. I'm really glad I got it and just regret that I didn't get around to setting it up until now!

[dusty]

Make sure there are no burrs on the shaft or inside the coupler you are using there.

If the band saw shaft is too large, then you would also have a bandsaw wheel and/or bearing (maybe 2) with over sized bores.

[freedomlives]

I got the ZCI made. Unlike with the cheap hand jig-saw I have, I was able to cut the curves perfectly (even though it has a 1/2" blade on it).

Zero clearance insert installed!

zci.jpg (198.44 KiB) Viewed 2459 times

This allowed me to safely cut the different angles for the legs on the table saw. I changed the angle of the legs with respect to the floor (I had first cut at 70°, but then I realized that some corresponding drilling and cutting operations needed 20° which isn't possible with the miter gauge, so I re-cut at 60°) and this recutting I didn't get all the pieces the same length. After gluing up the two sides I saw this error, and was able to use the band saw to safely trim them to be the same.

Trimming top of stool legs to be equal height.

stool.jpg (191.96 KiB) Viewed 2459 times

End result of project that necessitated these operations:

Finished stool

stool2.jpg (260.88 KiB) Viewed 2459 times

The legs still didn't come out perfectly, I made some mistake with dowel holes, I guess, but my kids didn't notice.

[freedomlives]

I noticed SS has a special on bandsaw stuff this week. I already ordered a urethane tire set from ebay-- could have saved $1.01 if I'd ordered from shopsmith. Going to order from them the cool blocks and bandsaw blades. Just does anyone see what is the difference between C & G and D & H? http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/cata ... blades.htm