Band Saw Bearing Noise

ldh · Post by **ldh** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:09 pm

Dusty,
Looks like the rear tracking bearings are out of adjustment. The blade should be running against and between the bearings at all times. The bearings take a lot of abuse running all of the time, so I use a bit better bearing as a replacement. If you can find my past posts on the bandsaw they will show you what I do. It is hard to look at a couple of pics and get an idea of all the problems a bandsaw may have. I just start in and go through the whole saw adding the modifications that I think give me a better saw.
ldh

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:35 pm

ldh wrote:Dusty,
Looks like the rear tracking bearings are out of adjustment. The blade should be running against and between the bearings at all times. The bearings take a lot of abuse running all of the time, so I use a bit better bearing as a replacement. If you can find my past posts on the bandsaw they will show you what I do. It is hard to look at a couple of pics and get an idea of all the problems a bandsaw may have. I just start in and go through the whole saw adding the modifications that I think give me a better saw.
ldh

The back of the the blade does run against all three bearing sets. The one that confuses me and I believe is the result of the unusual noise is the bearing pair in the first two photos. Note how the blade moves in and out of the track between the two bearings.

The position of this bearing pair is NOT adjustable. It is fixed. Oh, I could change it by inserting or removing washers but that is not suppose to be necessary.

The blade tracks here on a line drawn between the two wheels at their rear most position. The first thing I thought was that one of the wheels, for some reason, was out of round. That does not seem to be the case.

I have referenced yours and other posts about ceramics, etc. Until this, I have seen no reason to even consider changing from what I have. I resaw a lot and never have problems.

I won't resaw successfully with it acting like this.

I'll have to mount the other bandsaw tomorrow and do some comparisons.

ldh · Post by **ldh** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:56 pm

Dusty,
Try backing off the upper and lower guide block bearings and see if the blade still runs away from the bearings, if it does you may have a problem with the tilt of the upper wheel.
ldh

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:50 pm

ldh wrote:Dusty,
Try backing off the upper and lower guide block bearings and see if the blade still runs away from the bearings, if it does you may have a problem with the tilt of the upper wheel.
ldh

I'll back off all the guide blocks tomorrow to see what happens. However, in your input you say "see if the blade still runs away from the bearings". The back of the blade is in contact with all three bearings. The blade moves back and forth across the face of the bearing but remains in contact.

If wheel tilt was incorrect, would the blade not track in a different location on the wheel?

Lodgepole · Post by **Lodgepole** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:37 pm

Dusty,

You probably have already done this, but have you taken a sharpening stone to the back and sides of the blade while the machine was running? I believe this was recommended in one of Nick's or Drew's forums.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:45 pm

lodgepole wrote:Dusty,

You probably have already done this, but have you taken a sharpening stone to the back and sides of the blade while the machine was running? I believe this was recommended in one of Nick's or Drew's forums.

Yes, that was recommended and no, I have not done that yet. I have a wide blade installed right now and don't do much with this other than straight cuts.

Burnishing the back edges I believe is most necessary when using the bandsaw for curved cuts. Is that correct?

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:50 pm

dusty wrote:If wheel tilt was incorrect, would the blade not track in a different location on the wheel?

Dusty, I'm thinking that if the wheel tilt isn't correct. That the blade would move from back to front. Causing the misalignment on the two bearings. MAYBE a bad spot on the tires??

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:56 pm

beeg wrote:Dusty, I'm thinking that if the wheel tilt isn't correct. That the blade would move from back to front. Causing the misalignment on the two bearings. MAYBE a bad spot on the tires??

Looking at the third image I posted in this thread you can see where the blade tracks. Is that different than where yours tracks?

The blade is in approximately the same location on both the upper and lower wheels.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:28 pm

dusty wrote:Looking at the third image I posted in this thread you can see where the blade tracks. Is that different than where yours tracks?

The blade is in approximately the same location on both the upper and lower wheels.

Yes, that's where my blade tracks, but it's always centered on the auto-tracking bearings.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:45 pm

Hi Dusty! The only reason I can think of that would cause the blade to go sideways on that bearing is a crinked blade or one with a pretty severe bend. This should be a pretty easy thing to check. Just change blades.

I see you have a 1/4" blade on the machine. Try out a wider one and a thinner one to see how they perform.

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